In the present day, Wealth Management is one of the most dominant sectors in the financial industry. Wealth Management businesses tend to have higher growth prospects and return on investments (ROI) ratios than most other retail financial businesses.
However, the Wealth Management industry is in the middle of a major shift; a new generation of investors have created the demand for modern standards on how wealth management services are delivered. The expectations and inclinations of these investors are shaped by advancement in technologies and their experience of the last financial crisis. Furthermore, rising costs of risk to investor’s funds and wealth management firms alike are making it harder for financial analysts to provide exclusive investment services for the clients.
Today, many Wealth Management firms are trying to determine how to engrain technology within their business models and use it as a tool in the financial services industry. Robo-advisory is one such emerging trend that has come to light in the field of wealth management.
The advantages of robot-advisory are that they provide affordable and reliable financial advice for all investors regardless of their net worth. While some may argue there is no role for robot-advisors in the Wealth Management industry, the truth is that we’ve reached a point where it’s impossible to live without it.
Ever since the widespread penetration of internet and digital devices, investors’ expectations have changed at a rapid pace. Convenience is now a top priority for all businesses. No one wants to waste time in physically visiting a place or talking on the phone to receive financial advice on a daily basis. This has resulted in not only more efficient and effective conduct of business, but also an increase in the number of investors willing to take risks for higher returns. That’s why most wealth management institutions are starting to adapt robot-advisory by altering the way they function.
Just like robot-advisors, another hot technological trend in the financial world is Blockchain. Numerous financial institutions including many major banks have already started exploring Blockchain’s potential in the wealth management industry.
The blockchain is a decentralized ledger which includes a safe and secure record of all cryptocurrency transactions that have been completed. It can be accessed by anyone regardless of the size of his transactions.
The idea behind Blockchain technology can provide a digital source of identity authentication allowing the unified exchange of documents between investors and wealth management institutions including banks. This is likely to bring a rise in automated investment services and reduction in working capital cost, all the while maintaining the privacy of data required by law.
Introduction of Blockchain is paving way for a surge of a cryptocurrency-based financial revolution that is already creating disruption in wealth management industry. The underlying process has also changed when technology replaced paperwork in back offices of wealth management institutions. Cryptocurrency basically is reordering the functioning of financial institutions in such ways we couldn’t envision until now. Although it will take some time for companies to fully entrust the benefits of cryptocurrency to investors, right now only a few can afford transparency as Blockchain technology evolves and is adopted by competitors.
The economy stands at a point where anyone can predict with logical certainty from cryptocurrency-based solutions. Currently, at the dawn of the Blockchain revolution, the major challenge for wealth management corporations is identifying and focusing on sectors which require innovative thinking to adapt to technological changes. If well-established wealth management businesses don’t modify their organizational models to address these setbacks, they may find themselves at a disadvantage in the industry.
Category: COE
Top 6 Incredible Benefits of Cryptocurrency
The field of Financial Technology, or Fintech as it is popularly known is a fairly new field in the industry. As a rule, any new concept has always put the humankind in a hesitant state, whereby many of us faced massive dilemmas owing to the kind of apprehensions we had about these new technologies, especially when it came to our finances.
Just like when the credit cards were introduced, people were very unsure of them in the beginning, but soon got used to it. Similar is the treatment that is meted out to the new and upcoming concepts of cryptocurrency and bitcoin.
While it may seem that this new and advanced technology, could possibly put the economy in jeopardy, but at the same time, there are many industry experts who are all in favor of the concept of cryptocurrency and eagerly looking forward to the kind of benefits that it will be able to offer the world of Financial Technology.
Also Read : What Are the Advantages of Blockchain Certification?
The most simple of definition of cryptocurrency, is that it is digital money. When we talk about the cryptocurrency economy, we talk about a closed, encrypted line of business network, which is 100% free from any kind of governmental supervision and thus is more of a peer to peer, independent network which is governed by similar internet protocol.
Here’s about 6 benefits that cryptocurrency can offer you –
Decrease the Occurrence of Frauds
As the cryptocurrency network is one which is fully encrypted but at the same time, it also happens to be a system which ensures the documentation of every action. So none of the cryptocurrencies can be reversed, backtracked or even counterfeited by anyone.
