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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 similar to Revolut, including budgeting tools, international money transfers, and fee-free spending…

HSBC has just launched a rival to Revolut and Wise for consumer foreign exchange transfers. Calling it Zing*, and currently available only in the UK, the idea is to offer a “worry-free
international money app”, even though they exist already. Why would HSBC’s be any different? You can find out the nuts and bolts of Zing…

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,…

As usual at the end of the year, I look back and see what was of most interest in the blog over the last 12 months. So, here goes: #10 Will Silicon Valley Bank kill the FinTech industry? “When you’re not working, what do you do to de-stress?” was the last question Greg Becker, CEO…

Over the past decade+ we have seen thousands of fintechs arise. Many are challenging and disrupting, whilst many more are providing and supplying. What is the role of a fintech? My advice is that fintechs are there to fix the things that banks do badly and offer service to those who banks don’t serve. The…

Building on yesterday’s blog, I just stumbled across a podcast called Tech Trends by JPMorgan Chase – everything to do with tech, digital, data and fintech, broadcast by a bank. Fantastic. The first show I downloaded is all about organising data to fuel growth. Interestingly, their Chief Data Officer defines data as the fuel for…

For some time, Jill Castilla has been on my radar. Winning numerous awards for innovation in US banking, she shines out as someone special, so I made contact and asked if she would have a chat with me. She said yes!, so here is that conversation. Chris Skinner: The main reason I reached out is you…

Someone came up with the idea of running a series of events called Dinner with Skinner … no idea who would have thought that up … and so I run and moderate many discussions with fintech firms and bankers around the topics chosen by sponsors. The latest one was looking at a key question: how…

I’m always looking for innovations in new banks and spent some time with MYbank, the bank created by Ant Group in 2014. My first visit was in 2017, and the bank was doing well. Focusing upon SMEs, the bank shot to massive growth volumes, making a staggering $30 billion in loans in first quarter 2022…

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has sent Goldman Sachs a proposal to end their partnership within the next year, leaving Apple to find a new backer for its financial products. The Apple Card program was launched in 2019 to great fanfare but, within a year, Goldman Sachs was lamenting losses and costs for the partnership….