Grid

This week’s major updates on the Finanser … What banks can learn from Wal-Mart I picked up Bloomberg Business Week at the airport this week, attracted by the cover. Wal-Mart have issues with the digital revolution.  Amazon is stealing their lunch, literally, and they’ve been struggling for years to work out what to do about it. …

Three people are chatting in a bar. The first says: “It’s great working for a FinTech start-up as I get to travel the world.  As a result, I can easily call my partner and tell them I’m on a business trip to stay with my other love.” The second says: “Well, you should work for…

I picked up Bloomberg Business Week at the airport this week, attracted by the cover. Wal-Mart have issues with the digital revolution.  Amazon is stealing their lunch, literally, and they’ve been struggling for years to work out what to do about it.  As a giant gorilla of grocery stores, the story of Wal-Mart’s challenges reminded me…

I was chairing a conference with various speakers, when Gartner Group stood up and talked about their annual bank survey.  They found that of the senior bankers surveyed, 76% don’t believe that digitalisation will affect their business model. Gartner found 76% of banks don’t believe their business model has to change because of digitalisation #MEFTECH…

I recently met a start-up bank.  They were depressed.  Having submitted their third proposal for the bank, the regulator was still pushing back.  This felt familiar.   Having seen so many new start-up banks in Britain, I was familiar with the start-up process.  It involves hellishly detailed documentation showing effective plans, governance and funding.  The first…

I grew up in an era of Ska music with the Specials, Madness and The Selector being regulars on the University circuit.  One song that brought back memories of this era played on the radio the other day: Ghost Town. The main line repeated throughout the song is This town … is coming like a…

This week’s main blog headlines are … The legacy clock is ticking Further to my recent trip to Pakistan Business Recorder (their version of The Financial Times) interviewed me in depth about what is happening in FinTech.  Here’s what they published: ‘The clock is ticking for Pakistan’s legacy banks,’ Chris Skinner, global fintech expert An independent commentator on financial…

Further to my recent trip to Pakistan Business Recorder (their version of The Financial Times) interviewed me in depth about what is happening in FinTech.  Here’s what they published: ‘The clock is ticking for Pakistan’s legacy banks,’ Chris Skinner, global fintech expert An independent commentator on financial markets and fintech through his blog, the Finanser.com, Chris Skinner is one…

I’ve regularly got into confrontations with digital currency people, especially those who are believers in bitcoin, by saying things they don’t like to hear.  First it was my comment that you can’t have money without government.  They believe the currency is beyond control because it exists on a global network.  My contention is that money…

It shows how important FinTech is when major financial centres vie for focus.  London has been leading the charge to be the FinTech capital of the world, but many other cities are nipping at their toes.  So I was intrigued to see Hong Kong issue their FinTech strategy today.  Here’s the summary: Financial Technology, more…