Welcome to The Finanser by Chris Skinner. The Finanser discusses all things fintech, finance, banking, technology and, most importantly, the future. To make an enquiry about having Chris write or speak for you, here’s an illustration of his presentations … … Chris Skinner has regularly forecast the changes in finance driven by technology. He is…
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It’s the end of the year. I was wondering how you would summarise 2024? Someone asked this question on Reddit and the general answers appear to be that the world is going to hell and there is little we can do about it. Nice, although the regular surveys by Ipsos disagree: Despite the cost of…
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2024 has been a bumper year for this blog. According to Google Analytics, the blog has 175,000 active users, an increase of 30% over 2023, with near 300,000 views and a million interactions and so, as usual, I share the most read blog entries at the end of the year. Here are the Top 10…
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It’s interesting to see AI appearing more and more in financial conversations. A few examples just this week: AI’s Role in Banking: A Game Changer or Just Another Fad? How Artificial Intelligence is changing banking How AI is helping banks support sustainability transformation. The ability to quickly process large amounts of data makes AI models…
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I asked the question: What’s a cash machine for if no-one uses cash? in the 1990s. As the guy heading up the strategy for cash machines for a major cash machine company beginning with N and ending in R, it was a good question to ask. Thing is that no-one took the question very seriously…
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It’s interesting to see AI appearing more and more in financial conversations. A few examples just this week: AI’s Role in Banking: A Game Changer or Just Another Fad? How Artificial Intelligence is changing banking How AI is helping banks support sustainability transformation. The ability to quickly process large amounts of data makes AI models…
Read More
This was an interesting headline in The Wall Street Journal which made me open my eyes: Why the Coolest Job in Tech Might Actually Be in a Bank For tech and AI talent, jobs at financial services companies are more desirable than they have ever been. Banks have been working hard to make it happen….
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I talked a bit about Amazon and Apple teaming up to develop AI strategies to compete and beat Alphabet/Google and Microsoft the other day. It got me thinking: why are we talking the American Big Tech giants when there are several Big Tech Asian giants namely Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent and NVIDIA themselves. What are their AI…
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I’ve talked about how the financial system can either aid or abet the challenge of climate change – so much so that I even wrote a book about it called Digital for Good. This means that there is a future where someone has to work to protect our environment who I call the Environmental Defender….
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Back in 2012 I argued that there would soon be mobile wallet wars. In 2014, I speculated that there would be mobile wallet wars but that it was early days. In 2020, I still noted that mobile wallets were pretty awful. Today, it is clear that the mobile wallet is the core of the customer relationship and competitive…
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I wrote in April about debanking my bank before they debanked me, which is a theme regularly popping up in UK media. The debanking process is where, without notice, a bank decides that your account is suspicious and blocks it for no apparent reason. You cannot get it reopened and often find it difficult to…
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I’ve been surprised recently by non-stop news updates about how well Revolut is doing. From getting its UK banking license, which was suspect for a while, to achieving the milestone of 50 million customers, 2024 has been a pretty phenomenal year for the company. Then they announce next years plans which include AI-driven finance, super…
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Last week, a report was released by the UK’s Parliamentary committee saying that the UK regulatory body for financial conduct – the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) – is “incompetent at best, dishonest at worst” and that it has a “toxic culture”. This is based upon an investigation of the FCA which took almost three years…
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I got another good question in my banking session the other day: AI disruption will be transformational to banks revenue generation and cost optimisation. How do you see the people and organisational model of banks developing as they harness its benefits? This is a tough one, but the answer is clearly that everything that can…
Read MoreIt’s interesting to see AI appearing more and more in financial conversations. A few examples just this week: AI’s Role in Banking: A Game Changer or Just Another Fad? How Artificial Intelligence is changing banking How AI is helping banks support sustainability transformation. The ability to quickly process large amounts of data makes AI models…
Read MoreThis was an interesting headline in The Wall Street Journal which made me open my eyes: Why the Coolest Job in Tech Might Actually Be in a Bank For tech and AI talent, jobs at financial services companies are more desirable than they have ever been. Banks have been working hard to make it happen….
