Extracted from the Fintech Power 50, October 2025

In the 21st-century economy, talent has always been a competitive edge. But with the rise of artificial intelligence, we are no longer simply talking about talent, we are now in a full-speed race for AI-ready talent. And the finish line is moving fast.

Across industries and nations, the same pattern is unfolding: some individuals and organisations are scaling their capabilities at exponential speed, while others are quietly losing ground. What’s driving this divergence isn’t access to technology. It’s readiness to use it, strategically, structurally and systemically.

Today, AI is not just automating tasks. It’s rewriting how value is created, how decisions are made, and how institutions are designed. This shift is producing a new kind of talent landscape.
On one side, we see Mass Displacement: roles built on routine execution are shrinking or vanishing. On the other, we see the rise of Supercharged Professionals, those who amplify their impact by integrating AI into the way they think, decide, and deliver. And at the very frontier are Creative Disruptors, individuals building entirely new systems, often achieving in months what used to take years.

But the most striking insight? This race is still invisible to many. It’s not marked by degrees or titles. Traditional indicators of success, seniority, credentials, even technical skills, no longer predict future performance. What matters now is the ability to operate in ambiguity, structure complex problems and use AI to build, not just to speed up.

This is not about learning to prompt ChatGPT. It’s about learning how to lead in an AI-powered world. The CFTE, Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship’s Performance Hexagon shows that as AI takes over task execution, the real value shifts upward, to those who solve problems, design systems, and create new pathways.

For individuals, this means moving from tool users to system thinkers. For organisations, it means embedding AI-readiness into the core of leadership, talent strategy and workflows. And for nations, it’s no longer about workforce size, but talent density, how many people can adapt and lead in a world of constant transformation.

We are living through a structural transformation of work, value and relevance. CFTE’s whitepaper — The AI-fication of Talents, is not a future trend; it’s the present reality. And like every race, the advantage goes to those who see it first, and act faster.

We are not running against each other; we are running against irrelevance. For nations, companies and societies, the question is not just who adopts AI fastest. It’s who builds the deepest, most inclusive capability to lead in this era of intelligence at scale. That is why CFTE is proud to work with nations, leaders, educators, and institutions that understand this isn’t just a tech challenge, it’s a human one. One that demands the full power, perspective and leadership of everyone, especially the women too often left at the margins of the last wave of innovation. Global Women in AI is playing its part.

“The future of talent must be AI-ready.
But it must also be equitable.”

The future of talent must be AI-ready. But it must also be equitable. Global Women in AI by CFTE is a movement to ensure that women are central in shaping the future of AI. We all know how impactful AI already is, and how transformative it will continue to be, but are we creating the most impactful technology ever without women, without everybody being at the table?

This matters because diversity influences the kind of systems we build. When more perspectives are involved, technology becomes more inclusive, more ethical and more useful to society as a whole. Our mission at Global Women in AI is to create the pathways that make this possible: equipping women with knowledge, building communities of support, and opening opportunities to lead. Inclusion must be designed, encouraged and supported.

Tram Anh Nguyen
Co-founder of CFTE and chairwoman Global Women in AI, is a global leader building the systems, alliances, and platforms that ensure the AI transition delivers widespread, human-centred progress.
Whitepaper report: AI-fication of Talents Whitepaper
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tramanhnguyen9
www.thepower50.com

#Women empowerment #Human AI capacity building #AI inclusion #Global Women in AI #AI #Women #Talent #Digital Transformation #Education #AIatscale #AI for good #AI Literacy #AIwebinar #CFTE #GWAI #HuyNguyenTrieu #TramAnhNguyen #AIfication infrastructure #AIreadiness #Inclusion #Diversity #AIliteracy #AIfutureProofing #AIleadership

The post The race for AI talent: Why it’s accelerating and what it means, Tram Anh Nguyen, co-founder CFTE and chairwoman Global Women in AI appeared first on CFTE.

The post AI, Climate and the Future of Green Skills by Amit Agrawal appeared first on CFTE.

The latest Blockchain and Digital Assets session brought together global participants to explore one of the most transformative shifts now reshaping global trade: the tokenisation of trade finance assets. Led by Saloi Benbaha, Head of XDC Network Enterprise Alliance & Ventures and Global Women in AI Ambassador, the session unpacked how tokenisation, harmonised standards and cross-industry collaboration are redefining efficiency, transparency and trust across the trade ecosystem.

With a career spanning telecom, banking, blockchain and energy, and fresh from receiving the Policy Pioneer Award at the House of Lords, Saloi delivered a masterclass on what financial institutions must understand to stay competitive in a rapidly digitising world.

