Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

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The Bible says bankers’ bonuses are OK …

I was listening to a sermon yesterday. The sermon quoted a lengthy section of the Gospel according to Matthew, where three servants are given their master’s wealth to look after whilst he is on travels. Two of the servants increase their master’s wealth, whilst one digs a hole and buries it.  The latter doesn’t like…

A big know know

I’m no expert on such matters, but a friend of mine was talking about different tools for different times and how they use certain technologies for different services. In particular their interests are data visualisation techniques and how these can identify fraudulent activity or improve investment strategies. He equated it to the Donald Rumsfeld knowns…

Data management 2011

A big know know

I’m no expert on such matters, but a friend of mine was talking about different tools for different times and how they use certain technologies for different services. In particular their interests are data visualisation techniques and how these can identify fraudulent activity or improve investment strategies. He equated it to the Donald Rumsfeld knowns…

Data management 2011

Seeing the wood for the tree branches (again)

We had a discussion last night about branchless banking, with two retail bank leaders telling me I was wrong about the idea. The argument was not actually about the concept of branchless banking, but less branch banking.  Even so, these retail bankers feel adamantly that the average human being wants a branch to bank. I…

Old TSB branch

Seeing the wood for the tree branches (again)

We had a discussion last night about branchless banking, with two retail bank leaders telling me I was wrong about the idea. The argument was not actually about the concept of branchless banking, but less branch banking.  Even so, these retail bankers feel adamantly that the average human being wants a branch to bank. I…

Old TSB branch

Jim O’Neill on the BRICs – the next decade

Just tweeted to our friends in the #OccupyLSE group – that’s Occupy the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for those who are not aware of the protest outside the LSE at St Paul’s – that I attended a meeting at the London Stock Exchange this morning. Yes, I occupied the LSE! Well, just for an hour in…

Jim O'neill

Jim O’Neill on the BRICs – the next decade

Just tweeted to our friends in the #OccupyLSE group – that’s Occupy the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for those who are not aware of the protest outside the LSE at St Paul’s – that I attended a meeting at the London Stock Exchange this morning. Yes, I occupied the LSE! Well, just for an hour in…

Jim O'neill

PayPal, Forrester, Deloitte & First Data research on mobile payments

USA gets mobile NFC Just got a note from Deloitte about research they’ve performed into mobile financial business models. The survey covered 89 senior executives from a wide range of companies with close ties to mobile payments. These respondents predicted that more than 24% of all mobile subscribers in the USA are likely to be using…

PayPal, Forrester, Deloitte & First Data research on mobile payments

USA gets mobile NFC Just got a note from Deloitte about research they’ve performed into mobile financial business models. The survey covered 89 senior executives from a wide range of companies with close ties to mobile payments. These respondents predicted that more than 24% of all mobile subscribers in the USA are likely to be using…

The Pope, EU and USA want a Tobin Tax … surely it’ll happen?

There’s been this thing called a Tobin Tax mooted for a while now. Before we get into the whole thing, what is the Tobin Tax? “A Tobin tax, suggested by Nobel Laureate economist James Tobin, was originally defined as a tax on all spot conversions of one currency into another.” The idea is to place…