No Interference of Third Parties
Usually when it comes to any sort of financial transaction, it is imperative to have a supervisory, intermediate body as well as a legal presence and so on. But with financial technology coming in to the picture, the need for a third party when it comes to bitcoin transactions, will be completely eliminated from the picture.
Lesser fees
While it is true that the elimination of a third party involved in the settlement, the money that the participants had to shell out for them would no longer be required. But at the same time there would be a need to pay the fees of an online platform which would make bitcoin transactions work together. Albeit with much lesser fees than charged by intermediaries.
Accessibility
Did you know that today one in 3 Kenyans, is actually able to own a bitcoin wallet? Such individuals who are able to have access to smart phones and the internet, but do not have as much access to traditional cash, would be able to be involved in cryptocurrency.
It Will All Be Decentralized
There will be a major amount of decentralization especially when it comes to cryptocurrency. This is because it will be a network which individuals will be able to access as well as work on their own due to its peer to peer system.
Universal recognition
Being a digital currency, cryptocurrency doesn’t not need to keep in terms with any exchange rates, transaction charges or anything like that of other countries. This gives it a great appeal in order to make use of it on a universal level.
So, thus although at its nascent stage, cryptocurrency sure shows a number of great opportunities and benefits for the future.
Related Article: Future of Blockchain Technology
How FinTech is Seeing a Major Growth in India
With a population of more than a billion, India is definitely a promising sector for the FinTech. Before we move ahead, let us first explain what is FinTech? In simple terms, FinTech is the industry that comprises of the companies that use the technology to offer financial services. These companies work in different areas of financial management, insurance, electronic payments etc.
In the past decade, FinTech has taken over globally and is expected to rise in future as well. India isn’t behind in this global trend. With over half a billion invested in the Indian FinTech over the last three years, the segment only shoes promising future of growth.
Also Read: Introduction to Fintech
In 2015, around 12,000 FinTech came up globally making up the total investment of $19 billion. It is expected that by 2020, the global investment by FinTech will be $45 billion, which is a steep rise of 7.1%. According to the NASSCOM reports, India has around 400 FinTech companies with the investment of around $420 million. Reports also suggest that by the year 2020, the investment of the FinTech companies in India will increase to $2.4 billion.
With the help of government regulations, banks and other financial companies, India has formed a favourable ecosystem for the growth of FinTech. FinTech is helping bring about the change in the personal financial management through e-payments and e-wallets, in the country that is predominantly cash- driven.
A number of contributes towards the growth of FinTech in India. The number of internet users in India reached to 465 million in June 2017. With more and more number of people depending on the internet for varied reasons, the digitalisation has taken a new turn. Government’s effort in bringing the digital revolution through ‘Digital India’ campaign is opening many opportunities for the existing FinTechs and start-ups.
Government Regulations:
The government has realised the potential of FinTech in India and is constantly making efforts to make the regulations friendlier. In 2014, the government relaxed the rule of KYC process for customers making online transactions and payments up to Rs 20,000 per month. It is expected that the government will lay out a new set of norms to revamp the P2P lending market.
To promote cashless transactions, the government is now offering tax rebates to the merchants for accepting at least 50% of electronic payment.
‘Jan Dhan Yojana’ aims at providing a bank account to every citizen of India. Since the launch of the scheme in 2014, 240 million bank accounts have been opened. FinTech start-ups can use the opportunities to provide easy and seamless transaction service.
Incubator and Accelerators:
The role of incubators and accelerators are not limited to funding but also strengthening the financial industry. The incubators provide the obligation-free environment for the start-ups. India is among the top five countries that show promising results for the start-ups. The initiatives ‘smart city’ and ‘digital India’ are set to strengthen the technological infrastructure of the country. To show the support to FinTech start-ups, banks and financial institutes have partnered with incubators and accelerators.
Related Article: Is There Any Future in FinTech?