Tokenisation as a Catalyst in Trade Finance

Saloi began by outlining why tokenisation is emerging as a foundational pillar in trade finance. Traditional trade processes are burdened by fragmented systems, inconsistent data, paper-heavy workflows and long settlement cycles. Tokenisation offers a fundamentally different model—one where assets, documents and processes can be digitised, standardised and exchanged with programmable trust.

By converting trade assets such as invoices, letters of credit, guarantees or receivables into tokens, institutions can benefit from:

• Faster settlement

• Improved liquidity

• Greater transparency and auditability

• Reduced operational risk

• Enhanced interoperability across platforms and borders

Tokenisation, Saloi emphasised, is not simply a technology upgrade. It represents a structural shift toward digital-native trade finance.

Why Standards and Interoperability Matter

A central theme in Saloi’s presentation was the critical need for standards. Tokenisation cannot scale in isolation. It requires:

• Shared data models

• Common identity frameworks

• Legal and compliance harmonisation

• Industry-wide agreement on asset definitions

Saloi highlighted how emerging frameworks—such as the Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) and those developed by leading industry bodies—are paving the way for unified digital trade ecosystems. Without such standards, tokenisation risks becoming siloed, fragmented and incompatible across markets.

Collaboration as the Engine of Adoption

Tokenisation thrives through collaboration, not competition. Banks, corporates, fintechs, regulators and technology networks must co-design solutions. Saloi’s work at the XDC Network Enterprise Alliance exemplifies this collaborative model, bringing stakeholders together to build shared infrastructure and tackle adoption barriers collectively.

She also emphasised the growing importance of public-private coordination, particularly around regulatory clarity and cross-border legal frameworks.

Becoming Tokenisation-Ready: Skills and Capabilities

Saloi provided a clear blueprint for organisations preparing to embark on tokenisation initiatives. Key skill areas include:

• Understanding digital asset frameworks

• Navigating compliance and regulatory design

• Smart contract literacy

• Process redesign and workflow digitisation

• Cross-functional collaboration between technology, operations and legal teams

Tokenisation is not an IT project, it is an organisational transformation that requires new digital competencies across the value chain.

Integrating Tokenised Solutions with Legacy Infrastructure

One of the session’s most practical discussions centred on how banks can integrate tokenisation into existing trade finance systems. Saloi highlighted that the most effective strategy is to begin with well-defined, high-value use cases, and then:

1. Identify assets that benefit most from digitisation

2. Map the current processes and pain points

3. Build tokenised modules that integrate via APIs

4. Adopt a phased rollout that maintains continuity with legacy operations

The goal is not to replace existing infrastructure immediately but to extend it with digital layers that introduce automation and interoperability.

---

5 Key Learning Outcomes from the Session

1. Tokenisation transforms trade finance by digitising assets end-to-end
It streamlines processes, increases liquidity, accelerates settlement and reduces friction that has long slowed global trade.

2. Standards are essential for scalable adoption
Without alignment on data, identity and legal frameworks, tokenisation remains isolated. Industry-wide standards unlock interoperability and global connectivity.

3. Collaboration drives real-world implementation
Tokenisation succeeds when banks, corporates, regulators and networks work together to redesign trade processes, not when each operates alone.

4. Successful tokenisation requires new digital skills across organisations
Teams must understand blockchain concepts, regulatory expectations, smart contracts and process redesign, not just technology.

5. Integration with legacy systems must be phased and strategic
Institutions should start with clearly defined assets and use cases, then layer tokenisation onto existing infrastructure through modular, API-driven approaches.

As trade finance undergoes rapid digital transformation, tokenisation stands out as a powerful enabler of transparency, speed and global interoperability. Saloi’s session showed that the future of trade will not simply be digitised, it will be standardised, collaborative and token-powered. For institutions looking to stay competitive, now is the moment to build the skills, partnerships and technological foundations needed to thrive in this new era. With growing momentum across industries and governments, the shift toward digital trade finance is no longer a possibility, it is already underway.

 

The post Future-Proofing Trade Finance: The Role of  Tokenisation, Standards, and Collaboration by Saloi Benbaha appeared first on CFTE.

In a world disrupted by COVID-19, the widening skills gap must also be on the top of every government’s agenda. CFTE is pleased to launch their Academic and Industry paper: The Role of the Government in Education, to help foster new standards of education in a constantly evolving world. The paper will feature leading research on the topic curated by academics, experts and founders in the industry.

