What are the profitable and developing career paths in the fintech industry?

Fintechs are start-ups offering financial services and banking products in business competition with the banking and financial institutions.  Many of them operate globally and account for sizeable portions of the industry services in finance, banking, and insurance sectors.

With Fintech industries becoming hugely popular the numbers of career paths in Fintech industry that open up are huge, especially for finance and computer science background aspirants.

Appropriate skills required.
The emerging technology of today which helped revolutionize the fintech sector is of blockchain technology. To be recruited the appropriate job skills will be required. We list below such skills to develop in order to make a lucrative start of your career in the fintech sector.

  • Java: This is popular with investments, banking, and financial sectors. There is a huge dearth of skilled programmers and team members, and for obvious reasons, the payouts can be very good.
  • C#: The analytics and risk team, offshore developers, C# programmers will be needed to build tools for RWA calculations used in the financial and banking sectors.
  •  Murex: Most financial sector jobs need broad-based skills that include language proficiency, technical skills and familiarity with Murex to be on strategy teams. The analytics development and integrations with Murex will also be required of Quants.
  • Python: This is the favorite of the fintech, banking, insurance and nearly all sectors with money transactions.
  • Finance/ Business analyst: Banks are redoing their technology strategy and implementing new projects based on blockchain technology and user experience. Security, audits, back office reporting, predictive analysis, and compliance regulations are increasing creating a demand for those who can upgrade, tweak and implement transitions to the latest technology.

Developing career paths.

1. Blockchain Developer
The need for blockchain developers and experts is growing exponentially. Enterprise developers, Ethereum network-based payment solutions, smart contracts, and distributed developments will spur the demand for developers and analysts.
2.  Apps Developer
The markets of the Fintech sector has seen scaling upwards market growth in mobile and digital payment solutions, personal finance solutions and mobile app development. This has pushed up the demand for young Fintech app developers.
3. Financial and Data Analysts
Increasing numbers of startups and the fascinating growth of technology in the financial sector means unstoppable demand for financial and data analysts.
4. Product Manager
Such managers will be in high demand in the encryption, security, online identity, and cryptography areas. Knowledge of Scrum, Agile and such evolving team performance tweakers will become essential.
5. Compliance Aces
Compliance experts, compliance analysts, and compliance officers for financial companies will be crucial to ensure regulatorily, and compliance targets are met.
6. Cybersecurity and Risk Analysts
Risk management, compliance, and regulatory experts will be sorely needed.
7. Analysts for Quantitative analysis
The ‘Quants’ drive complex big financial models based on data-driven emerging technology to make those financial, banking, hedge fund, and securities trade successful, fast, secure and risk-free. Cloud computing, quantum computing, AI, AR, and predictive analysis are good algorithms for your career.
8. Culture Evangelists.
Retention of skilled candidates becomes a daunting task with the increasing supply-demand gap. The HR department, event managers, and culture advisors will be in demand.
9. Manager-Business Development 
These managers are crucial to the growth of startups and Fintech organizations.
10. Data Specialist
Data scientists, data analytics managers, financial data analysts are required in large numbers with the ever-increasing amounts of data.
Do a fintech course in Banglore to start your career off on the right note.

Bahrain Invites Indian Fintech Firms To Set Up Base

 

There are few fields which have seen as much a meteoric rise as fintech in recent years. There have been a lot of startups coming up around the world which work in the integration of technology to payments, and many of these are based out of India. In fact, India has more than 2,000 startups currently work in India, which represents a huge growth in the last five years alone. In 2014, this sum stood at around 700 – it has grown almost three-fold in the past 5 years.

Bahrain is looking to make a mark on the fintech sector as well and is constantly striving to establish itself as the fintech hub of the Middle East. In a bid to diversify from the traditional oil-based economy of Middle Eastern countries, Bahrain has been promoting and enticing many companies in the fintech sector to set up base in the nation. The Bahrain government is currently providing a lot of opportunities for the Indian firms to start their entry into various financial sector techs, like crypto assets, robot advisory, and blockchain.

The financial sector is actually extremely important to the government of Bahrain. The financial sector is actually the second biggest contributor to the Bahrain government, after the traditional oil and gas sector. The government has actually built up a capable support system in order to help the fintech startups thrive, and supports great innovation and growth in the sector.

