Nowadays, our financial sector has been witnessing the digital evolution, and as a result, the era of FinTech has begun. To reform the financial sector, the FinTech industry offers a variety of services such as SME finance, online Peer-to-Peer lending, crowdfunding platforms, trading management, cryptocurrencies etc. With a great potential to grow, the FinTech business is promising large profits and opportunities to the aspirants. Capitalizing this lucrative opportunity lying ahead requires certain skills.
This article sheds light to few of the skills you will need to shine in the FinTech era.
Finance Vs Technology
The FinTech industry needs people to use technology to resolve the biggest problems in financial services. So, if you have a keen interest in technology, a sound finance background isn’t really necessary. Especially when it comes to core development, an aptitude for technology is considered more significant.
However, for the roles that are more related to the business side, you might need some knowledge of financial concepts. But it is not something to be worried about since many FinTech courses are out there to help you.
The Technical Skills
To excel in the expanding FinTech industry, the following skills will help you.
Blockchain and Distributed Ledger – The explosion of cryptocurrency industry is offering more and more opportunities for experts in Blockchain and Distributed Ledger. As the underlying technology of cryptocurrency, it is already one of the most sought-after skills in the industry.
Programming Skills – The FinTech needs mobile applications, websites and full-stack platforms to realise the innovation powered FinTech Industry. Software engineers who can develop these will benefit from this need.
Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning – When the FinTech redefines the financial services, a huge number of people are going to be associated with it. The amount of useful data generated is also going to very high. To scrutinise and analyse the data, experts of technologies such as machine learning, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning are needed.
Cyber Security Expertise – The FinTech companies are well aware of the cybercriminals and importance of security measures against them. With the cyber attacks becoming more sophisticated and recurring, the need for cybersecurity experts is ever growing.
The Skills You Need Besides the Technical Skills
Yes, the technical skills are important. But in a diverse, complex and fast-changing industry like FinTech, the following skills are also required.
Problem-solving ability – When you work at the forefront of the financial sector, There would be a constant need for improvement in the system to efficiently handle the huge amount of data with reduced risk. The key thing to do in such situations is to understand the problem, break it down to basic elements and solve them with the technology.
Communication skills – As a FinTech personal you will have to communicate with brokers, traders, business analyst, fellow technologists so and so. Despite who is your client, you will have to explain the aspects of your project clearly and concisely. Engaging with these clients are necessary to understand their problems.
Teamwork skills – At different stages of a project, you will have to work with different people. Keeping a good relationship with the fellow workers is important to handle the pressure and tight deadlines of the project.
Now we know what it takes to have a successful career in the growing FinTech sector. Doing an internship with banks or other financial institutes will help you with the lack of financial soundness. To be up to date with the technical skills, a lot of FinTech courses are available today. With great opportunities and success waiting ahead, the effort is indeed worth it.
Tag: fintech courses in India
The Billion-Dollar Friction Problem Fintech Could Solve
Fintech has seen massive growth over the last few years, and a lot of companies have begun seeing its benefits. It helps in cutting down costs and even making processes faster. One telling aspect is that Fintech has helped solve problems that are at the lower end of the spectrum. Smaller businesses are benefiting the most, and this has helped bridge the gap between the two and make smaller businesses more positive.
There needs to be interoperability between the supply chain ecosystem and the software being used. Here are just some of the friction problems that fintech courses could help solve.
Accounts Meeting Crypto
E-invoicing for fintech start-ups is simple, but the future looks bright with better strategies that are centred on capital management.
One of the biggest pain points for businesses is their working capital. The rise in fintech operations in the invoicing space is largely attributed to help manage working capital better. There are opportunities available that could eliminate the need for financing in general or even complement this service
Dynamic discounting is generally accepted as accounts receivable to speed up payments and make it easier. If accounts payable could look into alternative currency to find cheaper instruments, discounts could be locked either way.
Many two-sided e-invoicing companies would begin developing their own version of concurrency. In a world where trade is globalized, transacting without the need for currency conversion is always an attractive offer. Network accepted currency would end up becoming advantageous and help complete settlements much faster.
