Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Payments

EBAday, Stagflation and Survival of the Fittest

EBAday, or is that days as it is now 2 days, is upon us next week. This is the annual jamboree for the Euro Bankers Association to celebrate the arrival of SEPA, after much anticipation since EBA days started three years ago. This year it is in Helsinki on Wednesday and Thursday of next week,…

Payments fraud: the word from the Fed

There was a lot of buzz around this year’s Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Payments Conference, “Payments Fraud: Perception versus Reality”. First, there’s the sheer numbers involved. For example, it is estimated that each year $3.5 billion worth of chargeback losses occur in the USA through fraudulent transactions, according to Orbitz. Bruce Cundiff of Javelin…

This house believes our authentication and identification methods work

Last night’s debate, “This house believes our current authentication and identification methods are good enough”, was a healthy one and focused primarily upon card authentication in retail transactions. We started with the case for. The motion was proposed by one of the major card processing firms, who said that the card firms are trying to…

This house believes our authentication and identification methods work

Last night’s debate, “This house believes our current authentication and identification methods are good enough”, was a healthy one and focused primarily upon card authentication in retail transactions. We started with the case for. The motion was proposed by one of the major card processing firms, who said that the card firms are trying to…

This house believes our authentication and identification methods work

Last night’s debate, “This house believes our current authentication and identification methods are good enough”, was a healthy one and focused primarily upon card authentication in retail transactions. We started with the case for. The motion was proposed by one of the major card processing firms, who said that the card firms are trying to…

Digital Identities? We haven’t got a clue!

Today is a day that’s all about authentication, identification and verification. First, I have been asked to make a speech at a payments conference all about how to minimise risk; and, second, we have a meeting of the Financial Services Club this evening, in the form of an Oxford Society style Debate with the motion:…

Banks versus Consumers – who wins?

Front Page of Business Week today: Banks versus Consumers – who wins? The focus is upon credit cards and debt collections and, with American credit-card debt hitting a record high of $957 billion in Q1 2008, up 8% from the previous year, according to Federal Reserve data, this is a growing market.   One of the…

Upgrade, evolve or demolish

As you walk the streets of Rome, you find modern and ancient intertwined. The streets are full of gorgeous clothes from designers ranging from Salvatore Ferragano to Versace, Louis Vuitton to Gucci, Prada to Armani. All the names are here in beautifully presented shops that ooze money. These shops are squeezed into streets laid with…

Upgrade, evolve or demolish

As you walk the streets of Rome, you find modern and ancient intertwined. The streets are full of gorgeous clothes from designers ranging from Salvatore Ferragano to Versace, Louis Vuitton to Gucci, Prada to Armani. All the names are here in beautifully presented shops that ooze money. These shops are squeezed into streets laid with…

UK Faster Payments goes live today

The Faster Payments project goes live today after over three years in the planning, $300 million investment in new systems and some delay – it was meant to go live in November but required such significant systems redevelopment that it took six months longer. It should be good for all, as it means D+0 is…