Chris Skinner's blog Shaping the future of finance

Things we're reading today include … UK: UK unemployment will reach 3.2m, BCC warns (Telegraph) City bankers made to pay for financial crisis (bonuses down 62%) (Telegraph) Credit card rates highest for two years despite rate cuts (Telegraph) Alistair Darling faces £39bn hole in public …

Interesting note sent to me from Nelson Eduardo Pereira today, who spotted that Facebook are offering a currency.  It's not a real one, just swapping credits, but it's a start. The service builds on the gift services in Facebook. These gift services have been tracked …

Interesting note sent to me from Nelson Eduardo Pereira today, who spotted that Facebook are offering a currency.  It's not a real one, just swapping credits, but it's a start. The service builds on the gift services in Facebook. These gift services have been tracked …

I was pleased to hear about the progress of MoBank,  the UK’s first mobile-only bank, which launches in May. It’s not a fully fledged bank yet, like Jibun Bank, as it’s starting out as a convenient way to buy things through an iPhone and designed …

Things we're reading today include: Leitch in line for top Lloyds job (Times) HBOS deal maker picks up pension of £342,000 (Scotsman) RBS lines up veteran audit chief (Telegraph) With £12bn, HSBC is laughing all the way (Times) HSBC’s success is also a triumph for …

So the G20 protests were a bit of a damp squib, thanks to tight police controls, but not so in France where the NATO Summit in Strasbourg saw a lot of trouble. But I was more interested in two other stories. The first is from …

It's easy to catch people's prediction out in hindsight, with the most common ones being things like "I see a worldwide market for about five computers" from Thomas Watson, IBM's CEO in the 1950s, and "640k is enough memory for anyone" from Bill Gates. Now …

It's easy to catch people's prediction out in hindsight, with the most common ones being things like "I see a worldwide market for about five computers" from Thomas Watson, IBM's CEO in the 1950s, and "640k is enough memory for anyone" from Bill Gates. Now …

I just discovered an interesting part of The Economist I never knew existed: the Daily Chart. Yesterday's focused upon how much of the economic stimulus created by governments to get economies moving is going into projects that have green credentials. Here's the chart: Interesting. The …

Things we're reading today include mopping up the G20 news: G20 has little impact on global economics (Financial Times) G20: Fat cats brought down to Earth with a bump (Guardian)  Bankers rage at G20 'witch hunt' against bonuses and buccaneers (Guardian) Overview: Risk-takers reap benefits …

Things we're reading today include mopping up the G20 news: G20 has little impact on global economics (Financial Times) G20: Fat cats brought down to Earth with a bump (Guardian)  Bankers rage at G20 'witch hunt' against bonuses and buccaneers (Guardian) Overview: Risk-takers reap benefits …

For years, I’ve dealt with banks talking about multichannel integration and adding new capabilities to the core traditional channel of branch operations. In the 1970’s we added ATMs, the 1980’s added call centres, the 1990’s the internet, and now mobile. For all those years, we …

So the G20 meeting is over and has an agreement to spend over $1 trillion through the IMF on nations that are worthy. The other key agreements include: a lockdown on the tax regimes of countries where people hide place their wealth. The age of …

The Financial Stability Forum published their principles on reservering, crisis management and banker's compensation yesterday.  Here are the headlines: Recommendations and principles to strengthen financial systems On 2 April 2009, the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) issued reports covering: Recommendations for Addressing Procyclicality in the Financial …

The Financial Stability Forum published their principles on reservering, crisis management and banker's compensation yesterday.  Here are the headlines: Recommendations and principles to strengthen financial systems On 2 April 2009, the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) issued reports covering: Recommendations for Addressing Procyclicality in the Financial …

Lots worth reading today, with most of it about the G20 Summit outcome: G20 Summit: the key agreements (Telegraph) Q&A: the G20 Summit (Guardian) G20 leaders hail crisis fightback (Financial Times) G20 summit: Gordon Brown unveils $1.1 trillion global recession fight-back (Telegraph) Today's G20 deal …

Late last year, I blogged about Vernon Hill's Commerce Bank, Arkadi Kuhlman's ING Direct and creating a bank that rocks. Well I know a bank that rocks. Jyske Bank. Who? Jyske Bank in Denmark. They are the third largest Danish bank with 120 branches and …

After the live Twitter feed of the G20 protests yesterday, along with the Fool's Jokes, it's back to normality today.  Here's what we're reading: RBS locked in talks with Treasury over renegotiating terms of insurance scheme (Guardian) Shareholders want Lloyds Banking Group bosses to go …

After the live Twitter feed of the G20 protests yesterday, along with the Fool's Jokes, it's back to normality today.  Here's what we're reading: RBS locked in talks with Treasury over renegotiating terms of insurance scheme (Guardian) Shareholders want Lloyds Banking Group bosses to go …

After the live Twitter feed of the G20 protests yesterday, along with the Fool's Jokes, it's back to normality today.  Here's what we're reading: RBS locked in talks with Treasury over renegotiating terms of insurance scheme (Guardian) Shareholders want Lloyds Banking Group bosses to go …

I posted a bunch of jokey stuff this morning as an April Fool, but it is G20 Protest Day and the live action of the G20 rally is no joke.  Based upon updates via Twitter of events through the day: 15:15 Police barricaded protesters in …

In a shocking slap-in-the-face to anarchists and anticapitalists everywhere, bankers staged their own candlelit vigil outside the G20 meeting at the Excel Centre overnight. With all the extremists locked up safely in bed, the bankers gathered in a large crowd chanting things like “we want …

In a shocking slap-in-the-face to anarchists and anticapitalists everywhere, bankers staged their own candlelit vigil outside the G20 meeting at the Excel Centre overnight. With all the extremists locked up safely in bed, the bankers gathered in a large crowd chanting things like “we want …

In a shocking slap-in-the-face to anarchists and anticapitalists everywhere, bankers staged their own candlelit vigil outside the G20 meeting at the Excel Centre overnight. With all the extremists locked up safely in bed, the bankers gathered in a large crowd chanting things like “we want …

I posted a bunch of jokey stuff this morning as an April Fool. Here are the real things worth reading. Faster Isa transfers as banks join electronic scheme (Telegraph) Barclays and CVC locked in talks over iShares sale (Guardian) FSA proposes tenfold rise in saver …

I just received this email from Corporate Watch and, for those in London this week, reproduce all details here so you are aware: The leaders of the world's 22 largest economies are meeting in London this week to 'restore confidence' in the failed capitalist system. …

I just received this email from Corporate Watch and, for those in London this week, reproduce all details here so you are aware: The leaders of the world's 22 largest economies are meeting in London this week to 'restore confidence' in the failed capitalist system. …

I've blogged regularly, predicting that video connectivity will revolutionse banking.  In particular, it changes the game because face-to-face comes back as a critical differentiator, but also because I will be able to see directly into the back office, the call centre, the heart of bank …