There are many advantages that a fintech company gets when they shift to Bahrain. Apart from the strong support that the government provides companies, there are plenty of other perks – this includes a low cost of doing business, a large number of accelerators and many incubators too. This means that many companies have tried to get into this amazing ecosystem, including a large number of tech startups in India.

A sandbox actually offers a great opportunity for startups to push the limits of innovation in a safe space. Startups in Bahrain have actually started rolling out new products to the customers, in the testing phase – many of them have been gaining some great positive recognition too.

The investment promotion arm of the Bahrain government called the EDB has even signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Maharashtra Government, in order to integrate the startups from the state into the markets in Bahrain. The formation of the Bahrain Fintech Bay, which is a private-public partnership platform, has played a huge role in attracting fintech startups too. It has worked to provide a physical space for fintech startups, and Bahrain is slowly shifting towards its bid for diversification. Around 42% of the fintech startups in the nation currently are based out of two cities – Bangalore and Mumbai. These two cities are actively targeted by the Bahrain government, and many fintech startups in the nation today are either entering the Bahrain markets with

The Hidden Agenda of Fintech

Fintech is the digital revolution which has redefined the way financial business took place in the past. India has adopted fintech at a very rapid pace. Many start-ups have emerged which are embracing fintech and many banks have also adopted fintech. The purpose of these new fintech start-ups is to utilize technology such as artificial intelligence in payments applications.
So what is fintech in the laymen terminology? Fintech is basically driven from the term financial technology which means that using technology is changing the financial services industry. This has been adopted globally. While fintech India is still quite a new concept in the country, but it is progressing.
Financial technology has its own agenda, in the way that it is customer driven. Fintech is a customer-driven approach. It is a way to spread awareness amongst its customers about the digital payments possibilities. From the financial industry aspect, another motive of fintech set-up is to make lending and borrowing available for all types of people who need capital. Since the current banking and finance industry uses credit history as a method of lending decisions, many individual borrowers along with small and medium enterprises end up suffering. This is because although their credit history might be tainted but possess good cash flow in present and future outlook could be promising with an intent to pay back the loan, banks and financial institutions still reject such applications.
How the fintech course can help in this situation? The answer is that since it makes use of artificial intelligence and machine learning it can help to create a lending score through a complete analysis using advanced data-driven and behavioral management models. Blockchain technology is the most amazing innovation of fintech. It is a digital ledger which stores all such data of customer which can be used whenever needed. Not only this, but it can also create a digital profile of customers who are not using banks for financial needs.
Another important reason why fintech is the next big thing is because of the online payments transactions which have become the norm. It wants to provide payments solutions to all individuals belonging to any sector in the economy. Fintech India aims to transform the country into digital India.
However, the biggest challenge is to convince and familiarize the small and medium enterprises to adopt fintech payments solutions as it will help them in the long-run to make and accept secure payments online. The biggest apprehension of the small and medium enterprises sector is the cost of adopting fintech. But what they need to understand is that this will not only help them to scale up their existing businesses but also increase the profitability of the business.
Through the use of smartphones, fintech is changing the customers of businesses as well. It makes it easier for customers to access information and data based on their previous history. Fintech can also keep a track of physical location as well as text messages. This way they can tailor the customer needs and provide a better way to address the financial needs efficiently.
Although all this sound promising the actual challenge which fintech is facing is the lack of awareness amongst the financial sector. There is an utmost need to address this issue and make fintech adoption easier and smooth. Since many people do not want to learn about the advanced banking products, while many do not want any disturbance in the current routine thus resisting the change. This can be resolved through aggressive marketing which can be done by making the marketers understand this concept completely.
Fintech is not a bad revolution which cannot be adopted rather it should be considered a positive sign for the economy. It will really change the financial industry for the better. Apart from this, it is also beneficial for customers to become financially sound.

