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 »Are regulations the roots of innovation?
For most of my time working with banks, regulators were about clipping banks’ wings to suit the mark…
The state of neobanking 2022
I just received an interesting report from Simon Kucher & Partners, a marketing strategy consult…
Why crypto does and doesn’t make sense
I’ve been looking at buying a small property using my crypto savings. Practically, this creates an i…
The rocky road of cryptocurrencies
During May, the floor fell out of the cryptocurrency markets with many losing their life savings. Yo…
The Finanser’s Week: 9th May 2022 – 15th May 2022
This week’s main blog discussions include … I just woke up to my cancelled culture Growing up, my br…
I just woke up to my cancelled culture
Growing up, my brother used to try hard to persuade me to attend The Motor Show. He is a petrolhead …
Have you heard of the human library?
I stumbled across the human library the other day. I’d never heard of it, but the idea is that inste…
Could bitcoin destabilise the dollar?
I was thinking about cryptocurrencies and the fact that most of us have heard of bitcoin and Ethereu…
We need same-day financial firms
I’ve been writing about banks needing to refresh core systems for years. and I’m fed up with it. I’v…
Would you like to attend the launch of ‘Digital for Good’?
Chris Skinner, best-selling author of Digital Bank, Digital Human and Doing Digital, has just releas…
The Finanser’s Week: 2nd May 2022 – 8th May 2022
This week’s main blog discussions included: What’s the new book about, Chris? I had an interview the…
Shared experiences and the networked economy
I was in the theatres again recently, watching shows. I love theatre, especially musicals (Ed: is it…
Walk the line: the balance between regulation and innovation
I noted that the FCA is holding the new UK banks to account for their mishaps over customer onboardi…
Stripe’s IPO – how much?
We all got excited a couple of years ago about the biggest FinTech IPO that would ever be listed. An…
The Emperor’s Clothes and Barclays Bank
Here’s the latest blog from Extinction Rebellion’s Co-founder Gail Bradbrook, with her colleagues Ai…
What’s the new book about, Chris?
I had an interview the other day about my new book Digital for Good. It felt like it was a worthy di…
The Finanser’s Week: 25th April 2022 – 1st May 2022
This week’s main blog discussions include: How can you oversee a system you don’t see? I was intrigu…
Are cryptos actually currencies or just gambling?
It’s interesting as I found two studies over the past few days that show Dogecoin and shiba Inu coin…
How can you oversee an algorithm you can’t explain?
After yesterday’s blog How can you oversee a system you don’t see?, Ricardo replied on twitter: Make…
How can you oversee a system you don’t see?
I was intrigued by a post from a friend who had worked for a leading fund manager. Her boss was jail…
People who fear being tracked and traced … it’s too late
For years now there has been a discussion of having chips inside humans. I was presenting this idea …
FinTech in Russia: how has this changed since the “special military operation”?
As I posted analysis of the state of financial innovation in Ukraine the other day, I thought it on…
The Finanser’s Week: 18th April 2022 – 24th April 2022
The main discussions on the blog this week include … Why old banks should be worried I had an intere…
The nuances of BaaS
I don’t know if you’ve noticed a new start-up called Column, but it’s worth watching as it’s a chart…
I get knocked down, but I get up again
Life is swings and roundabouts … you win some, you lose some. Life is Sliding Doors moments … you lo…
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Recent Posts
Google telling the truth but not the whole truth?
Interesting to see that Techcrunch have questioned Google’s post of a trillion unique URLs indexed, saying it’s more like 40 billion. That’s still a lot, but why would Google mislead us? Because a major new competitor is launched next week, according to Techcrunch’s view of …
Read More »Google telling the truth but not the whole truth?
Interesting to see that Techcrunch have questioned Google’s post of a trillion unique URLs indexed, saying it’s more like 40 billion. That’s still a lot, but why would Google mislead us? Because a major new competitor is launched next week, according to Techcrunch’s view of …
Read More »Google telling the truth but not the whole truth?
Interesting to see that Techcrunch have questioned Google’s post of a trillion unique URLs indexed, saying it’s more like 40 billion. That’s still a lot, but why would Google mislead us? Because a major new competitor is launched next week, according to Techcrunch’s view of …
Read More »Google reaches a trillion URLs
Google blog about the fact that they’ve just exceeded indexing over 1 trillion unique URLs. That’s 1,000,000,000,000. That’s 1,000 times more than the billion pages they reached on their indexes in 2000, which was 400 times more than the 26 million pages they indexed way …
Read More »The Payment Services Directive will cost banks €6 billion
This is according to a survey performed by PSE Consulting and published on Euractiv yesterday. The Payment Services Directive (PSD) is the bit of integrating Europe’s low value payments systems that provides the legal support for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The only thing …
Read More »The Payment Services Directive will cost banks €6 billion
This is according to a survey performed by PSE Consulting and published on Euractiv yesterday. The Payment Services Directive (PSD) is the bit of integrating Europe’s low value payments systems that provides the legal support for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The only thing …
Read More »The Payment Services Directive will cost banks €6 billion
This is according to a survey performed by PSE Consulting and published on Euractiv yesterday. The Payment Services Directive (PSD) is the bit of integrating Europe’s low value payments systems that provides the legal support for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The only thing …
Read More »A borderless, neutral single market for securities across Europe
The phrase “a borderless, neutral single market for securities across Europe” is one that appears regularly throughout all communications on settlements services from the European Central Bank (ECB) and European Commission. In fact, it appeared a lot last Friday, when the ECB released two key …
Read More »A borderless, neutral single market for securities across Europe
The phrase “a borderless, neutral single market for securities across Europe” is one that appears regularly throughout all communications on settlements services from the European Central Bank (ECB) and European Commission. In fact, it appeared a lot last Friday, when the ECB released two key …
Read More »BBVA: the first Bank 2.0
I’ve blogged lots about social networks, social media, Web 2.0, blogs, mobile banking, mobile payments, internet banking and more. My continual gripe has been: where is the Bank 2.0? I’ve been talking about it, but I’ve never seen one. Today, I saw the first Bank …
Read More »BBVA: the first Bank 2.0
I’ve blogged lots about social networks, social media, Web 2.0, blogs, mobile banking, mobile payments, internet banking and more. My continual gripe has been: where is the Bank 2.0? I’ve been talking about it, but I’ve never seen one. Today, I saw the first Bank …
Read More »What’s the solution for Clearing & Settlement?
