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 »Oh no! It’s Bankenstein …
For years, we’ve talked about banks having a spaghetti systems structure aligned to a line of busine…
Data is the key
I’ve recently contributed to an Oracle report, providing the foreword – the report can be down…
Who let the coins out?
I got a bit itchy during the weekend and ended up sitting and writing about bitcoin, dogecoin, crypt…
The Finanser’s Week: 12th April 2021- 18th April 2021
This week’s main blog stories include … Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google … Coinbase? I wa…
Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google … Coinbase?
I was reflecting, which is dangerous. I was reflecting on my antipathy towards bitcoin as, like most…
Why I hate the term ’embedded’
OK, I’m a Victor Meldrew and have several pet hates. In particular, people who use corporate-s…
The insurance industry is broken, can InsurTech fix it?
I just rang my pension fund. I realised that I’ve paid £1000’s into the fund, but hadn’t had a state…
Smaller banks have the happiest customers
Following on from why startups will fail if they compete head-to-head with a bank, I got this headli…
A billion excluded women is a disgrace
WARNING: THIS IS WOKE (whatever that is) We talk a lot about diversity and LBTG+ and equality, but i…
The Finanser’s Week: 5th April 2021- 11th April 2021
This week’s main blogs include … Another view: any start-up that challenges a bank will fail We talk…
bitcoin is dead, long live bitcoin!
I’ve not talked much about bitcoin on the blog lately*, but I have tweeted a lot about it. The key t…
The world according to Jamie Dimon
I read Jamie Dimon’s shareholder letter with interest this week. His message does not read lik…
Another view: any start-up that challenges a bank will fail
We talk a lot these days about neobanks, challenger banks, bank disrupters, bank disintermediation, …
What, why and how do you value something … and where do you keep it?
Welcome to the World of Next A few years ago, a friend of mine had an idea. It was to create a digit…
The Roaring 2020s
I blogged the other day about a $3 trillion spending spree, that I just didn’t see happening. The po…
The future of payments: free research by Deutsche Bank (includes crypto, bitcoin and more)
Last year, I blogged about the view of Deutsche Bank regarding the future of payments. They produced…
The Finanser’s Week: 29th March 2021- 4th April 2021
This week’s main blogs include … Venezuela replaces national currency with bitcoin In a fascinating …
Teach children things machines cannot learn
I am involved in a number of activities, one of which is a not-for-profit called The Portrait Founda…
Venezuela replaces national currency with bitcoin
In a fascinating move Venezuela, which has been a basket-case economy ever since Hugo Chavez died in…
The view from 2050
After discussing 2030 and beyond yesterday, I got into an interesting discussion about 2050 and beyo…
The view from 2030
I was recently asked to deliver a presentation set in the year 2030. It was challenging, but interes…
Digital is not “a generational thing”
I was told that living purely digitally was a “generational thing” and this was followed more recent…
The Finanser’s Week: 22nd March 2021- 28th March 2021
This week’s main blogs include … How China’s FinTech is changing everything I joined a C…
What’s blocking blockchain?
Three years ago, I blogged about Ant Group’s strategy for AI, Blockchain, Cybersecurity and more. At…
China’s breaking the superapp
I’ve been amazed at the rise of superapps in China. Alibaba and WeChat allow you to socialise, ship …
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Recent Posts
Chris – stop blogging … as SWIFT prove their relevance
I’m in Miami at this cash and treasury show, and chaired a panel focused upon SWIFT and why is SWIFT relevant to corporates? Here’s the blurb about the panel: “SWIFT – It May Be Time You Connected “Companies can use the SWIFT network for a …
Read More »FSA fines outsourcing firm a million dollars
Under our radar, as it is in the pensions markets, but something very noteworthy occurred last week. The FSA attacked the outsourcing and Third Party Administration Markets by fining Liberata over a million dollars for failures in its systems and controls for managing and issuing …
Read More »FSA fines outsourcing firm a million dollars
Under our radar, as it is in the pensions markets, but something very noteworthy occurred last week. The FSA attacked the outsourcing and Third Party Administration Markets by fining Liberata over a million dollars for failures in its systems and controls for managing and issuing …
Read More »America is not in recession
Matthew Bishop, the American business editor of the Economist, talked through his views on the credit crunch at a conference I am attending in Miami. He began by asking the audience if they thought the USA was in recession. This was using voting devices. Y’know …
Read More »Are Stock Exchanges fungible?
Reading today’s news headlines, you might think that the markets had exploded or imploded, dependent upon where you sit. Apparently, hundreds of new exchanges and multilateral trading facilities have started up and are winning business away from traditional exchanges. But the question top of my …
Read More »Are Stock Exchanges fungible?
