Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Welcome to The Finanser by Chris Skinner

Welcome to The Finanser by Chris Skinner. The Finanser discusses all things fintech, finance, banking, technology and, most importantly, the future. To make an enquiry about having Chris write or speak for you, here’s an illustration of his presentations … … Chris Skinner has regularly forecast the changes in finance driven by technology. He is…

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LATEST POSTS

We are all virgins of technology

A long time ago, before most of you were born, I worked with Dr. An Wang, a visionary. Wang created Wang computers, a company that blossomed quickly into a global firm thanks to word processing. Word processing? Yes, word processing. What it allowed was the replacement of typewriters with computers, and companies loved it because…

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The Finanser’s Week: 11th March – 17th March 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … How the Wirecard story unravelled: an interview with Dan McCrum who broke the truth I’ve been following Dan McCrum, the investigative journalist with The Financial Times, for quite a while. He’s the guy who broke the Wirecard story, even though it could have meant quite a lot of…

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eToro shows why old banks just don’t get it

It’s not just AI that’s hot, but there is still the metaverse, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and more. So, I’ve been friends-ish with Yoni Assia, the co-founder of eToro, for many years. The story of eToro is pretty amazing actually. If you’re not familiar with it, you can find a summary over here…

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Where is Wirecard’s Jan Marsalek?

After yesterday’s chat with Dan McCrum of The Financial Times who broke the Wirecard story, wrote the book about it, helped create the documentary on Netflix and is an all round good guy, I wondered whatever happened to the key instigator, organiser and mastermind behind the fraud, Jan Marsalek. Dan: It did feel quite dangerous…

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Reading

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Things worth reading: 19th March 2024

Things we’re reading today include … Commercial Bank of Ethiopia glitch lets customers withdraw millions – BBC News Fintech collects almost 40% of last week’s €672M invested in European tech – Tech.eu Banks Invest in United Fintech as Digital Transformation Gap Widens – Traders Magazine UK fintech start-up Silverbird enters special administration – FinTech Futures:…

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Things worth reading: 18th March 2024

Things we’re reading today include … Millions more in cash needed to fund UK’s open-banking watchdog | Banking | The Guardian Over a third of first time buyers relying on ‘bank of mum and dad’ | Housing | The Guardian Bitcoin Bulls vs. Bubble Bears: A Cryptocurrency Clash (cryptotimes.io) The evolving relationship between supermarkets and…

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The Finanser’s Week: 11th March – 17th March 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … How the Wirecard story unravelled: an interview with Dan McCrum who broke the truth I’ve been following Dan McCrum, the investigative journalist with The Financial Times, for quite a while. He’s the guy who broke the Wirecard story, even though it could have meant quite a lot of…

Read More

Things worth reading: 15th March 2024

Things we’re reading today include … Judge rules computer scientist not Bitcoin inventor – BBC News Swedish central bank calls for legislation to protect cash (finextra.com) First Manx bank note breaks record by selling for £24k at auction – BBC News From finance hub to fintech oasis: Why fintechs are flocking to the UK –…

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Things worth reading: 14th March 2024

Things we’re reading today include … Stripe reveals it passed $1 trillion in total payment volume in 2023 (cnbc.com) Global Payment Processing Solutions Market to Reach $161.9 Billion by 2030 – FinTech Futures: Fintech news With Fintech Funding Down 70%, Here’s What 11 Big Startups Are Worth Now (forbes.com) Prosecutors Say Credit Suisse Client Dan…

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Things worth reading: 13th March 2024

Things we’re reading today include … The Fintech Files: Scandals that shook the sector (fnlondon.com) With bitcoin hitting new highs, it’ll likely reach the US$100,000 milestone before 2024 is out (theconversation.com) Bank transfers could take four days under new fraud laws (telegraph.co.uk) Commonwealth Bank app crashes leaving millions of Aussies unable to access their own…

