Fintech
December 10, 2019
Like every other industry sector, the financial landscape is changing remarkably. With constantly evolving technologies, new global regulations, and increased investment, the industry is growing faster than ever. Of all the trends, the introduction of FinTech remains the most prominent, redefining and disrupting financial services and products in the last decade. However, since it is new, there are bound to be little or no understanding of how FinTech works and serves the changing market needs. Like any new revolutionary technology, there are certain expectations, beliefs, and predetermined notions associated with FinTech, thus fuelling many myths and rumors. To be able to understand the mechanisms of FinTech better and exploit its full potential, we must dig deeper and debunk those notions, one myth at a time.
FinTech, by its very definition, is a broad spectrum of things, involving different kinds of programs and applications. But, more often than not, they are categorized under the same head. As mentioned earlier, the finance industry is radically changing and emerging with newer products and services like money transfer, wealth management, lending, payments, to name just a few. And each of these subdomains of finance can make the most out of FinTech applications, designed for the respective function. Hence, they cannot be the same. Like every other technology, no two financial tech tools are designed the same way or can fulfill the same need. So, before you decide to opt for a FinTech solution for your finance business, it is important to explore the others and see what suits your business architecture and meets your and your customer’s needs.
There is a popular rumor going around that banks and FinTech services are at loggerheads and FinTech will most probably win the battle by bringing the banking system to an end. This is perhaps the biggest misconception surrounding this new technology. FinTech evolved as a natural course of development in the banking process. The technology is rather a catalyst to the banking system to streamline and expedite processes and functions and enhance the customer experience. This fear is very much like that of AI, when it was first introduced, making people believe that it will wipe out human intervention. In reality, it assisted manual functions and enhanced productivity and performance. Similarly, with innovations in FinTech, banking services are only going to evolve and become more efficient and take the sector to the next level.
Perhaps the words Finance and Technology together have led people to believe that it has everything to do with money. But it is a myth. Although about 80% of FinTech investments* (global) so far have been in lending and payment systems, it is still not a defining parameter. FinTech’s applications reach way beyond monetary transactions and extend to insurance, fraud detection, investment management, marketing provisioning and so on. FinTech also has immense capability to provide refined data analysis, which is becoming increasingly popular among financial service enterprises.
Being a digital product, there is a lot of concern regarding the security protocol of FinTech. But that also applies to any digital tool or new technology product. However, if we see beyond the facades, evolved technologies like cloud computing have ample capabilities to keep FinTech secure. Also, as with any other tech innovation, there is a constant effort on managing security issues at every step and addressing threats or probable areas of hacks. With advanced security measures, fraud detection, and better encryption standards, FinTech will soon prove to be a reliable and convenient platform.
Most people think that like many new technologies, FinTech is just a ‘bubble’ and with changing economic regulations, it will soon burst. Government regulations are inevitable. But that doesn’t mean it can wipe out an entire system that is being built. FinTech leaders are quite aware of these possibilities and are leaving no stone unturned to partner with the Government and make it an integral part of economic development. Also, in many countries, the Government is actively involved in developing FinTechs and exploiting its potential for better financial services to the citizens.
The world of finance is diverse and can reap a lot of benefits from FinTech if applied right. But only when one understands it well and avoids the myths, can one see the real advantages. With many new trends like dedicated FinTech centers, specialized funding for FinTech companies, AI-powered insights, and growth of predictive analytics, this technology space will only grow bigger and better.
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Top 5 Areas to Explore in FinTech Careers
FinTech is an industry born out of the marriage of the ever-green financial services sector and the new millennium’s technology industry. This industry offers financial services to people by leveraging software and technology. Some examples are online banks, peer-to-peer lending platforms, Robo-advisories, mobile payment firms, etc.
The FinTech industry has been disruptive right from the start and has succeeded in redefining various ownership-based traditional financial services models. FinTech has replaced them with a democratic model and made financial services easily accessible to people. Over the last decade, this industry has grown exponentially, creating a huge demand for professionals with FinTech-specific capabilities. In this article, we will share five skills that can ensure a great start to your FinTech career.
