The industry of financial technology is booming with the increase of consumers and businesses using digital technology to complete financial transactions and other services––which has accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Financial technology, also known as FinTech, refers to any technology that streamlines the delivery of financial services. It can help business owners, corporate entities and consumers automate the way they interact with the financial world. Today, FinTech is an inextricable, and often consumer-facing, part of industries such as retail, banking, education, fundraising and investment management.
According to an industry report, the global FinTech market is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 20% during 2020-25.
“The field of banking and finance has experienced a burst of technological advances that have disrupted, transformed, and, indeed, enhanced traditional methods,” says CNV Krishnan, faculty director of the Master of Finance program at the Weatherhead School of Management. “Weatherhead at Case Western Reserve University has been focusing on these technologies, collectively known as FinTech, and ensuring that students will not only learn econometrics, data analytics and applied programming, but also have a deep grounding in financial economics, through expansive offerings.”
Starting in the fall of 2023, Weatherhead will launch four new FinTech offerings––bridging the gap between traditional banking and finance disciplines and emerging technologies––to train students for the current workplace and the workplace of tomorrow.
The new offerings are:
- A FinTech concentration in the STEM MBA program
- A FinTech specialization in the Master of Finance program
- A FinTech certificate
- A FinTech minor for undergraduates
For graduate students, the FinTech concentration in Weatherhead’s STEM MBA program and the STEM specialization in the Master of Finance program, will allow students to choose four courses among the following: Corporate Financial Technology; Algorithmic Trading; Banking and RegTech; Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Cryptoventures; and Artificial Intelligence for Financial Modeling.
For working professionals, the FinTech certificate provides an opportunity to learn about the core finance fundamentals that make FinTech distinct from traditional banking and finance. Students working towards the certificate will select three courses to complete from the existing curriculum, receiving the same high-quality education as their peers in the full-time degree programs.
The FinTech certificate allows students to:
- Complete the certificate in as early as one semester, or spread out courses over a longer duration
- Go at their own pace with self-paced learning
- Earn a Weatherhead certificate and a digital badge
- Stack classes toward our highly ranked Master of Finance degree
- Participate in Weatherhead’s seminars and treks
For undergraduates, the FinTech minor will train students for the workplace of the future by providing them with econometric, programming and finance skills needed in job opportunities that exist in lending, payment systems and billing, regulatory technology, insurance, capital markets, wealth management, real estate and blockchain/cryptocurrencies applications.
To receive the FinTech minor, undergrads will complete nine credit hours from the following courses:
- Current Applications in FinTech
- Financial Management, Payments and Digital Technology
- Financial Big Data Management
- FinTech and Entrepreneurship
- Banking and RegTech
- Algorithmic Trading
Beyond new curriculum offerings for FinTech, finance students are gaining hands-on experience during their time at Weatherhead through working on real-life projects, traveling for city and corporate treks, attending seminar series and roundtable discussions with industry leaders, participating in database/computer and Bloomberg labs and more.