Data is created at every financial transaction, and as datasets expand beyond what a single database can hold, big data is born. As complex as these datasets can be, they hold valuable information for financial institutions and are spurring financial services investments. MORE

The era of contextual commerce is upon us — though what exactly that means can vary. One brand’s successful foray into context can easily turn into another brand’s misstep with privacy. MORE

The digital revolution of financial services is here, and the question isn’t whether your organization should adopt a digital-first approach, but how quickly can you catch up with the digital leaders in your industry. MORE

How AI and Machine Learning is transforming healthcare technology. How will emerging technologies improve your health outcomes and life expectancy? One word: Fast. Technological innovations are helping health care providers advance and improve the medical field at an alarming pace. MORE

When Justin Olson joined Trailhead Credit Union in 2013 as vice president of member services, the credit union was facing an uphill climb. With a loan-to-share ratio of just 59 percent and on a steady monthly decline, the $120M credit union was only originating around $1 million per month in 2013. MORE

I’ve been talking a lot about the Eastern and Southern Hemispheres these days. I’m adamant that these hemispheres are creating the future, whilst the North Western Hemisphere struggles with its legacy infrastructure. In particular, Europe and America are suffering from their old technology structures. Specifically, America is lagging the world. … The post The Pet Shop Boys got it wrong appeared first on Chris Skinner's blog. Digital Bank Future Grid Inclusion MORE

Most fintech startups don’t survive. The landscape of payments, lending, artificial intelligence might seem bustling thanks to all the industry hoopla around it, but the success rate for a startup to make it in these fields — or for that matter any of 15-plus fintech segments — is slim. MORE

There’s an argument raging that few have heard. The argument is whether it is the rebirth or death of banks. Many vote for the latter, but the former seems to be winning. Banks are reborn. Ten years since the financial crisis hit, many of the banks that received seismic shocks … The post The Golden Age of Banking is a bit like England winning the World Cup appeared first on Chris Skinner's blog. Future Grid Opinion MORE

During #Money2020Europe Tink, the Swedish challenger bank, interviewed me on my opinions about all things finance and technology. It’s only five minutes and think it’s probably worth the viewing as people are picking up on various comments I made, such as: “The leadership team has to be completely committed to … The post The chasm between banks with digital leadership and those without appeared first on Chris Skinner's blog. Digital Bank Future Grid Opinion MORE

Brick-and-mortar businesses have been hammered over the past decade — with the exception of one bright spot. Dining out. But it’s not your parents’ fast food and casual dining chains that are seeing the upside. MORE

Bank of America will invest about $75 million per quarter in technology from now through the rest of 2019, the bank reported in its earnings call today. MORE

Citizens Financial Group joins the latest band of established FIs in launching its version of a digital-first bank called Citizens Access. MORE

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 … Chris Skinner is … The post Welcome to The Finanser by Chris Skinner appeared first on Chris Skinner's blog. Chris Skinner Grid MORE

For banks, direct debit fraud represents a bigger financial risk than card fraud. In particular, growing momentum for real-time payment schemes across the world is creating huge opportunities for fraudsters and placing increasing pressure on banks and clearing houses, who now have only seconds instead of days to identify fraudulent transactions MORE

It was interesting reading as the UK issued its Brexit plan last Thursday. A 98-page white paper outlines the details of what Britain is asking for in leaving the European Union. Most of it is unworkable, but then Brexit itself is likely unworkable. After all, no MPs can agree what … The post Will the UK’s #Brexit plans kill London? appeared first on Chris Skinner's blog. Brexit Future Grid MORE

In Q2 2018, B2B subscription services outperformed B2C for the first time ever, according to the latest findings in the Subscription Commerce Conversion Index (SCCI). So what changed in Q2 2018? It all comes down to the features that subscription services provide. MORE

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If you didn’t catch the big news of yesterday, it was the first public firing of a robot. In this case, a bank’s chatbot, Amelia. Amelia was launched last year by Swedish bank Nordnet, with the aim of speeding up customer onboarding and improving customer satisfaction. Apparently, she achieved neither … The post As a bank fires its robot, will the robots fight back? appeared first on Chris Skinner's blog. Digital Bank Grid Innovation Opinion MORE