COVID-19 has accelerated the growth of digitalisation in organisations. A new survey by McKinsey revealed that the health-crisis has sped up the adoption of digital technologies that would have otherwise taken several years, and these transformations are here to stay. This has resulted in the widening of the skills gap for the whole population, while also creating a digital divide in accessing education. Working with the government in educating the workforce and bridging this gap has never been more important.

Keeping this in mind, CFTE is proud to announce that it is set to produce an academic and industry paper on the topic : the Role of the Government in Education to extend our support in helping governments upskill the workforce. The paper will discuss ways in which governments have been supporting the digitization of their learning policies as well as the methods and tools available for the government to leverage to catalyse this transition towards online education.

This academic and industry paper will feature findings on prominent initiatives by governments and recommendations for improvement. The paper will showcase the views of academics, industry experts and founders who will contribute to this study, in order to curate a paper that consolidates the highest level of research and industry knowledge to achieve our mission. We will be releasing articles that are a part of this Academic and Industry paper over the next few weeks. If you too are energised and driven by our mission, we invite you to join us as contributors to the paper.

Follow us on social media for more updates

The post CFTE introduces an Academic and Industry Paper appeared first on CFTE.

Technology has radically changed finance over the last decade. From posing challenges such as how to digitize the incredibly huge amounts of data, to opportunities beyond what we could imagine possible, the financial services industry of 2020 is long distanced from how we knew finance back in 2010.

But, how has this decade of technological changes affected the world’s top 10 financial institutions? We have asked their market capitalisation for answers. Here is what they’ve told us:

Only 4 of the Top 10 financial institutions in 2010 remain at the top

A decade in finance has not gone without change. Back in 2010, the top 10 financial institutions making the list were all traditional banks. But looking into the business model of the top 10 as of today, we see quite a significant change.

5 of the 6 new entrants in the chart have moved away from traditional banking to be heavily involved in payments and leverage a platform business model – a sign of how clients have also changed their needs and requirements for financial institutions in the last decade.

And not only that, but in many instances, they have overcome the remaining 4, making them move down in the chart from their 2010 position.

Half of the Top 10 are now platforms which leverage network externalities of digital

Visa, MasterCard, Paypal, Ant Group and Tencent Fintech have all overthrown major banks from 2010 in market capitalization and now climbed to be included in the top 10 for 2020. Above their enormous increase in valuation since 2010 (Mastercard leads with almost 1000% increase!), they have one more important common denominator: they all have platform business models.

Digital platforms are rising in finance – and they will be key in the near future

Today, platform business models are allowing financial institutions to leverage network effects, leading to increased efficiency in their operations and the possibility of tapping into new markets, among other advantages. For this reason, the correlations we found between increased market capitalization over the last decade and having a platform business model comes at no surprise to us.

Platforms business models are rising in finance today. According to a McKinsey research report, more than 30% of the global economic activity – some $60 trillion — could be mediated by digital platforms in six years’ time. Yet, experts estimate only 3% of established companies have adopted an effective platform strategy.

But, why so? The answer is simple: many business leaders do not fully understand platforms and how they fit in their industry structure.

And you? Are you ready to deploy platforms in your organization?

For more information on our sources and analysis click here.

Read this article in french on our French Media partner’s website Finance Mag: https://finance-mag.com/5-des-10-premieres-institutions-financieres-sont-desormais-des-plateformes/

The post 5 of the Top 10 Financial Institutions are now platforms appeared first on CFTE.

The key challenge faced by incumbent banks in implementing open banking is the transformation of their legacy structure and processes. However in a world where customers are seeking personalised services, these legacy structures are unable to generate customer satisfaction. This is where open banking comes in and allows financial institutions to differentiate themselves from the mass market product offerings, that are still largely characteristic of incumbent banks.    

The third course of the Open Banking specialisation, Business Models and Transformation of Incumbents, is delivered by Secil Watson, Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Solutions for Business at Wells Fargo. 

Secil currently leads the Commercial Electronic Office portal for Commercial Banking which transacts over $14tr payments annually. She also leads the Wells Fargo Gateway for open banking APIs, which processed 1.6bn data calls in 2019. In the past, she has managed key enterprise channels for consumers, businesses and commercial customers including wellsfargo.com and managed digital product P&Ls including Billpay. She has also grown new channels and capabilities from infancy, including mobile, P2P payments, fraud prevention and Open APIs.  

In her 18 years at Wells Fargo, Secil has transformed the bank digitally and brings with her deep knowledge on the transformation of incumbents. Her expertise will allow learners to get an understanding of the ways in which incumbent banks can leverage open banking to catalyse digital transformation in their organisations. 

In the words of Secil, “I believe new open banking use cases and ecosystems will transform banking and payments and allow incumbents to continue to compete by enabling them to deliver more relevant, convenient and secure solutions for their customers.”

