Welcome to The Finanser, the portal to the knowledge base of the Financial Services Club, 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 »Do we have a work-life balance anymore?
What is work-life balance these days? I accidentally on purpose started an interesting debate on Li…
There’s a Starman … who needs a bank account
Yesterday I asked Is there Life on Mars as a tribute to my hero David Bowie. I originally titled tha…
Is there life on Mars?
Twenty years ago, I remember being impressed when the late, great David Bowie launched a bank. Admit…
Would you believe they put a man on the moon?
… “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” Arthur C. Clarke This…
Rip it up and start again
I spotted two updates recently. The first is the half a billion dollar mistake at Citigroup. The sec…
The Finanser’s Week: 22nd February 2021- 28th February 2021
This week’s main blog notes include … Banks waste billions on digital How much money is …
Read all about it: The Kalifa Review is out!
I blogged the other day about Singapore-on-the-Thames in anticipation of the Kalifa Review of UK Fin…
The elephant, the bird and the tiger (king)
This is the tenth in a series of blogs about the elephant, which represents the economy, and the bir…
Banking on digital growth
I recently joined The Digital Growth podcast … powered by Sounder … and they kindly tra…
If it walks like a bank, talks like a bank and smells like a bank, then it’s a bank
I see so many articles with titles like: What will banks do when Amazon becomes a bank? Google to ta…
Banks waste billions on digital
How much money is wasted by banks on digital? I wonder whether, one day, anyone will work out how mu…
Banks embrace the gig economy
I just got a report from PwC and my heart sank. The headline is: Financial institutions to significa…
Digital’s impact on towns: the end of main street
I’ve had several debates about the closure of shopping malls, the end of offices and the deserted hi…
The Finanser’s Week: 15th February 2021- 21st February 2021
The main blog discussions this week include … CBDCs, the Digital Euro and how it might work I’m very…
PC Banking
I made a joke the other day about visiting PC World, and you really have to watch what you say in th…
The links between purpose, digital and leadership
As mentioned the other day, I’m focused upon purpose-driven banking these days. I guess this t…
What was that Brexit deal, again?
Britain has left the EU, but now I read headlines everywhere saying cross-border movements are impos…
Is the Crypto revolution finally underway?
I haven’t commented much on bitcoin’s (BTC) recent surge, as I’ve been watching and waiting, but it …
CBDCs, the Digital Euro and how it might work
I’m very aware that central banks are investigating the use of digital currencies, particularly as t…
The Finanser’s Week: 8th February 2021- 14th February 2021
The main blog discussions this week include … Singapore-on-the-Thames? Welcome to the new London … […
The Elephant made me sad
Sitting quietly in my room, I felt someone breathing on my neck. It was him. Y’know. The elephant. T…
The start-up I should have started
I often feel bad for not having started a FinTech start-up myself. It’s not that I haven’t thought a…
Where is the Intelligent Bank?
I wrote a blog a few days ago about money not being about jars and pots. The gist of the blog is tha…
Singapore-on-the-Thames? Welcome to the new London … [Kalifa Review]
In the midst of Brexit plans and a Covid pandemic, the UK Government launched a FinTech review chair…
The balance between data gathering and data usage
I was on a call the other day, discussing Big Data and Green Finance. It’s not an area I talk about …
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Recent Posts
Chip and PIN five years from now
So I finally sussed out a way to make my long-term vision of sticking chips inside people for payments a reality through a medium-term transition away from my short-term loathing for Chip & PIN. This will be achieved as we strip things back to the …
Read More »A new currency launches
The US Dollar rules the global markets, even whilst it is being bombarded during the credit crunch. After all, nearly all countries across Latin America and the Middle East are tied to the dollar. That is why the dollar is the reserve currency of the …
Read More »Bankers are from Mercury, techies are from Uranus
What goes around comes around … Some things never change … Same old, same old … Y’know you’re getting old when you are tired of hearing a debate about something fundamental but just continual. And so if men are from Mars and women are from …
Read More »Help … just give me your account information
Hello. Sorry for emailing you out of the blue, but my name is Ishamal Nicker, and my brother was killed in the Iraq war before he could move his money back to Lebanon. He had $20,000,000 in a Switzerland bank account and has given me …
Read More »Is life getting harder or easier for banks?
