Chris Skinner

It is easy to believe in these futuristic scenarios that we won’t need human advisors. In the words of Vivian Ward, the escort in Pretty Woman:

A really interesting conversation popped up during a meeting with a fintech yesterday. The core of the discussion was around trust and identity – my favourite themes of the moment – and we got into a debate about the fact that most people want freedom and control of their lives. They want privacy and security in their lives. The challenge is how to deliver freedom, security, control and privacy. Is this the job of the State (government) or the individual (you)?

A really interesting conversation popped up during a meeting with a fintech yesterday. The core of the discussion was around trust and identity – my favourite themes of the moment – and we got into a debate about the fact that most people want freedom and control of their lives. They want privacy and security...

I found a very nice montage of the future jobs world on my newsfeed the other day, so here is the final summary of the other work we will be doing. I don't agree with all of the thoughts below, e.g. working anywhere in the world is already here, but it makes for an interesting finalé to this series of posts.

I asked the question: What’s a cash machine for if no-one uses cash? in the 1990s. As the guy heading up the strategy for cash machines for a major cash machine company beginning with N and ending in R, it was a good question to ask. Thing is that no-one took the question very seriously as cash machine sales were going through the roof, thanks to the ideas of mini-machines for off-premise cash. Put a cash machine in a bar, restaurant, garage, store … you name it. They were going everywhere.

Things we’re reading today include … Why VPNs Have Become Essential to Fintech Cybersecurity 40% of UK High Net Worth Individuals Currently Hold Cryptocurrency Assets Lloyds advert banned for making false environmental claims

It’s interesting to see AI appearing more and more in financial conversations. A few examples just this week:

It’s interesting to see AI appearing more and more in financial conversations. A few examples just this week: AI’s Role in Banking: A Game Changer or Just Another Fad? How Artificial Intelligence is changing banking How AI is helping banks support sustainability transformation. The ability to quickly process large amounts of data makes AI models...

2024 has been a bumper year for this blog. According to Google Analytics, the blog has 175,000 active users, an increase of 30% over 2023, with near 300,000 views and a million interactions and so, as usual, I share the most read blog entries at the end of the year.

It's the end of the year. I was wondering how you would summarise 2024? Someone asked this question on Reddit and the general answers appear to be that the world is going to hell and there is little we can do about it. Nice, although the regular surveys by Ipsos disagree: