Welcome to The Finanser, the portal to the knowledge base of the Financial Services, chaired by Chris Skinner. To make an enquiry about a speaking engagement, just contact us and, if you are interested in Chris Skinner as a speaker, here’s an illustration of his keynote presentations …
Read More »FinTech Forces of the Future, Part One: Economics and Finance
I worry sometimes that my writing these days about how finance, technology and ESG combine will alie…
Don’t beam me out Scotty!
I shared Gail Bradbrook’s and Andrew Cass’s ideas around ESG on Friday, the role of fina…
The Finanser’s Week: 27th June 2022 – 3rd July 2022
This week’s main blog discussions included … The neobank era is just beginning Good friend Ron Shevl…
Beam me out, Scotty
As usual, I take time out on the first of each month to give Gail Bradbrook, co-founder of Extinctio…
An interview with EFMA about the realities of digital for good
I just had a nice interview with EFMA (now Qorus) about the new book Digital for Good (available her…
You can change the world
I hadn’t heard of the campaign make my money matter, until the other day. It’s all about igniting co…
What is the global, digital currency?
I did a presentation in Helsinki the other day about the importance of owning my data. It made me re…
The neobank era is just beginning
Good friend Ron Shevlin sparked off a great debate about neobanks with his snarky column on Forbes t…
The Finanser’s Week: 20th June 2022 – 26th June 2022
This week’s blog discussions include: Six years since #Brexit, where are we? I don’t talk about Brex…
A circular economy or degrowth?
I launched the new book Digital for Good in London the other day, and was joined by many friends in …
Six years since #Brexit, where are we?
I don’t talk about Brexit much. As a Remainer, I was gutted Britain voted to leave. That was six yea…
So, how do we define money?
Benju Shah, Head of the Nordic BIS Innovation Hub for the Bank of International Settlements, followe…
Money is just a belief
We had a great session in Oslo last week focused upon: what is money? The question comes up more and…
What do you believe in?
The belief in crypto has fallen through the floor in second quarter 2022, mainly due to factors from…
The Finanser’s Week: 13th June 2022 – 19th June 2022
The main blog discussions this week included … Welcome to (another) crypto meltdown As a guy who has…
Forget rock and roll, it’s now space and soul
I am regularly asked: what’s the next big thing? Answer: there isn’t one. There are just all the thi…
I sold my soul for a token
Some years ago, as an April Fool, a firm offered a free download of a game as long as, in the terms …
Welcome to (another) crypto meltdown
As a guy who has invested a little in cryptocurrencies, I sat back a year ago in a warm glow. The in…
Is Apple finance going to change the world?
There’s a regular debate about whether BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) is a good or bad thing. There’s a b…
The Finanser’s Week: 6th June 2022 – 12th June 2022
This week’s main blog discussions include … Is digital all it’s cracked up to be? I just sent a paym…
And what happens when digital fails?
I have another concern about digitalisation, which is what happens if you’re knocked off the grid? W…
Is digital all it’s cracked up to be?
I just sent a payment to a new company. They sent the details and it involved quite a lot of set-up.…
Let’s talk about Open Regulation
There is an important thing happening that many may have missed imho. We talk all the time about Ope…
Please, please, upgrade me
I loved the show Frasier back in the day. The pithy, pathetic but pure and pleasing ways of Niles an…
FinTech: Separating the wheat from the chaff
Some FinTech firms are quite old. Depending on how you call it PayPal, Zopa and others have been aro…
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Harry Potter and the Prince of Darkness
As most of you know, J.K. Rowling is a British institution and so I sent her this idea for her next book: Harry Potter and his best mates Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger had managed to live amongst the muggles for many moons without detection. …
Read More »Things worth reading: 9th June 2009
Things we're reading today include … Lloyds Banking Group boosts Brown with £2.3bn bailout repayment (Times)Lloyds to close Cheltenham & Gloucester branches (Telegraph)Standard Chartered's traditional approach pays off (Telegraph) BlackRock nears $13bn BGI deal (Financial Times) Citi confirms plan to raise $33bn (Financial Times)GM and …
Read More »Things worth reading: 9th June 2009
Things we're reading today include … Lloyds Banking Group boosts Brown with £2.3bn bailout repayment (Times)Lloyds to close Cheltenham & Gloucester branches (Telegraph)Standard Chartered's traditional approach pays off (Telegraph) BlackRock nears $13bn BGI deal (Financial Times) Citi confirms plan to raise $33bn (Financial Times)GM and …
Read More »Time for the Gangsters?