The conference I presented at last week in Barcelona focused upon future banking, and we had an audience of international bank managers from around the world. The conference organiser gave me the opportunity to ask some questions of the audience. You know the sort of thing, …
Read More »21st Century Boy versus 20th Century Banks
I spent a day in Barcelona last week … put your hands up for Barcelona, a lovely city. For those in the know they’ll get this and, for those who aren’t in the know, I’m speaking in a foreign language. That’s the point though as, …
Read More »21st Century Boy versus 20th Century Banks
I spent a day in Barcelona last week … put your hands up for Barcelona, a lovely city. For those in the know they’ll get this and, for those who aren’t in the know, I’m speaking in a foreign language. That’s the point though as, …
Read More »21st Century Boy versus 20th Century Banks
I spent a day in Barcelona last week … put your hands up for Barcelona, a lovely city. For those in the know they’ll get this and, for those who aren’t in the know, I’m speaking in a foreign language. That’s the point though as, …
Read More »Microsoft Ships BizTalk Update with SWIFT Support
I’m confused. Microsoft is shipping a new version of BizTalk Server 2006 late in 2007? How retro. Microsoft did not change any features in the shipping release since the last beta, says Steve Martin, the company’s director of connected systems product management. "We hardened some …
Read More »Greenspan Blasts Bush and Republicans
The WSJ got hold of a copy of Greenspan’s new book, due out Monday. Sounds a little mixed. The Ayn Rand devotee who played a partisan game in supporting skewed tax cuts by Bush, criticizes the Republicans for losing their one-time small government focus. One …
Read More »Brilliant Hed: Customer Service in Best Interest for Banks – WSJ
Whew. Knew there was some reason I pay good money for my Journal subscription. Or subscriptions. When I called to complain about getting two copies a day they took action. Today I got three. Anyway, some secret shoppers from Sandler O’Neill & Partners came …
Read More »Brilliant Hed: Customer Service in Best Interest for Banks – WSJ
Whew. Knew there was some reason I pay good money for my Journal subscription. Or subscriptions. When I called to complain about getting two copies a day they took action. Today I got three. Anyway, some secret shoppers from Sandler O’Neill & Partners came …
Read More »Speed Without Disruption – HPC On Wall Street Monday
High Performance Computing on Wall Street has been running for a couple of years now, but interest seems at an all-time high this year. Today I have talked to IBM, Cisco and, on a related matter, Platform Computing. One common theme, which I will elaborate …
Read More »Microsoft Legacy Modernization Program
The Mainframe Migration Alliance (MMA) and the Midrange Alliance Program (MAP) will host a meeting on legacy modernization at the Fira Palace Hotel in Barcelona from 1:00 – 4:00 pm on 9 October. The meeting will provide an opportunity to learn more about Microsoft’s plans …
Read More »The Less so Bleedin’ Obvious – CDO’s Created Crisis
After yesterday’s blog about the state of the markets and the concluding line: "When you see a way of making money with no risks, you see the fool’s gold", I guess the obvious question is: Why didn’t the banks see the fool’s gold? After all, …
Read More »The Less so Bleedin’ Obvious – CDO’s Created Crisis
After yesterday’s blog about the state of the markets and the concluding line: "When you see a way of making money with no risks, you see the fool’s gold", I guess the obvious question is: Why didn’t the banks see the fool’s gold? After all, …
Read More »Department of the Bleedin’ Obvious – Lending Created Crisis
Some totally obvious comments are coming out in the media today. Take the UK’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer (the old one got promoted to Prime Minister) Alistair Darling who is headlined today as saying that banks “need to know who they’re lending to, how …
Read More »The Sun Newspaper launches a prepaid MasterCard
The headline that caught my attention this morning is the launch of a Prepaid MasterCard by the Sun. For those who are unfamiliar with the UK newspaper, it is the most widely circulated with over three million copies distributed to almost eight million readers, most …
Read More »HSBC’s Knight in Rusty Armour
During the weekend, there were lots of reports on the attack by Eric Knight on HSBC’s governance and strategy. Eric Knight, who is CEO of Knight Vinke Asset Management, is airing his concerns in public, he claims, as a result of the FSA’s Market Watch …
Read More »HSBC’s Knight in Rusty Armour
During the weekend, there were lots of reports on the attack by Eric Knight on HSBC’s governance and strategy. Eric Knight, who is CEO of Knight Vinke Asset Management, is airing his concerns in public, he claims, as a result of the FSA’s Market Watch …
Read More »HSBC’s Knight in Rusty Armour
During the weekend, there were lots of reports on the attack by Eric Knight on HSBC’s governance and strategy. Eric Knight, who is CEO of Knight Vinke Asset Management, is airing his concerns in public, he claims, as a result of the FSA’s Market Watch …
Read More »Banking is a man’s world
This is not a new news story, but it is a news story. Banking is a man’s world. Sounds a bit sexist doesn’t it, but many of us would say that there is still active discrimination in some business sectors on the grounds of …
Read More »Sexism in the City
This is not a new news story, but it is a news story. Banking is a man's world. Sounds a bit sexist doesn't it, but many of us would say that there is still active discrimination in some business sectors on the grounds of …
Read More »Firms liable for incorrect outsourcing under MiFID
Article 13(5) of MiFID states: "An investment firm shall ensure, when relying on a third party for the performance of operational functions which are critical for the provision of continuous and satisfactory service to clients and the performance of investment activities on a continuous basis, …
Read More »Firms liable for incorrect outsourcing under MiFID
Article 13(5) of MiFID states: "An investment firm shall ensure, when relying on a third party for the performance of operational functions which are critical for the provision of continuous and satisfactory service to clients and the performance of investment activities on a continuous basis, …
Read More »California Blocks Skinner’s Identity Plans
Just after Finextra publish my thought piece on the future method of authentication being RFID style chip implants inside humans, which I’ve blogged about before btw as I do truly believe it will happen, the Los Angeles Times broke the news that the Terminator’s State …
Read More »California Blocks Skinner’s Identity Plans
Just after Finextra publish my thought piece on the future method of authentication being RFID style chip implants inside humans, which I’ve blogged about before btw as I do truly believe it will happen, the Los Angeles Times broke the news that the Terminator’s State …
Read More »California Blocks Skinner’s Identity Plans
Just after Finextra publish my thought piece on the future method of authentication being RFID style chip implants inside humans, which I’ve blogged about before btw as I do truly believe it will happen, the Los Angeles Times broke the news that the Terminator’s State …
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