Indian Fintech 5.4$ bn in 3 Years

It has been only around three years since the inception of the first Fintech startup in India. Since that very first day, this sector has been growing steadily. We know that in November 2016, our high-value currency notes were demonetized. Unlike many other businesses, the Fintech startups made huge benefits from this government decision. In the next three years after demonetization, a huge percentage of Indian people have adopted digital transaction. The investors have identified this opportunity and raised about $5.4 billion in equity funding. From the $593 million in 2016, there was an increase of a whopping 300% to $2.34 billion in 2018. The year witnessed 144 equity deals in the Finitech sector.
So, What are the Factors Attracting the Investors?
The Fintech service firms are literally redesigning the way the financial transactions conducted on a daily basis. When it comes to India, such a large country with over a billion people, there is a huge untapped market for Fintech startups, to begin with. The rate of mobile penetration has reached 65-75 percentage in India which is expected to hit the 90% mark by 2020. The market opportunity presented by this alone is huge enough for all the investments to make sense.
Also, it is estimated that as much as 90% of India’s small businesses are yet to link with formal financial institutes. Similarly, there are plenty of gaps between institutions and services in India which offer great scope for the Fintech solutions.
The Upcoming Years
So many reasons are pointed out by the experts for the investors to stay excited in the upcoming years.

  • The maturity of Fintech sector: The series D round of 2018 witnessed six deal in total. In 2016, there was not even a single startup to make it to the series D stage. This comparison indicates the maturity of the Indian Fintech sector.
  • The growing number of “Unicorns”: Until 2017, the Paytm was the only so-called “unicorn” company from Fintech sector. By 2019, the list of coveted companies from Fintech got longer with BillDesk, PolicyBazaar and PineLabs. Now, Fintech has the most number of “unicorn” companies beating the e-commerce sector.
  • The increased Quantum of investments: There has been a massive jump in the quantum of investments. Between 2016 and 2018, the number of series A deals grew 12.5%. But the deal size grew from $64 million to $146.8 million, a growth of 129 percentage. The growth of Series C deal size for the same period was a whopping 270%.
  • Opportunities in the Lending sector: Lending has remained to be the biggest attraction for investors in Fintech. Almost half of the equity funds were invested in startups focused on lending. With huge numbers of untouched markets lying beyond the Tier I and Tier II, lending startups have a great future in India.

With the internet connection being more accessible and government supporting the digitization of the economy, there is no doubt about the opportunities lying ahead in India for the Fintech. Hence, the large investments made in this sector are clearly no wonder and it will probably continue for the next few years.

What Programming Languages Would You Need To Learn To Enter a Fintech Career?

 

HackerRank states the six best programming languages for finance and FinTech are Python, C#, C, C, Ruby, and Java in no particular order of being the best or most popular.

  1. Python
    This programming language is simple and its syntax minimalistic. Its applications lie in machine learning, data analysis, the FinTech sphere, software industries, building cryptocurrency markets, insurance, banking, and many more.

    The popular features of Python are
    • Scalability, consistency, simplicity.
    • Precise and fewer code lines.
    • Pythonic-standards applicability help to read, modify and maintain code with ease.
    • Powerful Django framework
    Despite benefits being many, the drawbacks are
    • No support for the web browser.
    • Design restrictions. Asynchronous capabilities limited by lock and single thread.

  2. Java
    Oracle’s Java favours bank programming technology because of its security and capacity for loaded programs handling large volumes of data.
    It is very popular in FinTech industries because of it
    • Powerful Security Manager.
    • Running runtime constraints
    • Support and portability to many OS
    The Java disadvantages are
    • Lower speed.
    • Lower productivity
    • Technology that consumes memory

  3. C Language
    C programs are used in Fintech industries where speed in execution is crucial. It is popular for programs requiring advanced levels of computation where numerous operations are processed quickly, in quantitative analytics, and in quantitative finance.

    C is advantageous for its
    • Code reusability
    • Speed and Efficiency.
    • Rich resource libraries.
    The drawbacks are
    • Complexity.
    • Code writing and insecurity.

  4. C#
    Microsoft’s C# has a syntax similar to Can the best of Java and C. It is used for 3D-Unity games, building .NET programs, mobile apps, and websites.

    Developers favour C# for its
    • Interoperability in Cross-languages.
    • C Enhancements.
    • Volumes of libraries.
    • Type safety. Uninitialized variables are not permitted making C# coding safe.
    Its limitations are
    • Low speed
    • .NET dependency

    Significant advantages:

    • Mid-level language
    • Maturity
    • High speed
    • Highly portable
    Some limitations are
    • The absence of reusable code.
    • Non-flexible in fixing bugs

    6.Ruby
    Ruby has the necessary characteristics and capabilities for rapid app development. Ruby combines features of Perl, Eifel, Ada, and Lisp besides others. It’s applications find use in the financial technology for fintech sector, e-wallets, digital payments, analytics, and Big Data, and financial dashboards, and asset management systems.
    Startups and developers favour Ruby because it affords them.