Details about Business Models and Transformation of Incumbents

The course aims to provide an understanding of the ways in which incumbent banks are undergoing a digital transformation by utilising open banking. The course not only provides information on the development of the strategies used by these banks but also, delves deeper into the execution of these strategies. The content covers use cases of incumbent banks that have successfully undergone this digital transformation. Through further highlighting of success factors, learners are able to get a direct understanding of the formula that contributes towards catalysing this transformation.   

The experts that played a key role in the creation of this course are: 

• Liz Oakes (Executive Vice President, Mastercard). Who leads Mastercard’s long-term strategy for Product & Innovation to deliver the best customer experience through co-innovation, partnerships and M&A.

• Jitendra Tekchandni (Executive Director and Head of Open Banking at DBS Bank). Who is currently building an Open Banking ecosystem in Singapore.

• Claire Calmejane (Chief Innovation Officer at Societe Generale). Who leads SocGen’s Open Banking strategy with the recent acquisitions of the API-provider Trezzor and the french FinTech Shine.

Details about Open Banking & Platforms in Finance Specialisation 

Business Models and Transformation of Incumbents is only the third course in the “Open Banking & Platforms in Finance” specialisation launched by CFTE. 

The specialisation is the world’s first online programme in Open Banking, created in collaboration with industry leaders, and curated with feedback from hundreds of industry experts globally. Through this specialisation, learners can get the essential knowledge to understand and successfully apply the practice of Open banking to their jobs. 

The course lectures are delivered in a video format, accompanied by bitesize expert interviews. Reading materials and assessment quizzes help learners explore a topic further and test their knowledge as they progress.

The five courses in the specialisation and their lecturers are:

1. An Industry Overview of Open Banking, taught by Paul Rohan, Head of Business Strategy Finance, Google Cloud Apigee 
2. Business Model and Implementation of New Entrants, taught by Anna Maj, Fintech Leader & Advisor
3. Business Model and Transformation of Incumbents, taught by Secil Watson, Head of Digital Solutions for Business, Wells Fargo
4. Regulation, Standards and Operational Risks, taught by Carlos Figueredo, Founder and CEO, Open Vector
5. Technology and Security taught by Stephan Murer, ex-Group CTO at UBS and CEO of Murer Consulting 

Upon completion of each of the five courses, participants will achieve the complete specialisation and receive a certificate. 

For more details on the course/specialisation and to enrol, click here. Alternatively, you can contact us at admissions@cfte.education. 
For more information to train your organisation, contact us at partners@cfte.education

For more updates, follow us on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.

To receive updates directly in your inbox, join our newsletter!

Latest Posts:

• The EU AI Act’s August 2026 Milestone: Is Your Workforce AI Literate?
• Global Women in AI Launches Hong Kong Chapter at LEAP East 2026
• Agentic AI in Financial Services: Governance Has to Move From Policy to Operating Model
• AI Governance Is Not the Brake. It Is the Way Forward.
• UK Finance and CFTE Launch New Offering to Build AI Capability Across UK Financial Services

The post Wells Fargo’s Executive Vice President, Secil Watson, teaches in world’s first Open Banking Specialisation appeared first on CFTE.

Market changes and regulatory prominence in finance have resulted in hundreds of Fintech startups and traditional organisations shifting towards Open Banking in the last two years alone. The Open Banking market size is projected to grow at a 24.4% CAGR. Yet, despite such significant growth, the industry still faces challenges in implementing the right strategy for their organisation, due to a knowledge gap. Curated in collaboration with industry-wide experts, CFTE presents the industry’s first Open Banking and Platforms in Finance specialisation to overcome this issue.

The first course of the specialisation, An Industry Overview of Open Banking, is delivered by Paul Rohan, Head of Business Strategy Finance at Google Cloud Apigee. 

Paul’s focus lies on examining the impact of the API economy and digital ecosystems on the banking industry’s growth, market structures and bank governance. At Google, he advises finance customers globally on developing holistic business strategies. Previously, he owned a consulting firm that helped Incumbent Payment Service Providers refine their distribution strategies in an Open banking ecosystem, and supported non-bank service providers entering the payments ecosystem.

“We live in a connected world and customers increasingly expect their favourite brands to work together to provide personalised and connected digital experiences. Open Banking is how banks will participate in these connected experiences. These customer expectations impact banking just like they impact all service providers, so it is vitally important that financial professionals are well educated on the key characteristics of Open Banking” said Paul Rohan

With 20 years of experience at hand, Paul brings rich expertise in Course 1 of the specialisation to help learners acquire an understanding of the basic principles of Open banking.

