New fintech programme

New fintech programme embraces disruptive technologies.

Lincoln University’s new Master of Fintech and Investment Management degree introduces students to the technological disruption underway in the global financial services industry.

New finance-based technologies and innovation strategies are revolutionising the global economy.

Banking, investment, and commerce are increasingly driven by the application of data, backed by transaction information held on new blockchain platforms.

Blockchain technologies are redefining workflows, global payments, and prosperity creation, through mobile payments and money transfers, peer-to-peer lending, fundraising and crowd-sourcing.

Course coordinator, Senior Lecturer Dr Cuong Nguyen, said the shift to emerging financial technologies and digital assets was changing banking.

“The foundation of banking has been fundamentally outlived and financial services industry players must redefine themselves and find innovative ways to create economic growth in the future.

“The rapid adoption of fintech worldwide has created escalating demand for trained professionals with both fintech and financial analysis skills,” he said.

The degree will also deal with the changing regulatory and legal financial landscape, cyber security and policy issues, online lending, wealth management, investment management, software development, big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Dr Nguyen said it was ideal for those who have a conventional finance background and want to upskill, or a bachelor’s degree in an unrelated subject.

This course offers hands-on experience through industry placement in fintech-related firms and lays the foundation for the globally recognised Chartered Financial Technologist (CFT) professional designation.

There is also a focus on guest speakers in the course providing students with the most-up-to-date information in the fast-moving industry.

This includes Nguyen Ba Diep, Executive Vice Chairman and Founder of MoMo – E-Wallet Services, Vietnam’s leading mobile payment which serves more than eight million users. He also is a co-founder and vice-chairman of the Vietnam Fintech Club.

Connor Payne Head of Decentralized Finance and Software Engineer at Blocksize Capital GmbH Germany will also present. His company aims to make digital assets accessible for all financial institutions.

Head of Business Development at Kyber Network USA, Sasha Mai Herbert, is another guest speaker.  Kyber Network is one of the world’s leading decentralised finance companies, which provides the technology infrastructure for billions of dollars of transactions on multiple blockchain networks.

Tom Holgersson, CEO Findec – Sweden’s Fintech Hub, is a senior expert advisor to the Swedish and the Irish government’s business development agencies. Tom has profound experience in developing the Swedish ecosystem around fintech and financial services and also accelerating the scale-up and expansion of Swedish fintech companies around the world.

Junwen Yang Investment Manager, Western Securities Co., Ltd, China, a quantitative stock picker with a background in asset allocation, fund research, and fund management, and co-founder and Vice President of Fam Central, Sovico Group, in Vietnam, Cris D. Tran, an experienced digital strategist, corporate team player, and start-up enthusiast, round out the elite group.

The programme covers a diverse range of topics including investment management, financial risk management and alternative investments, financial computing with Python, databases and professionalism in the IT industry, software development, managerial research methods, and compliance in finance.

Dr Cuong said members of the global financial services industry (FSI) were striving to reinvent themselves and creating businesses to replace disappearing sources of revenue.

“Banks are evolving to stay current with the times, spurred by simplification and automation with the use of smart contracts to create operational efficiencies.”

He said it was generally believed that digital assets would help reduce risks for organisations or projects but there is also the fear organisations will lose competitive advantage if they fail to adopt blockchain and digital assets.

“The unprecedented speed at which infrastructure develops and the constant need for flexibility are spurring many industries to adapt to find their way in this new era of digital assets.

“The top five digital asset roles to organisations are custody of digital assets, new payment channels, diversifying investments/portfolios, access to decentralized finance (#DeFi) platforms and assets tokenization.”

“We may also see the end of physical money, with digital assets replacing fiat currencies in the next five to 10 years,” he added.

New Zealand is embracing Fintech.

Fintech NZ, a not-for-profit industry body that brings together financial and technology companies, service providers, investors, regulators, and other stakeholders in New Zealand, stated that emerging fintech is redefining the way we borrow, lend, save, spend, store and transfer money.

“Disruptive technologies are revolutionising traditional financial services, creating opportunities for start-up entrepreneurs and corporate innovators.”

It said New Zealand’s fintech sector is the fastest growing contributor of our technology Industry and continues to grow faster than its global counterparts.

It estimated the global fintech sector to be worth US$5.5 trillion and said it was thriving regardless of COVID-19, and stated New Zealand could also use financial technology to tackle big problems such as climate change and digital literacy.

Top Fintech start-ups in New Zealand, as listed by Payspace Magazine include Harmony, which started as a P2P lending service, but was said to now mostly cooperate with institutional lenders, investment platform Sharesies, and Figured, “an original fintech solution which opens new horizons for farm accounting”. Jasper, a digital platform through which investors can buy “fractions” or shares in commercial property chosen by an expert team, is also listed.

The Master of Fintech and Investment Management degree is part of Lincoln University’s fees free* offering for domestic students which runs until the end of next year, which means only course costs and student services fee are incurred, another great reason to apply now for this innovative qualification.

Apply now to start in February 2022. Learn more at  https://www.lincoln.ac.nz/news-and-events/Students-in-new-programme-encouraged-to-be-disruptive?utm_source=nzbusiness&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=fintech-q4-2021&utm_content=article