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Blog Index

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The Finanser’s Week: 11th March – 17th March 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … How the Wirecard story unravelled: an interview with Dan McCrum who broke the truth I’ve been following Dan McCrum, the investigative journalist with The Financial Times, for quite a while. He’s the guy who broke the Wirecard story, even though it could have meant quite a lot of…

Read More

The Finanser’s Week: 4th March – 10th March 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … Introducing the Dimonsaur For the past decade, Jamie Dimon has regularly been decrying bitcoin as a scam. Here’s a few of his quotes: Jamie Dimon tells Davos that Bitcoin is a ‘pet rock’ that does nothing—except help with fraud and money laundering Jamie Dimon lashes out against crypto:…

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The Finanser’s Week: 26th February – 3rd March 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … Is a cashless world OK? There has been a movement over the past years to create a cashless world. Is that OK? It’s debatable. One of the big things about cash is that it represents society. In Europe, the euro notes mark major landmarks; in the UK, the…

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The Finanser’s Week: 19th February – 25th February 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … Is technology making our lives better or worse? I had a debate around the enshittifying dialogue the other day. At dinner with an executive from a Big Tech firm, he said that our world is made better with technology, not worse. So, I asked him to give me…

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The Finanser’s Week: 12th February – 18th February 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … How old banks are responding to challenger banks (research report) I got an interesting research report from Economist Impact the other day, commissioned by Temenos. Usually I ignore such emails and updates, but this one was interesting as it’s focused upon how traditional financial providers are competing with…

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The Finanser’s Week: 4th February – 11th February 2024

The main blog discussions this week included … Do you need to be a bank in real life to be a bank in virtual life? Vitalik Buterin, the guy who created Ethereum cryptocurrency and smart contracts, blogged the other day about what happens when AI and blockchain collide. Funnily enough, that’s the theme of my…

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The Finanser’s Week: 29th January – 3rd February 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … How digitalisation is changing lending I was recently having a chat with my old friend Slava Solodkiy about the way in which digitalisation is changing lending. He then surprised me by summarising our discussion and allowing me to share it here! Here’s his write-up: How digitalisation is changing…

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The Finanser’s Week: 22nd January 2024 – 28th January 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … Old bank fears of regulators is opening massive new markets to their challengers I’ve just been through a very strange process with my main personal bank account provider who, thanks to fear of FCA and crypto, noticed that I had regular payments in and out of my account…

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The Finanser’s Week: 16th January 2024 – 21st January 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include: We need banking that is unusual Over the week, I got an update about Revolut and their business model. It was quite interesting although a little bit macro-level. My favourite part is where the Business Model Analyst listed the competitors to Revolut: Monzo: Monzo is a UK-based digital bank that offers features…

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The Finanser’s Week: 25th December 2023 – 14th January 2024

The main blog discussions this week include … What’s in store for 2024: The Economy Welcome to 2024! For this first week of 2024, I’m going to summarise the stuff I’ve seen around the PEST landscape. PEST? Politically, Economically, Socially and Technologically. What’s in store for 2024: The Technology I was looking for the top…

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Future

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3 out of 5 frauds come from Meta

Appearing in a Parliamentary session the other day, Woody Malouf, Revolut’s head of financial crime, said Meta platforms were “being used as a hotbed for scams” and estimated that 3 out of 5 scams are being generated by Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp I’ve no idea about your experience but my experience is that anything I…

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Is the future frightening or great?

My partner called me and said she was in trouble. She had just been to the bank and was overdrawn by $1,500. Could I send $4,000 quickly to stop the bank from freezing her account? Of course, I did … only to discover it wasn’t her. People are warning us that quantum computing, deepfake and…

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Do you need to be a bank in real life to be a bank in virtual life?

Vitalik Buterin, the guy who created Ethereum cryptocurrency and smart contracts, blogged the other day about what happens when AI and blockchain collide. Funnily enough, that’s the theme of my new book Intelligent Money. Vitalik cites four major areas where blockchain and AI will make a difference, and each has different ramifications. The focal point…

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Can you close the gate after the horse has bolted?