Other Problems It Can Solve
The supplier invoice in the future of the fintech industry could feature an option to pay with the help of an e-invoicing token for accounts payable. This would also add a discount in addition to the early payments through fiat currencies. Fiat currencies could still have to go through the dark alleys of back-end infrastructure that banks generally have and would require transactional fees on the way as well.
Also, imagining a world where a bot does all the work such as optimising and reporting daily accounts isn’t unthinkable. You can manage payments through a mix of tokens for networks along with fiat currencies that were previously in hand. While the same technology is available today, a smarter version of it doesn’t exist yet. If you could use the same to solve this issue, it could be highly beneficial and solve a large slew of issues.
Also get know more about the Fintech (Financial Technology), through just a single click: https://imarticus.org/Professional-Certificate-Course-FinTech/
Can You Have a Career in Fintech without Coding Knowledge?
Technology has changed the way things are done, in almost every field conceivable to man. Be it healthcare or warfare, the advent of technology has had a significant impact on the proceedings. To no surprise, the financial world has also benefitted hugely from these advances, and the field of Fintech emerged in the past few decades.
However, many banking professionals are still apprehensive about getting into Fintech because of some misconceptions they have. You might think that the addition of tech into the financial world means that everyone must understand how to operate the tech aspect of it, and thus must know to code in order to survive.
However, that is not true – you can still have a career in Fintech despite having relatively less knowledge on how the code is written.
Can You Have a Fintech Career Despite not Knowing Coding?
The short answer is that yes, you can not only have a career but also be successful in the field without knowing how to write code extensively. Coding is usually used when organizations need to implement new software or make some changes in the way things are run currently.
To make these changes, it is always easy for the organization to hire a computer programmer, rather than insisting that it needs to be done by the Fintech professional himself. In fact, most banks and other large Fintech organizations have dedicated teams of coders who are always on-site in order to make such changes.
That does not render obsolete the other capable professionals working in the organization, so coding is not a necessity to work in Fintech.
Then what are the skills required to get into Fintech?
Since the field mainly deals with the financial world, you will definitely need to have a good understanding of how finances work and function in order to be successful at it. Even if you do not know how to code, you will also definitely need to be comfortable with technology. While there are many jobs that focus more on the business side of things, knowledge of technology is definitely going to help you get to where you want to.
You will also need to have a number of soft skills, as the finance world is an extremely soft-skill and relationship-oriented one. Communication skills are a must – you will find yourself having to coordinate and communicate with multiple teams and people, ranging from tech experts to customers on a daily basis. Therefore, your communication skills, both written and oral must definitely be of high quality.
Fintech organizations also hire based on the problem-solving skills of the person. A huge requirement of the job is that the person must be able to solve a lot of problems that appear on a daily basis, to ensure that the organization is running seamlessly without any interruptions. You will have to optimize constantly, in order to make things function quicker and more efficiently in order to get a head start on the competition.
If you are looking to get into Fintech, there are a lot of Fintech courses that can help you dip your toes in these deep waters. The Fintech online courses offered by Imarticus Learning is a great place to start at.
Do Online Fintech Courses Help With Entering The Industry?
Over the past few years, one of the biggest developments in the technology space has been fintech. By using the right technology to make banking and money transactions easier, companies have begun reaping the benefits. Fintech is growing at a rapid pace, and newer companies are also looking to adopt technology to make their accounting and bank work easier.
For individuals looking to succeed in the industry, having the right team is important. Fintech is relatively new, so it is crucial that people can understand this to deliver better results.
With the technology poised to play a much more critical role in the next few years, there are a few advantages if you’re looking to begin an online course in the same:
What’s The Advantage Of Fintech Courses?
First up, it is important to understand the scope of the industry. The fintech industry is a big space, and there are many different applications. There are a lot of opportunities for individuals to work with fintech courses – from internet applications, banks and hedge funds. Doing an online course helps you understand the technical aspect but having an above average understanding of finance is vital as well.
You won’t be able to deliver quality output without understanding your industry well, and that’s where the online course can help. A good course will teach you how the industry works and how exactly you can implement technology to aid you to produce better results. If you’re okay slugging it out for a couple of months and learning about the industry, then an online course is perfect for you!
