Let’s face it, it was only a matter of time before a UK university recognised the importance of FinTech.
Edinburgh Napier has launched a new dedicated Masters degree in financial technology – and about time too.
The course will help students develop a deep understanding of how international financial markets, banking and money transfer systems are affected by innovations in FinTech.
It aims to equip students with practical experience but also give them a deeper understanding of financial management, data wrangling, transnational financial crime, banking and cyber security.
David Potter, FinTech programme leader at the university, says the global “phenomenon” of FinTech is key to the successful future of all organisations.
I, for one, think it’s a great move and I wouldn’t be surprised if other universities across the country follow suit.
FinTech unicorn adds another feather to its cap
Revolut always seems to be the talk of the FinTech town – and this week is no exception.
The digital banking start-up made headlines again after announcing that it hit the 1 million user milestone in the UK, with up to 9,000 new customers joining every day.
If you’ve been sceptical about the FinTech ‘revolution’, then you only need to look at the explosive growth of start-ups like Revolut to realise how fast things are moving.
The digital-only bank famously declared that it will have 100 million users within the next five years and that it will launch globally in the US, Canada, Singapore and Australia before the end of the year.
Watch this space.
Starling Bank founder talks gender bias in FinTech
It’s unthinkable that the founder and CEO of one of Britain’s hottest FinTech start-ups would still experience gender bias – but it’s true.
In an interview with BusinessCloud, Starling Bank founder Anne Boden MBE told us she still faces some of the same biases she did during her 30-year career in banking.
She says finance and technology have “huge gender divides”.
“I’ll be at an event for CEOs and people will still ask me what I do,” said Boden, who was recently awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to FinTech London.
“When I was seeking funding back in 2014, I found that Silicon Valley investors seemed interested only in backing people who looked like them and fitted the start-up stereotype.”
On the plus side, Boden says she’s optimistic that things will better and she says there are already some great initiatives out there that are addressing both conscious and unconscious biases against women.
Let’s hope she’s right!
ICOs could reach $40 billion by 2020
The ICO ecosystem could reach a value of between $30bn-$40bn if present trends continue, according to research compiled by London Fintech Week 2018.
To put this into context, traditional FinTech investment last year globally totalled around $30 billion.
Meanwhile, a total of $4 billion was raised by blockchain companies through initial coin offerings (ICOs) in 2017.
This was five times more than traditional VC funding and 47 times greater than the $85m raised through ICOs in 2016.
Has Bitcoin’s creator finally broken his/her silence?
The cryptocurrency rumour mill has gone into overdrive this week with reports that Bitcoin’s mysterious creator is writing a book.
The speculation started when a cryptic message was posted on a website possibly linked to Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the person or people who released the original Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008.
The possibility of this being true was so compelling that Wired even decided to launch their own investigation into the matter.
They found that someone claiming to be Nakamoto had published 21 pages of new material – allegedly a sneak preview of the book about the cryptocurrency’s origins – but the investigation was unsurprisingly inconclusive.
This isn’t the first time that someone has come forward claiming to be Bitcoin’s mysterious creator – and I have a feeling it won’t be the last.