We need global regulation of all technology … but can we? Building on yesterday’s piece, there is a call in many circles for the global regulation of Big Tech. In fact it goes far further than Big Tech. It’s a call for regulating everything online. From cryptocurrencies to social media to artificial intelligence … it…

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Does ESG matter?

Two years ago Stuart Kirk, the then head of responsible investing for HSBC, delivered a mic dropping speech at the FT Moral Money conference. What did he say? Here’s a few quotes: “Who cares if Miami is six metres underwater in 100 years? Amsterdam has been six metres underwater for ages, and that’s a really…

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How digitalisation is changing lending

I was recently having a chat with my old friend Slava Solodkiy about the way in which digitalisation is changing lending. He then surprised me by summarising our discussion and allowing me to share it here! Here’s his write-up: How digitalisation is changing lending When thinking about this my brain thought linearly – taking current…

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Creating the world that is the best it can be

Attending a dinner with family the other night, we got into a kind of argument or debate that had me in one corner as the boomer and my friend, a young parent, as GenZ. It was a heated debate and I don’t think either of us won. What do you think? Summarising the discussion, I’ll…

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We are all just prisoners here, of our own device …

I just found a fascinating report from data.ai about the state of mobile usage today. Apparently we spend a third of the day, on average, playing with our phones. The mobile economy is now worth more than half a trillion dollars; with most of it generated through spending on mobile adverts; and almost 500,000 apps…

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A $7 trillion opportunity for banks … or is it?

Banks are boring but necessary. Banks are stable, secure, reliant, resilient and shouldn’t innovate or do things that could increase risk to the system. As a result, banks have been here forever and, love or hate them, will never go away. According to a new report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), global banks could boost…

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Does ESG matter?

Two years ago Stuart Kirk, the then head of responsible investing for HSBC, delivered a mic dropping speech at the FT Moral Money conference. What did he say? Here’s a few quotes: “Who cares if Miami is six metres underwater in 100 years? Amsterdam has been six metres underwater for ages, and that’s a really…

Read More

Creating the world that is the best it can be

Attending a dinner with family the other night, we got into a kind of argument or debate that had me in one corner as the boomer and my friend, a young parent, as GenZ. It was a heated debate and I don’t think either of us won. What do you think? Summarising the discussion, I’ll…

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60 seconds to midnight

I grew up with lots of things, but one that struck me in the heart was a song Seven Minutes to Midnight that came out in the late 1970s (showing my age). What did the song mean? I discovered it related to the Doomsday Clock, the clock that measured the threats to our planet and…

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A three-sided bank: customer, community and the planet

I recently was introduced to VDK Bank, a community bank based in Ghent, Belgium, by Rik Coeckelbergs. The bank has done something interesting, launching a three-sided coin. The idea is to triple your thinking. The three-dimensional bank focuses upon customer, community and then the third dimension is to think about how money impacts the planet….

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The Earth is on fire … is it your fault?

During the summer, we are struck by massive wildfires taking place across the Americas and Europe. The devastation to Hawaii is specifically notable, but what about Greece, Tenerife and Canada and the rest. This is not normal. Then you go from wildfires in California to floods and mudslides in the same place. This is not…

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50 shades of green – is your bank sustainable?

I was recently wondering which banks are the most green. Names come to mind like Co-operative Bank (UK), Triodos Bank (Netherlands), Alandsbanken (Finland), MyBank (China), Amalgamated Bank (America) and more, but they are few and far between. Some are committed and some are just paying lip service or, as we say, greenwashing. The difference is…

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Make my money matter … an interview with Richard Curtis

I spotted an interview with Richard Curtis the other day about his campaign to change how pensions funds invest. The campaign is called Make my money matter and asks institutional investors, pension funds and banks to ensure that they invest in a sustainable way. Discussing this in an interview with Akshat Rathi in the podcast…

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Who will head the World Bank, and what do they think?

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she expected former Mastercard chief executive Ajay Banga to be elected president of the World Bank as nominations drew to a close. It is not surprising as, when nominations closed at 6pm in Washington yesterday, there were no other publicly declared candidates. Who is Mr. Banga? According to Wikipedia, Ajay…

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Crypto

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You’ve been Goxed again!