    • Time savings, efficiency, readily available plugins, third-party owned libraries and codeless apps for project development.
    • Ruby-on-Rails framework provides a bug-free secure code to build scalable apps.
    • Efficiency and cost saving

    The disadvantages are:
    Tool Documentation is hard to find.
    Boot speed decrease due to the many libraries.
    In conclusion, each language has its pros and cons. Ensure that your project and language are compatible. Your skills in these languages gained at fintech courses should be a good fit for a majority of the situations.

What is Blockchain Training?

The technological advancements contributed by blockchains has led from the front to ensure swift changes in coding, cryptography and programming languages. Today’s industries need to keep up with the rapid strides, trends, and pace of technology.

This drives the demand for fast-adapting global business employees, experts, and professionals who need to equip themselves with state-of-art advanced courses and training to be more marketable, competitive and eligible.

The blockchain technology over the last decade has left a massive impact on all secure and transparent financial transactions and secure record-keeping including healthcare, public sector, real estate, and financial services to name just a few.

What is blockchain technology? 

A blockchain comprises of a chained block listing connected to each other through cryptography codes. The demand for blockchain experts is already at a high and is growing drastically by the moment as this technology has the potential and is widely believed to be reliable, secure and unbiased. Thus many blockchain training institutes and academies have mushroomed over the last few years.

The incessantly increasing demand for blockchain professionals guarantees great salary packages and quick career advancement for blockchain developers in the IT industry.

Cryptocurrency based blockchain technology evolving from the BitCoin technology uses hashtags and math problems encoded in every block of the blockchain. By embedding a part of the previous block’s code in every new block every transaction and block addition is verified across several interconnected nodes of PC’s which form a vigilant distributed network.

Every node verifies the transaction by providing the right solution to the query raised and hence such transactions are irrefutable, immutable and absolutely secure with time-tags and encryption too.

Blockchains eliminate the intervention of mediators in the transaction like large institutions, Governments, etc thereby, making it an open-source network which is easy to access.

The Bitcoin is the earliest form of digital cryptocurrency or virtual cash that is most widely accepted and traded in with a uniform global value unlike the various paper and fiat currencies which depend on different prices as per different geographic locations.

The Ethereum is the second most well-known cryptocurrency using blockchain technology which allows its users to build their own wallets and smart contracts by making use of its network to avoid complex coding processes needed to enable the building of smart contracts.

Features of Blockchains:

Bitcoin currency has been traded in Forex markets in many countries for over a decade. Just as the paper currency system is managed by the reserve and federal banks in the country, the blockchain manages cryptocurrencies. The explorer of blockchains records and maintains all Bitcoin transactions in a digital ledger of transactions connected in the chain to a secure sequence of hashtags.

Here are the important protocol and rules of the Bitcoin method, network, and blockchain.

  • Data is permanently stored: The software-based cryptocurrency is stored digitally and recorded making it difficult to dispute transactions in the wallet or account. Thus no unaccounted transactions and currency are present in the system.
  • Code rules all transactions: The blockchain is based and governed by its coding. Once recorded it cannot be changed or tampered with. Also, the digital records are available to the public and thus ensure a safe, immutable, recorded transaction.
  • No governmental, legal or regulatory involvement exists: The Bitcoin is devoid of third-party interference. It is a decentralized platform to ensure secure transactions digitally. When using the Bitcoin platform, currency or transactions ensure you get legal guidance.
  • The digital wallet has enhanced security and can be password protected: The wallet can store your keys and currencies securely and with encryption on hard drives, computer etc. It is best stored on a separate device to continue access even when your computer fails.
  • Access is only through your private key: The encrypted key is the only way to log in. Keep a backup of it safe and never lose it. If you do lose the key nothing helps as the blockchain recognizes only the key. You could lose your currency if you lose your key. Beware!
  • Use a reliable currency exchange platform: This protocol is essential to prevent hackers from gaining control to your information, currency and account. Though the system is encrypted and secure transactions are ensured, be careful to use a reliable platform for currency exchange, buying or selling Bitcoins.
  • Double check receiver address: Ensure receiver address as in a digital and decentralized system once you transfer to a wrong party there can be no charge-backs or support interventions.