Read MoreBack in 2012 I argued that there would soon be mobile wallet wars. In 2014, I speculated that there would be mobile wallet wars but that it was early days. In 2020, I still noted that mobile wallets were pretty awful. Today, it is clear that the mobile wallet is the core of the customer relationship and competitive…
Read MoreLast week, a report was released by the UK’s Parliamentary committee saying that the UK regulatory body for financial conduct – the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) – is “incompetent at best, dishonest at worst” and that it has a “toxic culture”. This is based upon an investigation of the FCA which took almost three years…
Read MoreI got another good question in my banking session the other day: AI disruption will be transformational to banks revenue generation and cost optimisation. How do you see the people and organisational model of banks developing as they harness its benefits? This is a tough one, but the answer is clearly that everything that can…
Read More
I was recently asked: Where are the boundaries of digitalisation (are there any)? We all would have different answers to this one, but there are boundaries to digitalisation. The main boundary is where technology is replacing the human, rather than augmenting humanity. I blogged about that last year: AI should augment the human and automate…
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I know that my blog is meant to focus upon business, finance and technology, but every now and again you start asking existential questions like: What is time? Why do we have borders? What is money? Do we live in the matrix? So, I thought I would address these questions. What is time? Time is…
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Fifteen years ago, I did a major survey into the use of cloud computing in financial services. Bear in mind this was really early days, and the results were quite nebulous. The main headline was that cloud computing needs better definition to succeed: The research report, which encompasses the views of over 230 financial professionals…
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Last week, McKinsey released their latest podcast and the title caught my eye: Transforming to an AI-powered finance function It’s a really interesting chat between OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar and McKinsey senior partner Lareina Yee on the podcast At the Edge. Listening to it (and there’s also a transcript), here are a few highlights of Sarah’s thoughts,…
Read MoreI asked the question: What’s a cash machine for if no-one uses cash? in the 1990s. As the guy heading up the strategy for cash machines for a major cash machine company beginning with N and ending in R, it was a good question to ask. Thing is that no-one took the question very seriously…
Read More
As someone involved in cryptocurrencies early in the game, you would speculate that I’m now a billionaire. Yes, I did invest in bitcoin in 2013 when it was just $60. Now, it’s hovering around the $100,000 per bitcoin mark (and ETH just broke $4,000). Congrats if you made the investment ten years ago. Nevertheless, during…
Read MoreI wrote in April about debanking my bank before they debanked me, which is a theme regularly popping up in UK media. The debanking process is where, without notice, a bank decides that your account is suspicious and blocks it for no apparent reason. You cannot get it reopened and often find it difficult to…
Read More
It seems like most of the news this week has been about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Between Donald Trump, a crypto convert, and Elon Musk, a crypto enthusiast, everyone is now getting in on the game. By way of example, here’s a few headlines in the past week: There’s another big winner of the US election:…
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It’s fascinating how things change. Donald Trump is President-Elect and bitcoin’s price soars to over $80,000. Quite predictable as he will be the crypto-President, as mentioned in July, but maybe a forecast of a bitcoin price of $100,000+ by year-end is not so outrageous after all. Then, what intrigued me, is two stories. The first…
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Unsurprisingly, after a major election that will influence the Western world, the election of Donald Trump resulted in a flood of PR releases and contacts to tell me how this will influence the economy, Europe and the world. Some even got more specific, talking about how it will change fintech and cryptocurrencies. Let’s take a…
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It intrigues me how quickly our world of money is changing from crypto to fintech to BaaS to infinity and beyond. The question that constantly sits in the back of my mind is how to regulate all this stuff to maintain trust? From Synapse to FTX to Beenz to Boo, how can the regulator keep…
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I just got the latest Finch Capital report on The State of Fintech 2024. Many of us think that fintech valuations and investments have gone through the floor, and this reports make clear that it depends where you are. The UK is doing well, as is the Netherlands, whilst Ireland has seen a 90% drop…
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There’s a quote I often use from John Oliver that cryptocurrency is “everything you don’t understand about money combined with everything you don’t understand about computers”. That was 2018. It’s now 2024, and things are a lot worse. I’ve blogged about the confusion of money recently, and it is not only the fragmentation of money…
Read MoreI asked the question: What’s a cash machine for if no-one uses cash? in the 1990s. As the guy heading up the strategy for cash machines for a major cash machine company beginning with N and ending in R, it was a good question to ask. Thing is that no-one took the question very seriously…
Read MoreI found a very nice montage of the future jobs world on my newsfeed the other day, so here is the final summary of the other work we will be doing. I don’t agree with all of the thoughts below, e.g. working anywhere in the world is already here, but it makes for an interesting…
Read MoreA really interesting conversation popped up during a meeting with a fintech yesterday. The core of the discussion was around trust and identity – my favourite themes of the moment – and we got into a debate about the fact that most people want freedom and control of their lives. They want privacy and security…
Read MoreIt is easy to believe in these futuristic scenarios that we won’t need human advisors. In the words of Vivian Ward, the escort in Pretty Woman: Vivian: You work on commission, right? Saleswoman: Ah, yes. Vivian: Big mistake. Big. If you believe that the future will no longer involve financial advisors, you are making a…
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With drones, self-driving vehicles and supersonic flights rising day after day, we are very likely to see a massively congested sky by 2050. Some would say the Jetsons has arrived and, if you look at what is happening today, they are not far wrong. Most of our flying and automated vehicle structure will run autonomously…