Master the Skills of Fintech And Be Successful
Master the Skills of Fintech And Be Successful
FinTech is a financial technology that covers a large group of organisations utilising programming and innovation to give monetary administrations. In FinTech, the majority of candidates will have a software engineering qualification.
Even though the industry is a combination of finance and technology, so when looking for the skills that have to be appropriate for being a part of this FinTech industry, technology comes first.
As the financial industry is progressively encountering changes, experts are on the hunt for skilled and trained people. The following are the overview of skills and capabilities emphatically looked for to work in FinTech.
Communication skills
Regardless of whether you work with merchants, business analysts or IT people, you must have the capacity to clarify parts of your tech venture unmistakably and compactly to your client.
It is imperative to understand that fintech courses aren’t only about developments and advancements, fintech includes more things. New companies need to sell their products and services, and, consequently, they require great managers and client relations experts, who have great communication abilities, having the capacity to clarify the key parts of the product. So you need to master this skill to be successful.
Teamwork abilities
In FinTech, you’ll be working with various individuals at various phases of a venture. You’ll frequently work under strain and to tight due dates to get the work completed, which implies you’ll need a decent association with the colleagues to request to ensure the work gets conveyed on time. So be prepared to work hard on your skills to achieve your objectives.
Problem-solving capacity
Working in FinTech is not an easy job, you’ll continually be searching for approaches to make things work quicker and all the more proficiently. You need to manage data and information and lessen the risk factor constantly. The key thing is having the capacity to know and understand an issue, divide it into its basic components and after that work out how technology can help you out. This is maybe the ability you have to work on
Gain work experience
You can gain work experience through an internship. A practical experience that one can gain over the education will likewise have an upper hand over the individuals who have classroom experience.
So working as an intern will give you much more experience and will boost up your skills.
AI and ML Knowledge
AI and ML stand for artificial intelligence and machine learning respectively. They both are becoming progressively essential in the field of FinTech. Machine Learning and Artificial intelligence specialists are highly looked after by investment banks to enable them to actualize financially effective solutions and show signs of improvement in client experiences.
Cyber security expert
Over the most recent couple of years, there is a huge increment in cyber crimes with finance being the main purpose behind these crimes. For somebody working in FinTech, knowledge about cyber security is a basic piece of the job. In case you’re working as a software designer, understanding and knowledge of cyber security is expected to create secure applications and programming software, so that client data and information are secured.
Knowledge about finance
Meanwhile, focus on building up your insight into the financial sector. Stay up to date with the latest updates in the markets of the finance world. You can upgrade your knowledge by perusing the Financial Times and the Economist, or viewing Bloomberg TV, and also there are so many blogs to read.
What is Bitcoin and Is It a Good Investment?
Ask any Bollywood enthusiast Indian what the meaning of being wealthy was, and they would have said, “Having an account in one of those infamous Swiss banks”. But this was a case about more than a few years ago.
But if you ask any Indian today, who has been keeping up with the current market scenario and has even the most remote knowledge about economics, they would say, “Being wealthy means being able to own your very own Bitcoins.” But before we go into the whole what and how about it, it is important to be aware that our country, has is yet to accept this cryptocurrency as a legal tender.
Also Read: Future of Blockchain Technology
The term bitcoin was coined in the year 2008, by a person who went by the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin is basically a virtual currency or a decentralized cryptocurrency, which started off just as an unimportant form of virtual currency, but soon gathered momentum and was transformed into a more mainstream form of currency in the successive years.
What sets this cryptocurrency apart and what caught the attention of the whole world was something called as the blockchain technology.
This blockchain technology refers to a digital ledger, but it is quite unlike any sort of digital ledger that has existed. Here the record of the various transactions which are carried out in bitcoin is maintained in such a way, that there is a great amount of transparency and accountability between the parties involved.
The information of the transactions is then distributed among a certain number of computers, all of which are participants of the transaction and no one else but them. Thus this rules out any requirement of a third party, which generally would have acted as the intermediary.
The blockchain technology can very well go on to disrupt the way banks have been essaying the role of an intermediary for centuries now. This is because it will totally do away with the need for any kind of intermediary.