The International Central Securities Depositories (ICSDs) of Euroclear and Clearstream are very competitive with and against each other and, as mentioned yesterday, there are many other services that CSDs offer other than just settlement. The Linked Up Markets group and other activities are starting to …
Read More »What’s the solution for Clearing & Settlement?
The International Central Securities Depositories (ICSDs) of Euroclear and Clearstream are very competitive with and against each other and, as mentioned yesterday, there are many other services that CSDs offer other than just settlement. The Linked Up Markets group and other activities are starting to …
Read More »What’s the solution for Clearing & Settlement?
The International Central Securities Depositories (ICSDs) of Euroclear and Clearstream are very competitive with and against each other and, as mentioned yesterday, there are many other services that CSDs offer other than just settlement. The Linked Up Markets group and other activities are starting to …
Read More »Bank social networks only work if banks butt out
Great example here of social media websites that rock, according to mashable.com. Of the 35 corporate websites chosen, including Blendtec (my favourite), Cisco, Coca-Cola, Dell, Ford, IBM, Marriott, McDonalds, the New York Times, Starbucks, Toyota and Xerox, three financial firms make the lists: …
Read More »Bank social networks only work if banks butt out
Great example here of social media websites that rock, according to mashable.com. Of the 35 corporate websites chosen, including Blendtec (my favourite), Cisco, Coca-Cola, Dell, Ford, IBM, Marriott, McDonalds, the New York Times, Starbucks, Toyota and Xerox, three financial firms make the lists: …
Read More »You can’t hide anything, Part 1
I’m not sure how far this series will run but, like the numbers series, I thought I would start a "can’t hide anything" series. This is where information is leaked so fast it could be completely transparent. The star of the first of the series …
Read More »You can’t hide anything, Part 1
I’m not sure how far this series will run but, like the numbers series, I thought I would start a "can’t hide anything" series. This is where information is leaked so fast it could be completely transparent. The star of the first of the series …
Read More »You can’t hide anything, Part 1
I’m not sure how far this series will run but, like the numbers series, I thought I would start a "can’t hide anything" series. This is where information is leaked so fast it could be completely transparent. The star of the first of the series …
Read More »What’s the problem with Clearing and Settlement then?
In the context of Clearing and Settlement, we have an issue. The issue is one of transparency, access, interoperability and accounting. The European Commission, Alberto Giovannini, the Code of Conduct and the Monitoring Group have all tried to change this, but it is not changing …
Read More »What’s the problem with Clearing and Settlement then?
In the context of Clearing and Settlement, we have an issue. The issue is one of transparency, access, interoperability and accounting. The European Commission, Alberto Giovannini, the Code of Conduct and the Monitoring Group have all tried to change this, but it is not changing …
Read More »Barclays Bank launch online security video
For those who bank online and want to be educated about phishing, spam, online security and viruses through an easy-to-follow ABC video, then Barclays are your bank. A new vidcast launched last week that is quite educational and interesting, and talks about PINSentry and all …
Read More »Great analysis of Citigroup’s situation
If you haven’t spotted it, Bloomberg is running a great analysis of the challenges Citigroup faces and particularly what their latest CEO, Vikram Pandit, is trying to achieve. Well worth the read.
Read More »Clearing and Settlement: it’s time for action
Brussels. 1998. A small, windowless room, in the lower halls of the European Parliament. The euro is almost here and the European Central Bank has just been inaugurated. High value settlement systems are in play and central banks can process euro’s across the Eurozone therefore. …
Read More »Capital Markets are the same as eBay
We make the financial world incredibly complex and, because I’m going to spend the whole week talking about Clearing & Settlement, we need to simplify it. In order to do that, I thought I would relay a conversation I had over the weekend where I …
Read More »Capital Markets are the same as eBay
We make the financial world incredibly complex and, because I’m going to spend the whole week talking about Clearing & Settlement, we need to simplify it. In order to do that, I thought I would relay a conversation I had over the weekend where I …
Read More »Capital Markets are the same as eBay
We make the financial world incredibly complex and, because I’m going to spend the whole week talking about Clearing & Settlement, we need to simplify it. In order to do that, I thought I would relay a conversation I had over the weekend where I …
Read More »Royal Bank of Scotland in F-word scandal
Well I never. The Royal Bank of Scotland’s insurance division, Churchill, are in deep water over their latest advert using the Whitesnake song, "Here I Go Again", as background. No, not for using the Whitesnake song, but for sneaking in the F-word at the end …
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