A new film comes out in July called Public Enemies, with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. It’s the story of John Dillinger, who went on a rampage of bank robbing in 1933-34, and gained notoriety as a kind of Robin Hood gangster anti-hero. At the …
Read More »Time for the Gangsters?
A new film comes out in July called Public Enemies, with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. It’s the story of John Dillinger, who went on a rampage of bank robbing in 1933-34, and gained notoriety as a kind of Robin Hood gangster anti-hero. At the …
Read More »Is the social web party over?
I keep reading reports of Second Life being an overhyped piece of dead meat, and now get the same vibes about Twitter and more. In the latest round of discussions, James Gardner and Ron Shevlin both question the worthiness of Twitter for banking, whilst an …
Read More »Is the social web party over?
I keep reading reports of Second Life being an overhyped piece of dead meat, and now get the same vibes about Twitter and more. In the latest round of discussions, James Gardner and Ron Shevlin both question the worthiness of Twitter for banking, whilst an …
Read More »Things worth reading: 8th June 2009
Things we're reading today include: Technology: Unconfirmed Reports of Massive T-Mobile Breach (Secure Channel)Nationwide online banking glitch (BBC) Companies: Lloyds Banking Group boosts Brown with £2.3bn bailout repayment (Times)Barclays in $13bn talks to sell BGI to BlackRock (Telegraph)Iceland to repay £2bn UK savings (BBC) UK: FSA …
Read More »Things worth reading: 8th June 2009
Things we're reading today include: Technology: Unconfirmed Reports of Massive T-Mobile Breach (Secure Channel)Nationwide online banking glitch (BBC) Companies: Lloyds Banking Group boosts Brown with £2.3bn bailout repayment (Times)Barclays in $13bn talks to sell BGI to BlackRock (Telegraph)Iceland to repay £2bn UK savings (BBC) UK: FSA …
Read More »The Finanser’s Week: 1st June – 7th June 2009
Here are our key stories of the week: Global Banking Trends A Trade Confidence Index for Asia Brown needs Balls, Darling Greedy bankers? Corrupt politicians? Nothing new Banks must still deleverage … and deleverage lots! Why technology firms don't get business CEOs don't like social …
Read More »The Finanser’s Week: 1st June – 7th June 2009
Here are our key stories of the week: Global Banking Trends A Trade Confidence Index for Asia Brown needs Balls, Darling Greedy bankers? Corrupt politicians? Nothing new Banks must still deleverage … and deleverage lots! Why technology firms don't get business CEOs don't like social …
Read More »Things worth reading: 6th June 2009
Things we're reading today include: Victor Blank faces angry Lloyds shareholders (Guardian)Sir Victor Blank soldiers on after 'go right now' outburst (Times)Blank survives stormy Lloyds AGM (Financial Times) The post-crisis financial architecture, speech by Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB Economies of …
Read More »Webinar the World
Webinars are growing in popularity as a substitute for conferences this year, particularly as folks can't leave their offices these days due to cost and travel restrictions, so this sort of meeting will no doubt be on the increase. I presented two this week for …
Read More »A Spanish first: Social Banking
There are a few countries / continents where innovation is rife. In Africa, mobile payments are transforming the continent. In Japan, mobile internet banking is changing their world. And in Spain, social finance is top of the agenda. Last year, I noted that BBVA had …
Read More »A Spanish first: Social Banking
There are a few countries / continents where innovation is rife. In Africa, mobile payments are transforming the continent. In Japan, mobile internet banking is changing their world. And in Spain, social finance is top of the agenda. Last year, I noted that BBVA had …
Read More »Things worth reading: 5th June 2009
Things we're reading today include: UK: Aon scores own goal as staff get shirty over Man Utd sponsorship (Telegraph)Paulson loses $165m on Barclays position (Financial Times)Scammers divert bank phone calls (Telegraph) Europe: Santander plans €2.5bn preference share issue (Financial Times)Landesbanken ready for sector consolidation (Financial Times) European banks …
Read More »Lloyds shareholders revolting? Yes they are!