A number of financial technology or Fintech start-ups today have come up and begun using this blockchain technology and are trying to apply it to many more fields than just that of banking or bitcoins.
Now coming to the most important question. Is investing in Bitcoin a good investment? Well the fact that our country has still not legalized it as a mainstream currency, it seems prudent to apply certain amounts of caution.
At the same time, because this field is entirely new but, at the same time can actually give results, like in the case of one lucky Norwegian man who overnight became richer by 5,54,30,625.00 Indian Rupees, because of his long-ago investment in Bitcoins. There is quite a craze of investing in and trading in bitcoins as well as bitcoin mining, in order to multiply one’s monetary assets.
Bitcoin trading is not quite synonymous with the general trading of stocks that takes place, neither is bitcoin mining the same as data mining.
With the rising risk of frauds and instances of bitcoins being a bad investment, it is up to the discretion of the investor as to how much risk he/she is willing to take and how much he/she is willing to lose if not all in order to play this game of digital stash.
Related Article : Importance of Blockchain in Big Data
What are the career opportunities in the Fintech sector in India?
What are the career opportunities in the Fintech sector in India?
Emerging industries, which are famously known as sunrise industries in today’s time, are basically those industries that have emerged very recently and shown the potential of being the most lucrative industries for society as well as the economy. Fintech or financial technology is one such sunrise industry, which has actually paved a novel way, away from the age-old financial services. The field is basically aiming towards disruption of banking processes, the way they are carried out in the present times and mainly want to provide digitally advanced services to the customers.
This field has showcased a huge number of profits as well as growth opportunities for those aspirants wanting to enter this industry. For instance, in recent times, we saw a lot of high profile hires by many companies working in the digital field. PayTM hired Shinjini Kumar, to work as the Chief Executive of their payments banks which is supposed to be launched really soon. Flipkart, in order to boost its fintech business, made two high-profile hires quite recently. PayTM even hired professionals who were working at powerful positions in global banks to head its leadership and management teams to help them get people on board of digital banking.
Also Read: Introduction to Fintech
The managing director of Manpower India, when quizzed about this field of fintech said, “Finance Technology is a booming segment in India with the opening of numerous mobile wallet companies, non-banking finance companies and now payment banks as well. All of these are running on robust digital platforms.” Thus it is quite evident that this field is all set to create a lot of new jobs which will be centred around mobile phones, generating a better user experience and also for the field of financial analysis.
The reason why there would be many career opportunities available at various positions in the field of fintech has its solution in numbers. Around 170 million Indians are active as well as passive users of smartphones and close to 160 million have an active access to the internet. Thus it is safe to say that India is getting on the digital platform with rapid strokes of interest. This, on the other hand, is encouraging more and more companies to come ahead and provide such digital services and products which not just help the customers but also make their experience a smooth one.
There are career opportunities available today in companies like Mobikwik, Capital Float, MSwipe, Citrus Pay, Ezetap and many other digital payment platforms. Many other e-wallet and e-commerce companies are being developed which will be providing similar kinds of career opportunities for those interested in the field of financial technology. This is why more and more youngsters today are opting out of this kind of job as opposed to jobs where the traditional banking systems are followed. There are quite a few institutes today that help candidates get into this field like Imarticus Learning which is increasingly becoming popular.
Related Article: What are the Advantages of Learning Fintech
What are the Advantages of Learning Fintech?
What are the Advantages of Learning Fintech?
In any market, when a certain industrial product or service is launched, there are a variety of reasons why it may work or may not work for the industry. This holds especially true in terms of any of the new technologies entering the market.
The growth of such technological industries determines the influx of new players, some of whom may come in with a silver spoon in their mouths, basically turning everything they touch into gold, great turnovers, fabulous mergers and acquisitions, and so on. At the same time, there are also a number of failures and flounders in the industry.
The fintech industry is not a very new one and has been through its fair share of ups and downs. In spite of a little while of a slump in the middle, there are many ways in which the fintech industry has strived and turned its trade positive in order to come to be thriving in the present times.
One of the main reasons why this industry has seen more ups is that it catered not just to the big guns but also to the small business owners which included all the disadvantaged sections of the society, women, minorities and immigrants.