Continuing with the trend from 2019, financial institutions are expected to increasingly develop or adopt capabilities pertaining to machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The FinTech market in India is expected to cross $31 billion in 2020.
~ Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog
The Indian FinTech industry is the third-largest in the world and is expanding at a great pace. Hence, to ensure a rewarding FinTech career, it is important to equip yourself with skills that are in high demand in the industry. Here are the top five options:
Blockchain professionals are in demand across different segments of the FinTech Industry. The growth and rise of cryptocurrencies laid the foundation for an ever-increasing demand for professionals specialising in Blockchain technology. While most people understand the theory behind this technology, not many professionals can implement it successfully. Blockchain experts can expect handsome salaries and a FinTech career that helps you grow at a thrilling pace.
One of the best ways to kick-start your FinTech career is by acquiring programming skills in C++, Java, C#, JavaScript, SQL, and Python. There is a rising demand for programmers who can develop full-stack platforms, websites, and above all, mobile applications in this industry. Programmers are also needed for developing APIs of new services and products. Moreover, programming skills can also open many other career avenues for you.
We are generating more data than ever before. Organizations have access to useful data that requires analysis, scrutiny, and interpretation. This is the only way to convert volumes of data into useful information. This is where professionals with knowledge of technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning are in demand. These professionals are the definition of skilled humans working with smart machines to create innovative products and services and gain better customer insights.
Cyber security jobs are growing in number with not enough talent to fill the vacancies. In fact, Cybersecurity Ventures has predicted that by 2021, around 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs will be unfilled. This is a great opportunity for you to start your FinTech career. FinTech startups are especially vulnerable to cyber-attacks and malicious threats. All FinTech companies, large or small, are constantly on the lookout for new talent in cyber security to help safeguard them against the latest threats and ensure their financial and reputational security. As a cybersecurity expert, the sky will be your limit!
Although the industry is all about leveraging technology, you cannot succeed without the right soft skills. The world is changing and so are the people in it. Hence, successful professionals require a specific set of soft skills to catapult them ahead of their peers and steer their careers in the right direction. These include people skills like communication, emotional intelligence, empathy, problem-solving skills, flexibility, and adaptability. Be a learner and develop these skills while on a job or as a part of life. You can also join soft skill courses for the same.
A successful FinTech career requires you to learn the skills that are in demand in the industry and expected to remain so in the near future. The technology industry is volatile and newer technology brings newer skill requirements. However, the skills mentioned above are in their development stages making it the right time to learn them and start a career in the growing FinTech industry.
How FinTech Expertise Can Help Senior Finance Professionals?
Just a few years back, it was hard to imagine a bank going paperless and branchless. It was almost fictional to think of money transfer being done instantaneously–whether within a city or across borders. It was magical to conjure up the image of a loan that can be availed with just a few clicks and minimal documentation. Yet, all these are part of the new banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector impacted by FinTech today. In a short period, the BFSI sector has embraced so many technology shifts. Today the sector has changed so much with the adoption of,
FinTech has redefined the industry beyond recognition. It has wiped away long queues, manual exhaustion, bureaucratic fatigue, and process-delays. FinTech has leveraged Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, and Cloud in such a pervasive and swift way that it has cut costs and created new revenues.
As per the PwC Global FinTech Report 2019, 48 percent of Financial Services organizations have embedded FinTech fully into their strategic operating model, while 37 percent of Financial Services organizations have incorporated emerging technologies into the products and services they sell. These developments raise a few questions.
For them, this is the right time to get a little braver and smarter to deal with the current predicament. It’s both possible and imperative to evolve their kit of competencies considering the new world order. They can add to and augment their Banking and Finance expertise by learning the new tools that AI, automation, and Cloud present. To add to that, if you are already in a C-Suite position, it is even more critical to gain the right FinTech chops so you can help your organization stay relevant and robust in the unfamiliar landscape. At this point, it is interesting to note,
As a senior Finance professional, getting up to speed on the new reality is crucial.