Skills that can be acquired:

Blockchain training covers various topics embracing the core concepts in blockchain technology. The top-performing cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Bitcoin and multichain scenarios are envisaged and explained.

The core meaning of blockchain and its associated concepts are well-explained in blockchain training. Proper blockchain training provides an in-depth grasp about what the Bitcoin is about and how it works while connecting its users. It also enlightens one about the knowledge of how Etehreum’s platform is used for building smart contracts easily. Real-world blockchain scenarios are used to throw light on the concepts and future applications based on such concepts.

A comprehensive understanding of blockchain and the technologies involved therein can only be achieved by doing a course from bankable institutes like Imarticus. Undertaking a Blockchain Training program has become quintessential for freshers, software professionals like team leads, project managers, technology architects, and business analysts.

Considering the opportunities that await a person well-versed in blockchain technology, it is always a good choice to take up such courses at a reputed institute like Imarticus Learning and add the feather of blockchain certification to your career cap.

Conclusion:
The growth of Blockchain training online and its impact on various industries has led to an estimated 18% of world GDP through blockchain technologies. Once you master the fundamentals you will learn all about the hyper ledger, blockchain multi-chains, coding, cryptography, and smart contracts.

Easy understanding of the mechanism behind the top performing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethreum is also interpreted well in the blockchain training. As part of futuristic and new-age tech courses, the Blockchain technology training at Imarticus Learning also called the Fintech pro degree and blockchain training is sure to be profitable and a good career choice.

Which Courses To Take If You Are Considering Fintech as a Career Option?

 

Which Courses To Take If You Are Considering Fintech as a Career Option?

Fintech is the morphing of Technology and Finance. The emergence of this sector has seen a revolution in the way financial transactions are being made. Blockchain technology which spurred the growth of the fintech industry is today adopted in almost every conceivable sphere of activity. Fintech combines the offering of financial solutions through the use of innovative technology like the blockchain, IoT, AI, and AR among many others.

Fintech is truly an innovation of a disruption in startups. It has brought to us Crowdfunding, Cryptocurrencies, New-age modern banks, Money Management Tools, and Lending Services Peer-To-Peer, amongst others. With such growth obviously the sector needs people who can help it grow. Demand has gone through the roof and supply is hard to find. Yes, this means payouts and salaries are high. No wonder everyone wants to join the fintech sector. 

Consider a career in Fintech
Certification in Fintech is an excellent idea as the industry is new and demand is high. The certification validates your skills and experiences to dive into the fintech world. For earning such certification, you will need to take up a good course like the Imarticus’ Fintech Pro degree. 

The Fintech courses offer a good grasp of basics, concepts, theoretical knowledge, practical skills and certifications that could help enhance your resume and career. They also offer boot camps, short term workshops, and knowledge valuable to enter the industry. Another advantage in such a course is of mentoring by certified and experienced industry aces that helps garner the latest best practices, techniques, skills, and practice on the latest trending technologies in the Fintech industry.

While certification helps you become an excellent communicator and work diligently to acquire the best analytical and business skills. You will need a basic degree in technology, finance or Management. Besides, technical skills in DevOps, IoT, Python, Machine Learning, Big Data, and Hadoop will definitely help.

Where the jobs are:
The Fintech industry badly needs personnel in
• Blockchain Technology
• Digital Payments
• Big Data handling
• Digital Wealth Management
• Analytics Solutions

Job roles available and in demand are for: 
• Project Managers
• Data management experts
• Sales
• HR
• Financial experts in various fields like equity funding, debt capital markets etc.

Non-transferable skills will need to be developed and aligned with the enterprise’s needs. You must have the following traits.
1. Interpersonal Communication skills
2. Ability to solve problems creatively.
3. Collaborative team skills
4. Ability to work with ambiguity, pressure, and demands from the startup environment.
5. Discipline and integrity since you will be working on financial transactions.
6. A good learner as there may be no SOPs.

Payouts: Definite standards in payouts are not present as of now. However, consider the fact that it is an emerging and rapidly developing sector. Demand for personnel drives larger payouts and growth of your career. According to reports on Glassdoor, the payments are very appreciative and second to very few.

Wrapping up:

The millennial babies will find excellent demand for them in the Fintech industries as digitized payments, services and technologies ensure an undying job market in the software, analytics, Machine Learning, Financial markets and services for the Fintech industry. Be prepared. Careers never happen by chance. They result from your choice!