Way back in 2012, I invested £1,000 in bitcoins on Mt.Gox, the Japanese-based exchange that was the most popular platform at that time for trading in said currency. Then they got hacked and went bankrupt in 2014. You may remember but, just in case: Launched in 2010, it was handling over 70% of all bitcoin…

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Who do you trust?

There are perennial questions that come around all the time: Do banks need branches Why are banks so bad at stopping bad actors (AML and KYC) Will we end up cashless Can banking be run by machines Are banks needed (disintermediation) Can regulators keep up Can we create a system that has no government involved…

Read More

Introducing the Dimonsaur

For the past decade, Jamie Dimon has regularly been decrying bitcoin as a scam. Here’s a few of his quotes: Jamie Dimon tells Davos that Bitcoin is a ‘pet rock’ that does nothing—except help with fraud and money laundering Jamie Dimon lashes out against crypto: ‘If I was the government, I’d close it down’ JPMorgan…

Read More

Are fintech firms friends or foes?

I just received an interesting report released in January by ClearBank and Celent, looking at how electronic money and electronic payment institutions (EMIs and EPIs) work with banks and the financial ecosystem. The findings indicate that these start-up companies fill the gaps where incumbent banks feared to tread, such as offering crypto clearing services. John…

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Is Crypto Snake Oil or Gold?

There are many who compare bitcoin to digital gold, and there are many others who claim that bitcoin is just snake oil selling and a waste of time. Who is right and who is wrong? I guess the first thing is to define snake oil. Snake oil is a term used to describe a scam….

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Do you need to be a bank in real life to be a bank in virtual life?

Vitalik Buterin, the guy who created Ethereum cryptocurrency and smart contracts, blogged the other day about what happens when AI and blockchain collide. Funnily enough, that’s the theme of my new book Intelligent Money. Vitalik cites four major areas where blockchain and AI will make a difference, and each has different ramifications. The focal point…

Read More

The SEC approves bitcoin … or does it?

Everyone got very excited last week about the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, USA) approved the use of bitcoin on ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). Fantastic … but what does it all mean? Does it mean the SEC approves of bitcoin trading? Does it mean the Federal Reserve and USGov endorse cryptocurrencies? Some would say yes,…

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What’s in store for 2024: Cryptocurrency

According to most pundits, 2024 looks like a great year for cryptocurrency. Analytics Insight predicts a resurgence, with the crypto market expected to surpass the US$3 trillion mark. Why? The main driver seems to be another bitcoin halving, but also Ethereum and altcoins seem to be big movers, alongside rising crypto adoption amongst mainstream institutions. Gemini,…

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Interview with the vampayer

I just had an interview with a journalist via email. It was quite interesting, and wanted to share it with you. The key point being made is that everything we have today – apps, online, cards and more – are going to disappear. Are they? Mobile payments, BNPL, open banking, artificial intelligence – these are…

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Fintech

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Is it true that challenger banks no longer challenge?

In the 1990s, I got very excited about a number of challenger banks. Sainsburys, Tesco and Virgin all launched new banks in the UK, and there were several others worldwide such as the (David) Bowie Bank and the G&L (Gay and Lesbian) Bank. Where are they now? Nowhere. Sainsbury bank is up for sale, Tesco…

Read More

How old banks are alienating GenZ

I have found that several of my major bank account providers have started to question me about various activities from cryptocurrency investments to general document identification and reidentifying who I am. Of course, these are all driven by regulatory requirements for compliance, KYC, AML and such like but, in the process, it has killed my…

Read More

Introducing the Dimonsaur

For the past decade, Jamie Dimon has regularly been decrying bitcoin as a scam. Here’s a few of his quotes: Jamie Dimon tells Davos that Bitcoin is a ‘pet rock’ that does nothing—except help with fraud and money laundering Jamie Dimon lashes out against crypto: ‘If I was the government, I’d close it down’ JPMorgan…

Read More

Are fintech firms friends or foes?