Also Read: Introduction to Fintech
This industry is going to grow and be stronger, which is why there are many experts who believe it is advantageous to get certified and get into this industry.
Here are a few reasons why we believe there are great advantages in learning Fintech;
- Financial technology has been criticized in the sense that it would not see a large number of growth and developments in the future. But the majority thinks otherwise. The reason that fintech course is actually going to be there in the industry for a much longer time is the very fact that banks are getting digitalized and they are doing so at an alarmingly fast rate.The industry is no longer at the innovator stage and is more at an adoption stage. Thus getting certified to work in this industry will prove extremely advantageous.
- Fintech companies or those organizations that are involved in this industry don’t really have the rules of capitalism apply to them. This is mainly because of the fact that, in capitalism, there is the chance of companies getting explosive dividends and later on also going bust.But in the case of fintech whenever a void is created, there would be a number of alternative lenders to jump in to fill it up. This is the reason why the field of fintech which does not follow a ‘growth at all costs’ mentality will definitely flourish both in terms of growth and job opportunities.
- The world is getting digitalized on a massive scale and today no one really has any time for actually getting their transactions done from slower, larger financial corporations anymore. Technology has touched every single sphere of life including the sphere of banking. This is why learning the various nuances of fintech would be most definitely an advantage for candidates entering into this new world of technology.
The above reasons are why learning fintech is a great option for candidates looking to get into the industry today.
Also Read: Is a Career in Fintech Your Future?
Introduction To Fintech!
Introduction To Fintech!
Fintech is the popular abbreviation for the term, financial technology, which is currently considered as one of the trendiest fields to work for in today’s digital age. This is mainly because of the fact that financial technology has the potential to revolutionize and bring in massive changes in the lifestyles of people as well as in the ways that they conduct business.
Those companies which work in the arena of fintech are usually involved in the offering of products and services, which are usually offered by financial institutions. But they are doing so by offering these very services by leveraging technology and thereby making them much more innovative as well as affordable.
The main reason for the field of fintech to emerge was the colossal amounts of cash that were being pumped into the economy in the past few decades. The purchasing power of people and disposable cash at their hands was growing manifold, which was what made venture funding and capital investments increase so very much at the same time.
Related Article: Is a Career in Fintech Your Future?
Best Fintech course is basically referred to as a broad term that is mainly used to describe those companies that usually apply cloud-based tools, open-source software, and other various kinds of technologies in order to improve the field of banking and finance. This field is considered to have enough potential to bring in a revival of the current financial system. This is why many regulators have been working to strike a proper balance between protection and innovation.
This technology basically is aimed at as a competition to the traditional methods of finance and financial services. Various electronic devices like smartphones and technologies like mobile banking, investing services, and cryptocurrency is services that usually end up under the ambit of financial technology.
It also involves a number of start-ups as well as various companies which are involved with finance and technology companies all of which are trying to enhance the quality of services delivered in the present times.
The definition of fintech is, “it is a new financial industry that applies technology to improve financial activities.” The main medium of work here is the internet, where all the services produced and marketed are supposedly functional through the same. The various areas in which you would find here would be insurance trading and risk management. There has been an increased investment for both the development as well as the expansion of this field in recent times.
The various startups that happen to be working in this field are Lufax from China, Square, Stripe, Zenefits, Social Finance, and Credit Karma in the USA and POWA Technologies in the UK, Adyen in the Netherlands, Klarna in Sweden, One97 Communications in India and Coupa Software in America and Funding Circle in the United Kingdom again. These are just a few of the many start-ups striving in this field.
This diversity of start-ups is one of the main reasons why there are so many professionals seeking to get trained in this field and get certified for the same.
Related Article: How to Start a Career in FinTech?
Future of Blockchain Technology
You must have heard about the new and emerging forms of currency in the economy today, which is more popularly known as a cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is one of the types of cryptocurrency which has become extremely famous among the rich and famous as well as those involved in the finance industry today. This cryptocurrency has brought in a whirlwind of a revolution in the industry of finance mainly due to the fact that it has introduced a payment system which does not really need any firm or individual or bank to function as an intermediary.
