A revolution in financial services

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted businesses across the globe, but it has also accelerated the adoption of digital platforms. This move towards digitisation for daily needs, grocery, e-commerce and online learning also meant more transactions are happening online — further boosting the booming FinTech industry. The term Fintech means the use of technology that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services.

Though there is a view that FinTech is a more recent phenomenon, it actually came up after the 2008 financial crisis because it prompted traditional banks to pause and reconsider their processes. This gave FinTech companies the opportunity to evolve, disrupt and start competing specifically with banks.

There are many areas within FinTech that are becoming big segments of the employment market, particularly for anyone starting a career. With the help of technology, FinTech companies integrate artificial intelligence, blockchain as well as data science into traditional operations of the financial sector.

Areas under FinTech

Digital lending: This is the process of offering loans online. You may apply for these loans using laptops or smartphones over the internet. Every process of the loan life cycle happens online and hence there is no need to visit a bank. Professionals can help in the process of application and verification of loans.

Finance and business analysis: As businesses are going global, we need people who can look at data to analyse the performance of businesses and areas of improvement. Because it is financial and analytical, it is appropriate to be pursued by someone who is good with numbers.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency: Blockchain technology is best known as the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin and all other 4,000 cryptocurrencies operate via blockchain, making it one of the most important recent innovations in finance.

Cybersecurity: All organisations work on enterprise resource planning or software through which they’re storing financial data every day. If systems are not secured, this data can be hacked or used for unwanted purposes. Cybersecurity specialists are in demand these days. It is a lucrative field as all companies and employees need someone to make the service space secure.

Regtech: The next version of FinTech is Regtech-- which means regulatory tech. Businesses have to go through a lot of regulations and compliance requirements. Somebody has to be monitoring this proactively; technology can also be used to regulate these requirements.

Data science: Data science includes data analysis, visualisation, data mining, data presentation etc. Tonnes of opportunities are available and is probably one of the highest paying fields as of today.

Insurance: Banks are partnering with FinTech enterprises to operate at a lower cost and to alleviate the reliance on legacy systems. As a result, banking institutions are able to retain clients. The insurance sector needs to contemplate entering the InsurTech environment as an opportunity to create partnerships and build mobile strategies, providing more career opportunities for professionals.

FinTech courses are offered by colleges and universities across the country. At the undergraduate level, a programme in finance, management, economics, commerce or engineering will set you on a path towards a career in FinTech. These would help aspirants on their journey to work in any one of these fields.