I haven’t blogged about bank results for a while, but was asked by a few media folks today about Lloyds Banking Group, who have their major stand-off shareholders meeting tomorrow. This is going to be quite a major shindig as there all sorts of machinations …
Read More »The Green Shoot Spotter (GSS) Index
Just found the Green Shoot Spotter (GSS) Index on the financial website Breaking Views. Published each Friday it tracks the good, bad and downright ugly news of the global economy and places each headline item into a category of: “Still in real trouble” “Getting less …
Read More »The Green Shoot Spotter (GSS) Index
Just found the Green Shoot Spotter (GSS) Index on the financial website Breaking Views. Published each Friday it tracks the good, bad and downright ugly news of the global economy and places each headline item into a category of: “Still in real trouble” “Getting less …
Read More »CEOs don’t like social media … because it’s social!
I heard this quote the other day and loved it, so I’m using it (nothing like plagiarism is there?). Equally, I’m stealing lots of other things these days, such as this animation sent to me courtesy of Simon Deane-Johns: If you are using a system …
Read More »CEOs don’t like social media … because it’s social!
I heard this quote the other day and loved it, so I’m using it (nothing like plagiarism is there?). Equally, I’m stealing lots of other things these days, such as this animation sent to me courtesy of Simon Deane-Johns: If you are using a system …
Read More »Things worth reading: 4th June 2009
Things we’re reading today include … Companies: Barclays to close pension to 17,000 workers (Times)Lloyds Banking Group to cut a further 510 jobs (Telegraph) Markets: Exchanges warn on OTC clearing (Financial Times) Merkel mauls central banks(Financial Times) FDIC stalls sale of toxic loans (Financial Times) …
Read More »Things worth reading: 4th June 2009
Things we’re reading today include … Companies: Barclays to close pension to 17,000 workers (Times)Lloyds Banking Group to cut a further 510 jobs (Telegraph) Markets: Exchanges warn on OTC clearing (Financial Times) Merkel mauls central banks(Financial Times) FDIC stalls sale of toxic loans (Financial Times) …
Read More »Things worth reading: 4th June 2009
Things we’re reading today include … Companies: Barclays to close pension to 17,000 workers (Times)Lloyds Banking Group to cut a further 510 jobs (Telegraph) Markets: Exchanges warn on OTC clearing (Financial Times) Merkel mauls central banks(Financial Times) FDIC stalls sale of toxic loans (Financial Times) …
Read More »Why technology firms don’t get business
For too long, I’ve worked in the tech industry. I realised this when talking with a friend about the ways in which most tech firms get it wrong. He was lamenting the fact that the dialogue I have around things like Social Finance, SEPA and …
Read More »What sort of advert is that?
Walking around the City, one of our bright London cabs drove by and it made me wonder: Is that a commercial for Barclays or a Barclays commercial? Either way, we're not as thick as Barclays think or they wouldn't have to spell it out for …
Read More »What sort of advert is that?
Walking around the City, one of our bright London cabs drove by and it made me wonder: Is that a commercial for Barclays or a Barclays commercial? Either way, we're not as thick as Barclays think or they wouldn't have to spell it out for …
Read More »A Trade Confidence Index for Asia
This morning my inbox had a big file full of pdf documents talking about business confidence across Asia courtesy of HSBC. It was fascinating stuff so here’s the summary: In the first survey of its kind, the HSBC Trade Confidence Index asked 2,100 trade-oriented small …
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