This peer to peer payment system makes use of a technology called as blockchain technology, where the identity and transaction details of both the parties are effectively protected. It is believed that blockchain technology has a great future, especially in the financial industry owing to its mechanisms of storing legitimate information in such a way that it can be traced thoroughly. There are many experts in the industry who claim that bitcoin would soon do to the field of finance, the exact same thing that was done by email for communication around the globe.
Also Read: Importance of Blockchain in Big Data
Banks although are extremely apprehensive about dealing with blockchain as there aren’t many countries which have still not accepted bitcoin as a legal tender due to its many liabilities, but there are great chances of rapid adoption of this technology in the near future. This technology has immense potential especially when it comes to reducing the cyber risks by offering various types of identity authentication methods, which would be offered through a visible leger.
The future would definitely see blockchain technology being brought in to the mainstream all thanks to electronic ledgers, which would do the job of numbering, maintaining as well as indexing all of the records and communicating the information that is stored in all of them. Smart devices can also make great use of blockchain technology in the future. For instance, a refrigerator can do a lot more than just storing food. It could track its own warranty, call for its delivery of the various food items that are required by the household and so on.
Did you know that blockchain can do a lot more than just restricting itself to finance? There is a great application of blockchain in the sphere of crime, wherein its software can be so developed so as to enable the speedy catching of criminals and reducing the amount of money spent on catching them on a regular basis as well.
There is a huge potential in this technology to new opportunities for employment in the industry as well as increasing the ability of professionals to innovate a lot more. It has an immense potential to transform the world into a much smaller place as it goes on to increase the speed and the efficiency of the transactional activity. The future of blockchain encompasses even the governments of the countries worldwide.
Also Read: Blockchain Revolution: Prosperity in the Era of the Internet
Is There Any Future in FinTech?
Is There Any Future in FinTech?
The 21st century saw the absolute boom of technology, today our lives are both literally and figuratively driven by technology. So much, so that careers in technology today are no longer confined to the world of information technology, but have even branched out into various other exciting industries.
One surprising vertical’s presence here is more than just surprising. We are talking about the career of financial technology or fintech as it is popularly known. Touted as one of the most promising future careers in 2016, this career has seen a great amount of development and revolutionizing changes within and outside of its sphere of influence.
Related Article: How to Start a Career in FinTech?
The word fintech is a contraction of the two words ‘financial’ and ‘technology’ as can be simply defined as, ‘a line of business with its primary base on using the software in order to provide financial services. Many feel fintech technically is a field leaning towards a more disruptive nature, whereas there are others who feel this field is more augmentative in nature.
This field is usually full of start-ups, which is why the emphasis on disruptive innovation. The sub-industries herein span from everything from algorithmic asset management to peer-to-peer lending like in the (yet to be legalised) cryptocurrency genre.
Other industries in the field of fintech include thematic investing, payments, digital currency, credit scoring, education lending, cybersecurity, working capital management, and others. The most common theme in all of them is the use of technology to improve the efficiency of financial markets and systems.
So how does this highly lucrative field figure in your future? And does it really figure in? Let’s talk numbers, according to a report by Accenture, global investment in fintech rose close to $4.05 billion with America topping as the country where most investment has been made. But since then there has been a visible pan continent growth in this field.
Coming to the question of ‘why finance matters and how it can make a place as a career in your future. Historically, the finance sector was like a polar bear in technological hibernation for quite a while. This was owing to the banks which maintained absolute control over the manner in which digital financial products and services were introduced in the markets. Today our shared history is being revived and revamped by a set of sophisticated technologies which have delegated the power from the hands of the banks into a larger spectrum.
So the why of the question is answered, as the Fintech course is changing the ways of the financial world for the better. Today investment banks and companies have experienced lower costs, more options and have seen the explosive potential of data-driven lending in the market.
So if you happen to be someone on the lookout for a job that is a combination of security and good financial payoffs, then the field of fintech is the one for you. There are various ways to reach the same, either by gaining work experience or taking up professional training courses like the ones that institute like Imarticus Learning offer.