While a lot of people do not have a significant amount of knowledge regarding the fintech industry, online courses will help them. If you’re taking an online course in this space, they are more structured and organised and will be able to help you. Most of these courses also have dedicated teachers to help you clear doubts and progress.
How To Begin?
Blockchain and machine learning are touted to revolutionise the fintech industry so that you could start there. Start by introducing yourself to the subject and slowly familiarising yourself with the concepts. It will take years of practice to master the same, so don’t hesitate in putting the time to study the fintech industry.
There are credible fintech online courses, so research well and choose one that suits your pace the best.
Become an active member of the fintech community so you can meet like-minded individuals and formulate ideas with them. You can get unique insights by attending seminars and talks on the same, and develop your soft skills in the process. This will help you engage better and get the most out of the course you do as well.
Organisations like Imarticus provide a holistic, hands-on approach to finance courses. With a dedicated team aimed at helping you succeed, you are bound to perform well and start your career in the fintech industry.
Studying Fintech or Digital Marketing (DM)
Technology had infiltrated almost every aspect of our lives in the past couple of decades and has transformed our lives in many good ways. Fintech or Financial technology is one such aspect of this technological aspect. With many large corporations getting into the M&A phase in the Fintech landscape a lot of investment has taken place and hence in growth can be seen in various business sectors like banking, investment, lending and so on. Reports say that globally, the FinTech market is all set to be worth over $200 billion by the year 2021. Thus it can safely be said that FinTech is fast becoming one of the most attractive industries for graduates to work in.
Benefits of Studying Fintech
The best part of studying Fintech is that one need not be tech savvy or have a huge knowledge of the financial market to master this discipline. One can be a graduate from various disciplines including Law, English, Psychology and even foreign languages and still be a part of a fintech workspace.
Fintech is currently at the forefront of innovation, and the main aim of companies with the fintech space is to change how the traditional finance industry works. The fintech world has an innovative spirit and being a part of fintech courses would finally help one to be in a fast paced and productive work environment. Studying fintech would also mean that one can be a pro at using some of the most cutting edge technologies making him/her more competent for the job front.
Working in the fintech workspace is also rewarding as fintech businesses operate in a flat organisational structure thus reducing bureaucracy and red tape as compared to what we find in traditional finance companies. Also if one is a high performer fintech startup would wholeheartedly reward him/her thus helping is rapid career growth.
Leveraging DM in Fintech
With marketing being extremely important to further one’s business a course in Digital Marketing is most definitely going to be handy if one is keen to work in the fintech landscape.
Since fintech is a fairly new industry, one very effective way to further the fintech business is through mobile marketing. A recent ICBA survey (2016) stated that for 74% of its respondent’s mobile banking was extremely important. It also stated that 53% of smartphone owners are comfortable using mobile banking. With these statistics in mind, it would be safe to conclude that mobile marketing would positively impact the growth of the fintech industry.
Using proper content through the DM platform can be another great way to achieve success. As a fintech brand, one must always provide in-depth information, be ready to answers all questions, set up informative webinars and use great content to set up the tone of the brand. Also, make sure that the content is scalable, customization and reactive!
Lastly, once the communication has been made and a client base is in place, one must keep in constant touch with their clientele through newsletter, events and emails. Communication is the key to success, and for an upcoming business like fintech, communication is the most important.
So, is being a part of an industry that truly revolutionary appeals to you? Then a degree in FinTech and a good understanding of DM can take you.
For more details, you directly browse: https://imarticus.org/
What Makes A Good Fintech Lab?
Fintech labs or companies which come into existence with the sole vision of providing easy financial access to people across all strata of life. Fintech startups provide power to the lending ecosystem through various technology thus minimizing the need of intermediaries.
Top Features That a Top Fintech Lab Must Have
Since the fintech companies are all startups, it is highly necessary for them to first understand the traditional banking system and the challenges that it suffers with. Once that is understood these fintech labs need to get some good funding to be able to sustain themselves in this competitive market. With that done their first and foremost goal should be to remove the friction that the common people face while banking through the traditional banking system.
The second most important feature of the fintech companies is that they should create affiliate services. These fintech startups don’t really attack the traditional banking system, instead they try and work around the issues that the banking sector deals with and with the help of technology works towards bringing about a change. Examples of two such fintech startups are – Square and Simple.
