London, 14 July 2021 – The Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE) has joined forces with fintech and industry partners globally to launch a new fintech e-learning platform, THINK. At launch, THINK has courses and specialised tracks covering topics from Fintech, to Regtech, Blockchain, to Big Tech, to Data in Finance. THINK aims to prepare the next generation of financial technology professionals, entrepreneurs, technologists, executives and anyone who wants to get into Finance 2.0, through unlimited access to short self-paced courses, exclusive fintech events, and a vibrant global community.
After more than a decade since the global financial crisis, the financial services sector is facing its next big disruption that is destined to destroy millions of jobs – the technological revolution. The WEF World Skills Report stated that 58.5% of financial services companies faced skills gaps in the local labour market. This means millions could lose their jobs while others are left struggling to keep up with the changing technological skills needed. Are we just going to let people get left behind?
CFTE is launching THINK, in response to the increasing need for fintech training and skills development as a result of the accelerated pace of digital transformation in the financial services sector. The platform aims to plug a gaping hole in the industry’s talent deficit issue.
THINK launches with 25 courses, with the aim of adding hundreds of new courses in the next few months to bridge this upskilling challenge among the talent. The courses will cover the most relevant topics in financial technology today from Fintech, Artificial Intelligence, RegTech, Central Banking Digital Currencies (CBDCs), Customer Experience, UX design and more. The courses on the platform will be taught by experts, CEOs, CDOs, CTOs, and entrepreneurs from large institutions like HSBC, big tech companies like Alibaba, and Fintech start-ups like eToro.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are rapidly transforming finance, and have a huge impact on jobs. For anyone from finance professionals, tech entrepreneurs to people from different backgrounds, this could be seen as a threat to their jobs, but we think that there are great opportunities for those who acquire the right skills. The THINK platform is designed around ‘lifelong learning’. With the launch of THINK, we want to empower everyone and every company to write a new chapter in fintech. THINK complements and improves upon our signature CFTE courses by providing a 360 degree approach to fintech education, including social learning through events and networking, and updated new skills tracks. ” Huy Nguyen Trieu and Tram Anh Nguyen, Co-founders of CFTE.
Dominik Merz, Technical Consultant at the Bank for International Settlements, and also one of THINK’s early adopters, summarised THINK as, “a pioneering e-learning and networking platform that helps you to become part of the global fintech industry and broaden your knowledge”.
THINK aims to address the fintech skills gap challenge with a four-pronged approach to fintech education:
1. For the industry, by the industry: As CFTE believes in going beyond academics with an ‘all practitioners’ approach to education, all THINK lecturers are fintech leaders in the industry, including the former Head of Operations at Alipay, the Chief Executive of the Association of Corporate Treasurers, the Managing Director of Amadeus Traveler ID, Senior Advisor at Union Bank of the Philippines, Senior Product Manager at Amazon, among other top leaders.
2. Two-way social learning that goes beyond the classroom, and goes beyond theory: To incorporate continuous learning in fintech THINK offers learning that can extend beyond the course by attending exclusive fintech events, and networking with fintech leaders globally to exchange views.
3. Self-paced, bite-sized unlimited online courses catered to busy professionals’ schedules: From 39.99 GBP/month, learners can learn at their own pace on a part-time basis. They can also attend monthly members-only events and join discussion forums hosted on THINK.
4. A global approach to fintech education: With over several fintech associations and partners globally, THINK provides a global view of fintech developments from China, Japan to Nigeria. This allows learners to have an introductory view of fintech ecosystems, fintech regulations and trending customer needs in different markets.
About CFTE:
CFTE is a global knowledge platform in digital finance that aims to liberalise education by making learning about the biggest technologies and trends in finance accessible to anyone. We help people build skills to transform their career with courses that go beyond traditional learning. At CFTE you can learn from those steering the biggest developments in the financial sphere – from global CEOs to disruptive entrepreneurs hailing from Starling Bank, UBS, Mastercard, IBM and other large institutions. To help meet every learner’s goals, CFTE offers Specialisations to get certified in any area of digital finance as well as continuous learning material to stay on top of the latest trends in digital finance 365 days a year on THINK. From beginner to master, at CFTE there is something for everyone.
Contact details:
Press Contact: Urvi Bhatia, CFTE: urvi@cfte.ecucation
Partnership Contact: partners@cfte.education