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether don’t pose much of a risk to global financial stability at the current time, but that isn’t stopping global regulators from creating a framework to monitor risk from cryptocurrency. Reuters cited the Financial Stability Board which is in charge of coordinating financial regulation among the Group of 20 Economies when reporting that the framework covers how risks from crypto assets could spread to other areas of the financial system. MORE

Consumers, while generally desirous of good service in general, are these days increasingly willing to serve themselves. In fact, a growing number of customers are their own best store clerk , bank teller , cashier or real estate agent. MORE

Call center service providers are increasingly automating their processes to speed up their payments acceptance, while reducing associated costs. Debt collection agencies, for one, increased their use of interactive voice response (IVR) by 8 percent over the last year. MORE

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has been steadily increasing the fed funds target rate since 2015, with the most recent rate hike occurring on June 13, 2018. MORE

Employers are increasingly moving away from depositing paychecks into employees’ bank accounts, offering instead to add them to payroll cards. Payroll cards work like debit cards, allowing employees to purchase goods and services or make cash withdrawals from ATMs. MORE

Here is what a recent whitepaper by Dataiku reveals about Artificial intelligence and machine learning emphasising on the role of data scientists. Let’s find out. This is the first part of an article series based on a whitepaper by Dataiku) The year 2018 was supposed to be the one. MORE

John Padgett, Carnival Cruise chief experience and innovation officer, outlined the company’s digital and guest-centric strategy in a keynote at the recent ICX Summit conference MORE

The main blog headlines are … The Golden Age of Banking is a bit like England winning the World Cup There’s an argument raging that few have heard. The argument is whether it is the rebirth or death of banks. Many vote for the latter, but the former seems to … The post The Finanser’s Week: 9th July 2018 – 15th July 2018 appeared first on Chris Skinner's blog. Blog Index Grid Reading MORE

The Mobile Payments Today Podcast offers a view into the hot topics affecting the continuing evolution of payments technology worldwide. The podcast features interviews with movers and shakers as well as news related to banking, blockchain, retail, restaurants, and self-service MORE

The unicorn craze has hit micromobility, the industry tackling last-mile transportation. Investors are driving up bike- and scooter-sharing company valuations at unprecedented rates, as investors bet on the companies they believe will capture and dominate the market. MORE

Financial institutions harnessing the power of big data must glean meaningful insights from many disparate data sets. Several startups helping banks and financial institutions make sense of data, alternative and otherwise, have emerged. MORE

Blockchain is a growing industry and people skilled in it are in high demand.The UpWork report states that jobs related to blockchain technology saw a growth of 2000% for three consecutive quarters. MORE

Facebook wants users to order their morning lattes via chat. MORE

JPMorgan Chase leads the race for the most mobile users among the top three largest consumer banks in the U.S. — still. With 31.6 million active mobile users, JPMorgan Chase is well ahead of Bank of America’s 25.3 million active mobile users for 2Q18. MORE

Clearsurance is using customer reviews to pull customers who prefer to research Insurance products before buying them. Carriers who embrace this early could do well, as the approach has worked well in many other markets such as recruitment (Glassdoor). MORE

The pace of payments is getting faster — because the demand and expectations are on the rise. Gig workers and those living paycheck to paycheck need access to their funds, SMBs can’t grow without them and, all around the world, governments are hearing the call and pushing to ramp up the pace. MORE

PPRO Group , a U.K. cross-border ePayment provider, announced on Monday (July 16) a $50 million round of investment led by PayPal. In a PayPal press release , the company said that in addition to its investment, Citi Ventures and returning investor HPE Growth Capital participated in the round of fundraising. PPRO enables businesses to accept more than 140 alternative payments around the globe, partnering with payment service providers and financial institutions. MORE

India’s Unified Payment Interface is emerging as a critical growth enabler for digital payments. Read our latest paper on how PSPs can create services differentiation in a fast-growing market MORE

Banking consumers take a middling view of today’s mobile banking applications, according to a study by Bank Innovation. In the survey conducted this month by Bank Innovation, banking consumers gave mobile banking a net promoter score of 12, which is in the bottom 25% to 50% of all NPS scores. MORE