Focus on the team is another very important thing that these startups need to keep in mind. With a strong core team which is even resilient, these fintech labs can grow in leaps and bounds and even go ahead and make relevant connections in the industry.
A good fintech lab must also have a team which along with having people a degree in fintech courses, it must also be an amalgamation of people from various sectors and disciplines of study. Mixing the talent pool is the key! This would help in bringing together some of the best minds from all over thus, in turn, helping in reinvention.
Also, one must not fear to put ideas into action even at the cost of a few trials and errors before something scalable comes up!
A good fintech company would also know its regulator(s) thus confirming to the fact that these companies know what they are in for. These companies would also not make the mistake of focusing exclusively on selling to banks. Instead of competing with them and creating a separate client base is what which is needed to grow in this field.
Banks, in fact, create a lot of bureaucratic and regulatory issues hence working hand in hand with them by the fintech companies tend to become next to impossible.
Lastly, a successful fintech startup would always value data over money! Focusing purely on a digital exchange of data will help in making the company go a long way in the industry. After all, it’s the data be it the data of customers or money made by competition, information such as these always helps businesses stay a step ahead of their rivals.
In fact with the focus on data along with the help of technology, one can create whole new business models around those which the traditional banking system fails to do largely.
How will Fintech Change the Credit Market?
Driving digital transformation through technology has been at the heart of FinTech industry. One of the key attributes of Fintech is the contribution to the credit market through innovation.
Fintech has been on the rise since the past decade or so. So you maybe wondering what exactly is fintech and why is it so critical to business? Fintech in simplistic terms are companies or institutions that have revolutionized the banking industry through technological advancements. It means to harness the power of technology to make timely business decisions, simplify processes, analyse data at limited costs and optimized resources.
Today, Fintech has moved at an unprecedented rate to provide solutions and services to customers through online banking, online lending, bill payment and other transformative features. There are also emerging fintech online courses which will help professionals progress themselves. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Blockchain, Cloud are able to store, process and analyse large amounts of data in a minimal amount of time, thereby enabling businesses to make informed decisions quickly. Fintech companies are able to roll out custom-made applications and services to banking instiutions allowing them to better serve their customers’ needs.
Use of Digital Data
For every transaction conducted there is a large amount of data that is stored and processes. Digital data warehouses are vast and can become tedious to extract and work with. Fintech market analyses Big Data using software applications, thereby enabling better transactions. For example, if you pay by your credit card at a store, your transaction will immediately reflect across your bank statements thereby allowing you to keep a check on your finances at a real-time basis. This has been enabled by the effective utilization of digital data.
Use of Digital Processes
There are many new features and attributes that have found their way into mainstream lending and credit market thanks to emerging technologies such as AI and machine learning. Most banking institutions today offer easy loan borrowing options, repayment and even increasing your borrowed amount all through digital channels. This means that consumers can borrow a large sum of money by providing the right documents online.
Data Privacy
One of the key problems that Fintech industry is trying to solve is data privacy and protection. Cybercrimes, online frauds are on the rise and critical data can be protected by building the right infrastructure around it. Fintech companies are testing new and improved solutions to transform the services offered by banks every day. Professionals are also signing up for Fintech courses in order to be equipped to deal with the current scenario of financial services thereby enhancing their career trajectory.
Conclusion
Alternate lending is an integral part of the fintech revolution and the rise of applications and services will provide an opportunity to banks and financial institutions to upgrade their customer experience and meet the demands.
What Problems Can Fintech Innovations Solve That Still Exist in Finance
One of the biggest disruptors in the financial industry over the last decade or so has been Fintech. Using technology to solve a slew of problems faced by banks has caught on and is here to stay. While FinTech has revolutionized sectors such as personal finance and banking, there are still a few places where its potential hasn’t been utilised.
Here are a few problems Fintech technology can solve:
Increase in Regulations
Ever since the 2008 market crash, policymakers have been forced to lay greater emphasis on safer financing. The financial crisis bought in newer regulations in the hope that it would restore confidence back into the banking industry. With most banks having paid back their regulatory incompliance fines, regulators are starting to ask for innovation in these markets and they need to create a safe environment.