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There’s a lot of debate about the big axis of power today: America and China (ed: what about India?). Both have massive tech giants and both have super economies. Where does this leave Europe? It’s interesting for me in that most of the discussion is that Europe and Eurocrats strangle all innovation with regulation or,…
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We are looking at a possible million humans or more living on Mars by 2050. How will they live? What will they be doing? Is it going to be easy to travel between Earth and Mars? Are the communication systems going to work to keep connected with families on both planets? Why would you want…
Read MoreI talked a bit about Amazon and Apple teaming up to develop AI strategies to compete and beat Alphabet/Google and Microsoft the other day. It got me thinking: why are we talking the American Big Tech giants when there are several Big Tech Asian giants namely Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent and NVIDIA themselves. What are their AI…
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We are all happy to use an interior designer, but would you be happy using a DNA designer? What we mean by this is the obvious evolution of fertility treatments, such as IVF, evolving into specific DNA structures of change and even babies born out of womb through artificial gestation. It is probable that, by…
Read More2024 has been a bumper year for this blog. According to Google Analytics, the blog has 175,000 active users, an increase of 30% over 2023, with near 300,000 views and a million interactions and so, as usual, I share the most read blog entries at the end of the year. Here are the Top 10…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Berlin mulls extravagant measures to stall takeover attempt on top bank – POLITICO A running list of BaaS banks hit with consent orders in 2024 | Banking Dive US regulator orders USAA Federal Savings Bank to correct unsafe practices | Reuters The fintech sentiment: Are banks ready for DORA?…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Why VPNs Have Become Essential to Fintech Cybersecurity 40% of UK High Net Worth Individuals Currently Hold Cryptocurrency Assets Lloyds advert banned for making false environmental claims | The Guardian UK Stock Market’s IPO Ranking Now Trails Oman and Malaysia – Bloomberg Bank worker stole £5m from safe deposit…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Bitcoin rallies past $107,000, hopes grow for strategic reserve | Reuters Donald Trump and the “crypto capital of the planet” | Lowy Institute Nubank Announces Investment in Tyme Group, a Digital Bank With Operations in South Africa and the Philippines Why Norges Bank leads the world in transparency FIS…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Bitcoin jumps to new record high of more than $106,000 – BBC News The fintech company that collapsed and took $90m of people’s life savings with it | The Independent Tech-savvy Saudis push consumer fintech to new heights | Arab News Lloyds Bank seven-day warning over ‘locked’ accounts HSBC…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … The challenge is how to deliver freedom, security, control and privacy A really interesting conversation popped up during a meeting with a fintech yesterday. The core of the discussion was around trust and identity – my favourite themes of the moment – and we got into a debate…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Trump advisers seek to shrink or eliminate bank regulators Klarna Fined for Anti-Money Laundering Failures Thought Machine valuation cut by nearly 40% by investor Molten Ventures Visa Direct to deliver faster bank transfers in a minute or less ‘Suspicious transactions’ led to collapse of UK fintech Stenn HSBC reviews…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Trump combines AI and crypto in White House ‘czar’ role FSOC: Financial Landscape Unprepared for FinTech and Crypto Cake Digital Bank Achieves Profitability in 3.5 Years European airline Ryanair partners with TrueLayer to offer Pay by Bank | Open Banking Expo Santander Appoints PayPal Vet to Head Digital Consumer…
Read More2024 has been a bumper year for this blog. According to Google Analytics, the blog has 175,000 active users, an increase of 30% over 2023, with near 300,000 views and a million interactions and so, as usual, I share the most read blog entries at the end of the year. Here are the Top 10…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … The challenge is how to deliver freedom, security, control and privacy A really interesting conversation popped up during a meeting with a fintech yesterday. The core of the discussion was around trust and identity – my favourite themes of the moment – and we got into a debate…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … Is it debanking or derisking? I wrote in April about debanking my bank before they debanked me, which is a theme regularly popping up in UK media. The debanking process is where, without notice, a bank decides that your account is suspicious and blocks it for no apparent…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … When everything is digitised, what do humans do? I was recently asked: Where are the boundaries of digitalisation (are there any)? We all would have different answers to this one, but there are boundaries to digitalisation. The main boundary is where technology is replacing the human, rather than…
Read MoreThis week’s blog discussions included … Tally-ho! No, it’s not exciting fox hounds – it’s all to do with accounting I thought I had just found a new podcast called Money by David Walliams, the famous British comedian and children’s author. Then I found out it is by David McWilliams, the less famous Irish economist…
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This week’s main blog discussions include … Will the new America be based upon a digital dollar that is stable? It’s fascinating how things change. Donald Trump is President-Elect and bitcoin’s price soars to over $80,000. Quite predictable as he will be the crypto-President, as mentioned in July, but maybe a forecast of a bitcoin…
Read MoreThis week’s blog discussions include: What does Trump’s victory mean for banks, tech, fintech and the future? Unsurprisingly, after a major election that will influence the Western world, the election of Donald Trump resulted in a flood of PR releases and contacts to tell me how this will influence the economy, Europe and the world….
Read MoreThis week’s blog discussions include … Banks make millions from the most vulnerable As mentioned, I’m dealing with my mother’s financial affairs as she reaches end of life, and I’m finding it incredibly frustrating. The process is that there first needs to be a Power of Attorney in place. Luckily, she saw that coming and…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … The Lloyds Bank Turd If you’re having breakfast or eating right now, please do not read this blog entry. I really didn’t want to write this blog, but it’s too irresistible to ignore. In fact, I cannot believe I haven’t seen this before as, the other day, guess…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … Is 2025 Meta’s nemesis year? Thinking about the Big Tech firms, most of them are enabling commerce. Amazon and Apple are building specific structures to make buying and selling easy. But one company is enabling fraud, scams and criminal activities. Meta. Meta runs Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as…
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