I just received an interesting report released in January by ClearBank and Celent, looking at how electronic money and electronic payment institutions (EMIs and EPIs) work with banks and the financial ecosystem. The findings indicate that these start-up companies fill the gaps where incumbent banks feared to tread, such as offering crypto clearing services. John…

Read More

How does cashless work in the gig economy?

One of the biggest challenges in moving to cashless is that there are a lot people who rely on cash. I hate it when you go to a restaurant and pay by card, because there’s nowhere to leave a cash tip. Sure, there’s a service charge, but will that be given to your host and…

Read More

When the network fails, what do you do?

I was driving to pick up my dog the other day from his kennel stay. We had been away on a holiday and the dog was booked into his doggie hotel. Halfway there, and being purely reliant on digital maps, the maps stopped navigating. Maybe I lost the signal or maybe there was no signal…

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Have we created Generative Finance yet?

Question: Have we created Generative Finance yet? Answer: No. Everyone has been talking about Generative AI for the past year or so, particularly after ChatGPT and OpenAI hit the market … and yet a lot finance is still really dumb. Where is the intelligence in finance? And, when we do get AI integrated with finance,…

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Is technology making our lives better or worse?

I had a debate around the enshittifying dialogue the other day. At dinner with an executive from a Big Tech firm, he said that our world is made better with technology, not worse. So, I asked him to give me five examples of how it makes our world better. Here’s what he came up with….

Read More

Digital Bank

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We are all virgins of technology

A long time ago, before most of you were born, I worked with Dr. An Wang, a visionary. Wang created Wang computers, a company that blossomed quickly into a global firm thanks to word processing. Word processing? Yes, word processing. What it allowed was the replacement of typewriters with computers, and companies loved it because…

Read More

eToro shows why old banks just don’t get it

It’s not just AI that’s hot, but there is still the metaverse, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and more. So, I’ve been friends-ish with Yoni Assia, the co-founder of eToro, for many years. The story of eToro is pretty amazing actually. If you’re not familiar with it, you can find a summary over here…

Read More

Is it true that challenger banks no longer challenge?

In the 1990s, I got very excited about a number of challenger banks. Sainsburys, Tesco and Virgin all launched new banks in the UK, and there were several others worldwide such as the (David) Bowie Bank and the G&L (Gay and Lesbian) Bank. Where are they now? Nowhere. Sainsbury bank is up for sale, Tesco…

Read More

Who do you trust?

There are perennial questions that come around all the time: Do banks need branches Why are banks so bad at stopping bad actors (AML and KYC) Will we end up cashless Can banking be run by machines Are banks needed (disintermediation) Can regulators keep up Can we create a system that has no government involved…

Read More

How old banks are alienating GenZ

I have found that several of my major bank account providers have started to question me about various activities from cryptocurrency investments to general document identification and reidentifying who I am. Of course, these are all driven by regulatory requirements for compliance, KYC, AML and such like but, in the process, it has killed my…

Read More

Introducing the Dimonsaur

For the past decade, Jamie Dimon has regularly been decrying bitcoin as a scam. Here’s a few of his quotes: Jamie Dimon tells Davos that Bitcoin is a ‘pet rock’ that does nothing—except help with fraud and money laundering Jamie Dimon lashes out against crypto: ‘If I was the government, I’d close it down’ JPMorgan…

Read More

Are fintech firms friends or foes?

I just received an interesting report released in January by ClearBank and Celent, looking at how electronic money and electronic payment institutions (EMIs and EPIs) work with banks and the financial ecosystem. The findings indicate that these start-up companies fill the gaps where incumbent banks feared to tread, such as offering crypto clearing services. John…

Read More

How does cashless work in the gig economy?

One of the biggest challenges in moving to cashless is that there are a lot people who rely on cash. I hate it when you go to a restaurant and pay by card, because there’s nowhere to leave a cash tip. Sure, there’s a service charge, but will that be given to your host and…

Read More

What is the future?

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About Chris Skinner

The Past, Present And Future Of Banking, Finance And Technology

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