Reading today’s news headlines, you might think that the markets had exploded or imploded, dependent upon where you sit. Apparently, hundreds of new exchanges and multilateral trading facilities have started up and are winning business away from traditional exchanges. But the question top of my …
Read More »G7 creates the Global Ivy League of Banking
The Global Ivy League is the scenario of truth for the future banking markets. More globally harmonised regulation creates less innovation, but more security, amongst the major league players who we feel we can trust. Or rather, our politicians feel we should trust. Read more …
Read More »G7 creates the Global Ivy League of Banking
The Global Ivy League is the scenario of truth for the future banking markets. More globally harmonised regulation creates less innovation, but more security, amongst the major league players who we feel we can trust. Or rather, our politicians feel we should trust. Read more …
Read More »G7 creates the Global Ivy League of Banking
The Global Ivy League is the scenario of truth for the future banking markets. More globally harmonised regulation creates less innovation, but more security, amongst the major league players who we feel we can trust. Or rather, our politicians feel we should trust. Read more …
Read More »Where Trading and the Internet combine for Liquidity
I saw this blog from a VC in NYC today. It’s entitled: "We Need A New Path To Liquidity" and I had to read that as I thought it would be all about how to trade out of recession or something. But no. It’s about …
Read More »G7 Leaders to meet the Bank Top 10 to fix the credit crisis
According to various reports, the seven finance ministers of the G7 have asked to meet leaders of the ten largest banks, including Citigroup and Mizuho Corporate Bank, tomorrow. The aim is to create a strategy to deal with the widening panic over the global credit …
Read More »G7 Leaders to meet the Bank Top 10 to fix the credit crisis
According to various reports, the seven finance ministers of the G7 have asked to meet leaders of the ten largest banks, including Citigroup and Mizuho Corporate Bank, tomorrow. The aim is to create a strategy to deal with the widening panic over the global credit …
Read More »Microsoft’s Vista is better than the Mac
Not really, but there is a lot more debate about its pro’s and con’s amongst the tech community, with at least some saying it is not that bad. Not many, but a few. I reckon that 95% of Vista users have not had the issues …
Read More »Microsoft’s Vista is better than the Mac
Not really, but there is a lot more debate about its pro’s and con’s amongst the tech community, with at least some saying it is not that bad. Not many, but a few. I reckon that 95% of Vista users have not had the issues …
Read More »SEPA: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Earlier this week I attended the launch of a new book, the Future of finance after SEPA. I edited this book and was asked to present a summary of the views provided by the contributors. Bearing in mind that there are over thirty contributors to …
Read More »Skinner’s seriously SWIFT statements
For those who haven’t noticed, I’ve recently started blogging on SWIFT’s community website. Each day I will post something exclusively there that has my intellectual analysis – all of my IQ of 26 therefore – behind it. Here’s what’s been blogged about so far: The …
Read More »Skinner’s seriously SWIFT statements
For those who haven’t noticed, I’ve recently started blogging on SWIFT’s community website. Each day I will post something exclusively there that has my intellectual analysis – all of my IQ of 26 therefore – behind it. Here’s what’s been blogged about so far: The …
Read More »Mobile really is the future of banking
I have often said that tracking the future is normally demonstrated by tracking children’s behaviours. Kids are excited about the future. They are desperately keen to rush headlong into the next week, month and year. "I’m eight and three quarters""I’m twelve but think I look …
Read More »Mobile really is the future of banking
I have often said that tracking the future is normally demonstrated by tracking children’s behaviours. Kids are excited about the future. They are desperately keen to rush headlong into the next week, month and year. "I’m eight and three quarters""I’m twelve but think I look …
Read More »Mobile really is the future of banking
I have often said that tracking the future is normally demonstrated by tracking children’s behaviours. Kids are excited about the future. They are desperately keen to rush headlong into the next week, month and year. "I’m eight and three quarters""I’m twelve but think I look …
Read More »Are you chewing my cash?
It’s a line that may become a classic, in a similar vein to Robert de Niro’s famous Are you looking at me? from the film Taxi Driver. Are you chewing my cash? Why would this line be even remotely notable? Well, there’s a sad …
Read More »Are you chewing my cash?
It’s a line that may become a classic, in a similar vein to Robert de Niro’s famous Are you looking at me? from the film Taxi Driver. Are you chewing my cash? Why would this line be even remotely notable? Well, there’s a sad …
Read More »Why is it that innovations are created by non-banks?
At SIBOS 2004 in Atlanta, Heidi Miller of JPMorgan delivered a keynote address that is still discussed to this day. This is because she asked four critical questions of us: Why do we make things so complicated for our clients? How can we help our customers become …
Read More »Why is it that innovations are created by non-banks?
At SIBOS 2004 in Atlanta, Heidi Miller of JPMorgan delivered a keynote address that is still discussed to this day. This is because she asked four critical questions of us: Why do we make things so complicated for our clients? How can we help our customers become …
Read More »Why is it that innovations are created by non-banks?
At SIBOS 2004 in Atlanta, Heidi Miller of JPMorgan delivered a keynote address that is still discussed to this day. This is because she asked four critical questions of us: Why do we make things so complicated for our clients? How can we help our customers become …
Read More »April Fool: One Step Beyond
Further to my previous notes about Marketing in the Digital Age, this viral: seems to have worked well for Laptops Direct. Apparently, people are happy to have company logo’s tattoed onto their foreheads. Luckily, an April Fool … although 1% of those who saw this …
Read More »April Fool: One Step Beyond
Further to my previous notes about Marketing in the Digital Age, this viral: seems to have worked well for Laptops Direct. Apparently, people are happy to have company logo’s tattoed onto their foreheads. Luckily, an April Fool … although 1% of those who saw this …
Read More »Just ask Mick and Keef
Nothing to do with banking and technology you may say, but this actually has everything to do with banking and technology as it is all about Marketing in the Digital Age and the way we use new channels. To start with, I was intrigued to …
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