Startups in the FinTech industry should expand beyond their home nations and make international payments possible. The home country regulations can be expensive with a lot of legal fees but innovations in FinTech courses such as Blockchain should be able to solve this issue and make it easier.
Regulatory measures can be a roadblock for many companies looking to grow domestically. By having the freedom of moving abroad, they can expand their horizons and successfully continue their business elsewhere.
Product Distribution
Product information is generally very random and scattered all across the board. Different folders, separate drives, a random excel sheet can all be frustrating to follow up on.
Product distribution lines can be managed in a much simpler manner with the help of FinTech. By having a central record of all transactions, companies can have a centralized repository of their products. By innovating with the front-end and introducing cool searching features, FinTech can be used to eliminate the same for banks that aren’t using this system yet.
Compliance Monitoring
Many banks today have tools for compliance reporting but since there are a lot of complexities involved in regulatory requirements, it just isn’t enough. Compliance violations are becoming harder to find and most of the systems, written in legacy code aren’t cut out for this task.
RegTech, a new field in the financial services has boomed, with over 150 startups present globally. These startups understand data better than anyone else and leverage a lot of data architecture innovations. While still ongoing, this is one of the major problems that Fintech Technology / Financial Technology can solve in today’s world.
M&A Consolidation in the Fintech Landscape
Fintech or financial technology is a term that can broadly apply to any kind of financial activity through digital/online means like money transfers, depositing checks through one’s smartphone, raising money for a business through the online medium, so on and so forth. Basically when one carries out any kind of financial activity only through technology and without the assistance of a person is when one has adopted the Fintech landscape.
The Growth of Fintech M&A
New businesses, even a few years back, were met by issues like inertia, funding problems and even the fear of their own obsolescence. However, now with Fintech being the “in” thing, large corporations are now beginning to view fintech startups as an opportunity to scale up what they offer and even amplify their customer experience at a faster pace in comparison to their competitors.
‘The Global Fintech Report’ by PwC published in 2017 states that “82% of financial institutions expect to increase fintech partnerships between 2018 and 2023”, thus making the fintech M&A the core for the development of the financial service sectors.
Large Corporate Opting To Acquire/Merge with the Fintech Landscape
With technology being extremely important in today’s world, large corporates across businesses are now opting to get into the M&A space in Fintech. These organizations realised that, to deal with the company’s financial needs they would need to establish calculated partnerships with lean, tech-savvy teams that would help in bringing about significant benefits to their business.
Such M&A consolidation would mean:
- Cost-effective and speedy routes into the market with the help of the latest technology.
- Easy access to the demographics of a new client who prefer to engage with businesses through digital channels.
- Easy cross-selling opportunities through the digital platform.
Mergers and Acquisitions in 2018 in the Fintech Landscape:
2018 in fact has seen some of the big names in the corporate world merge and acquire some fintech startups to further their business need in various ways.Earlier in 2018 JLT Employee Benefits (JLT), acquired the award-winning digital saving and investment service Moola! The acquisition of Moola by JLT’s was to help UK businesses deliver better performance through the improved financial, emotional and physical wellness of its people. Basically with this acquisition JLT aimed at helping its clients and employees at better wealth management.
Marsh the insurance broking giant invested in ‘Bought By Many’ this year (2018). With this investment Marsh aims at collaborating with insurtech firms in a bid to open distribution channels and create innovative insurance solutions for clients.
Cake Technologies, the U.K. fintech startup was acquired by American Express as well this 2018. Cake Technologies aims at bringing about more convenience to pay restaurant or bar bills and with American Express onboard the plans are to beef up its payment options for Amex members.Best Performing Fintech Sectors Currently
Lending: After the financial crisis in 2007-2008, the lending sector dried up, thus making space for a host of alternatives in the lending business. These made use of technology largely and the need for middlemen were cut off. Fintech being a part of this sector also meant greater returns.
Investment: With banks being reluctant to increase the rate of interest on investments the fintech landscape stepped in. Fintech courses aims at solving this issue by delivering online investment platforms.