To upgrade themselves with newer capabilities and stay relevant, senior Finance professionals can tap into some well-crafted FinTech courses available at many good institutes today. Some of these courses are designed with a lot of flexibility and ease to take them online in an interactive and engaging environment, coupled with rich networking opportunities with industry experts and peers.
Once armed with the FinTech expertise they lack now, these senior Finance professionals can leap forth with so many advantages hard to catch up to for even the sharpest FinTech natives today. The geeks’ technology know-how can be exponentially empowered with senior finance professionals’ rare and hard-earned expertise. It opens up so many avenues in strategic, operational, and management roles that the new breed of FinTech companies want to fill as soon as possible.
There is a shortage of senior expertise at even the most future-forward FinTech company. It has been observed that 75 percent of Financial organizations are creating jobs related to Fintech, but 42 percent struggle to fill the roles. In the PwC 22ND Annual Global CEO survey, one finds that if ten years ago, only about 50 percent of Financial Services leaders saw skills shortages as a threat to their growth prospects, the number has risen to a staggering 80 percent today. It is going to worsen as disruption gets deep and wide.
As much as two-thirds of Financial Services organizations are concerned about the availability of FinTech skills among their senior leadership team and across the sector as well. The situation is full of both concerns and opportunities–as you can surmise reasonably.
This is the right time to learn the new language that the FinTech tribe speaks in. Once that’s in place, you can bank on your rich métier with new confidence and power. With all that experience under your belt, your learning curve would be very short.
Can You Have a Career in FinTech Without Programming Knowledge?
India is among the fastest-growing FinTech markets globally, and with 87% FinTech adoption, India shares the top spot with China globally.
According to the findings from a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and FICCI, Indian FinTech companies are poised to become three times as valuable in the next five years, reaching a USD 150-160 billion valuation by 2025. 67% of over 2,100 FinTechs have sprung up just in the last five years. The segment has attracted massive investments, with India emerging as Asia’s most prominent destination for FinTech deals. Increased awareness, government policies, quick onboarding and ease of use, smartphone proliferation and internet expansion, regulatory support, and improved technology are key factors driving rapid Fintech adoption.
Experts share their exciting views on India’s FinTech revolution
Innovation, rapid transformation and staggering growth in India’s FinTech space is creating massive opportunities for entrepreneurs and professionals. For several of them, getting into the FinTech industry is not just about vital niche technology skills such as app development. There are other solutions they need to offer an organization to be considered as their next FinTech expert. This entails knowing about public cloud technologies, data science and delving deeper into the realm of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Yes indeed. You can build a successful career in FinTech without programming or coding knowledge. Even if you are a non-tech professional, having programming knowledge is not crucial to start and lead FinTech projects. Coding is mainly employed to create new software or change the way things function currently. These changes can be done through programmers.
Organizations in the FinTech industry are constantly looking for expert professionals to fill in critical roles. FinTech professionals don’t really need deep tech knowledge to make it in the field. They require substantial familiarity with the workings of the different underlying technologies to use them for FinTech innovations.
Some of the important capabilities required to build a career in FinTech include.
“Cybersecurity is critical for the success of digital banking and banks should create the infrastructure to win customers’ trust for all such transactions.”
Ravindra Pandey
Deputy MD and Chief Digital Officer
State Bank of India
Tapping into promising career opportunities in the FinTech space entails having an in-depth understanding of how FinTech works and deep expertise. To develop such an understanding and expertise, one needs hands-on learning. That’s why IIM Calcutta and TalentSprint, offer a uniquely designed six-month Advanced Programme in FinTech and Financial Blockchain (APFFB) for professionals in banking, consulting, financial services, insurance, management, and technology, who want to tap into opportunities and shape their careers in the FinTech space. It’s a faculty-led interactive Live online programme with a well-researched curriculum that fosters hands-on learning. The programme has completed 3 cohorts with 450+ participants currently working with 170+ top companies.