Payments: Transferring money between accounts has also been made easy with the help of technology. It’s also less expensive as compared to the pre-fintech era!Conclusion:
As the fintech M&A is picking up pace and formation of partnerships and alliances among companies and fintech is gathering momentum it is becoming increasingly important for large corporates to have a targeted M&A strategy as it is highly needed for businesses to keep up with the technological growth. On the other hand, fintechs need to carefully plan and decide with whom they would like to get into an M&A space so as to be able to grow exponentially.
For more details, you can directly browse: https://imarticus.org/
AI, blockchain playing a key role in India’s fintech revolution: Report
Financial technology, or fintech, as it’s popularly known, has taken the finance world by storm by introducing path breaking innovations and a very novel way of banking, the world over. And recently, fintech has become the next big thing in India too. Buzzing e-commerce and product deliveries at the doorstep have risen the demand for ‘one touch’ banking that only fintech can provide. India is truly moving towards becoming a ‘knowledge-driven’, reasoning oriented and digitally empowered nation.
What facilitates fintech is a set of technologies and business models that are responsible for its growth and sustenance. Among the technologies that power fintech, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain have played a very significant role. This article discusses as to how AI and blockchain have played a central role in the fintech revolution in India, based on the joint report by the consulting giant KPMG and IT services giant NASSCOM.
In India, “Go Digital” initiative, together with the ever-growing e-commerce market, has been a significant catalyst for the fintech revolution. As India is inching towards a less-cash economy, digital payments are estimated to increase by at least ten times. Studies indicate that prepaid payment instruments registered gigantic volume growth of over 162% in the 2016-17 fiscal year. With the digitization of banking, interoperability and universal wallets are hassle-free and seamless.
The Government of India has proposed a two per cent discount in GST for users who make digital payments. This is a strategic move that will automate workflows, ensure best accounting practices, tax compliance and a new approach towards digital inclusion. In the insurance sector too, there is an increased usage of advanced data techniques and analytics to identify risks and avert potential dangers.
Public and private sector banks are implementing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning methods. Take, for example, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC banks have introduced AI-powered chatbots for enhanced customer experience and efficient business operations, raising the productivity by leaps and bounds, as clearly shown by the profit margins of the various quarters. Added to that, robo advisors, the first of their kind provide comprehensive and accurate information to make the best possible decisions.
A lot of iterative processes can be avoided, and customer satisfaction is much higher because they are given the exact specifications that they are looking for, without much hassle. With AI, a lot of grey areas and ambiguity can be eliminated. These are some of the many wonders that AI is capable of! Of course, AI can solve problems with efficiency and speed that are beyond the purview of the human mind. Automation is the one thing banks and fintech companies are looking to achieve, and this is mostly backed by artificial intelligence and machine learning.
When everything went digital, a large group of people expressed concern over how they prefer human interaction. Well, AI has been able to fit that requirement to a large extent. There are many bots that are now ’emotionally capable’. One of the most significant advantages of using AI to power fintech has been the accuracy of fraud detection and pre-emptive policies based on predictive analytics. For example, based on behavioural patterns, bots can suggest users about their financial habits and suggestions for better handling of finances, all at the touch of a mobile screen. Even the most minute and seemingly insignificant data are analyzed by machine learning algorithms to form meaningful insights.
Another behemoth running the fintech revolution is the blockchain technology. Essentially, blockchain is a public ledger like a system that records transactions publicly and sequentially, for cryptocurrencies. Blockchain has been a robust system, making it much preferred for fintech. It is a formidable combination of public sharing and tight security. Aligning with fintech‘s vision, the blockchain technology empowers the user and makes for a friendly experience. With peer to peer money transactions becoming operational, blockchain has found a stable ground for itself.
The Indian government has recognized the role of blockchain technology in good governance. Andhra Pradesh has set up a Blockchain centre of excellence that has invited startups and experts to collaborate towards creating the first blockchain state in the country. Other states like Karnataka and Maharashtra are catching up fast with this trend. ‘India Chain’ of the NITI-Aayog is planning on implementing a fully enabled blockchain infrastructure to deal with e-governance, Aadhar, court cases, property records etc. On the educational front in India, several universities are providing fintech courses, replete with artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies and business models supporting the same.