Details about An Industry Overview of Open Banking

The course aims to provide an introduction to the practice of Open banking and platforms in finance. Learners will take away an extensive understanding of how Open Banking is transforming the competitive and strategic landscape of the industry. The content delves into the impact of platforms on financial services and the management of regulatory risks for organisations. Learners gain an insight into the implementation methods developed by both traditional financial institutions and new players entering the Open banking space. With a focus on real-life case studies from the industry, learners will uncover business models that originate from the platform ecosystem and success metrics to track the performance.

Through collaboration with experts in the industry, this course serves as a one-stop-shop for an end-to-end foundation on open banking and platforms. 

The experts that played a key role in the creation of this course are: 

• Paolo Sironi, Global Research Leader, Banking and Finance at IBM. A member of the IBM Industry Academy and one of the most respected voices in the FinTech industry.

• Leon Muis, Chief Business Officer at Yolt. Made Yolt the first Third Party Provider to connect to Open Banking in the UK.

• Jitendra Tekchandni, Executive Director and Head of Open Banking at DBS Bank. Currently building an Open Banking ecosystem in Singapore.

• Claire Calmejane, Chief Innovation Officer at Societe Generale. Leads SocGen’s Open Banking strategy with the recent acquisitions of the API-provider Trezzor and the french fintech Shine.

Details about Open Banking & Platforms in Finance Specialisation 

An Industry Overview of Open Banking is only the first course in the “Open Banking & Platforms in Finance” specialisation launched by CFTE. 

The specialisation is the world’s first online programme in Open Banking, created in collaboration with industry leaders, and curated with feedback from hundreds of industry experts globally. Through this specialisation, learners can get the essential knowledge to understand and successfully apply the practice of Open banking to their jobs. 

The course lectures are delivered in a video format, accompanied by bitesize expert interviews. Reading materials and assessment quizzes help learners explore a topic further and test their knowledge as they progress.

The five courses in the specialisation and their lecturers are:

1. An Industry Overview of Open Banking, taught by Paul Rohan, Head of Business Strategy Finance, Google Cloud Apigee 
2. Business Model and Implementation of New Entrants, taught by Anna Maj, Fintech Leader, ex-PWC 
3. Business Model and Transformation of Incumbents, taught by Secil Watson, Head of Digital Solutions for Business, Wells Fargo
4. Regulation, Standards and Operational Risks, taught by Carlos Figueredo, Founder and CEO, Open Vector
5. Technology and Security taught by Stephan Murer, ex-Group CTO at UBS and CEO of Murer Consulting 

Upon completion of each of the five courses, participants will achieve the complete specialisation and receive a certificate. 

For more details on the course/specialisation and to enrol, click here. Alternatively, you can contact us at admissions@cfte.education. 

For more information to train your organisation, contact us at partners@cfte.education.

For more updates, follow us on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.

To receive updates directly in your inbox, join our newsletter!

Latest Posts:

• The EU AI Act’s August 2026 Milestone: Is Your Workforce AI Literate?
• Global Women in AI Launches Hong Kong Chapter at LEAP East 2026
• Agentic AI in Financial Services: Governance Has to Move From Policy to Operating Model
• AI Governance Is Not the Brake. It Is the Way Forward.
• UK Finance and CFTE Launch New Offering to Build AI Capability Across UK Financial Services

The post Google Apigee's Head of Strategy for Finance, Paul Rohan, teaches Open Banking in an online course appeared first on CFTE.

In 2019, Monzo hit a total of 2 million customers on its app, growing at over 30,000 account openings a week. However, despite this, critics opine that such growth in the number of Monzo accounts does not call for celebration. After all, it is difficult to ascertain how many of these accounts are actually primary accounts. The app based bank themselves have in fact stated in their annual report that only 30% of their active users deposit at least £1,000 per month.

The trend we hear: There is an increasing adoption of challenger banks’ services, but consumers remain unwilling to rely on them as primary bank accounts

Monzo is not alone. Such a phenomenon can be applied to the rest of the challenger banks as well. According to Propeller Insights, we see around 72% of consumers doing the majority of their banking online. However, as seen in Business Insider, 51% of UK consumers still feel that neobanks are a riskier place to store their money as compared to traditional banks. Furthermore, 41% of them will opt to limit the amount of money that they deposit into a digital bank. 

Therefore, it can be observed that consumers in the UK are more than willing to use the services of digital banks when it comes to smaller daily transactions, but hesitant to rely on them for crucial financial matters, such as the depositing of their salaries. Instead, incumbent retail banks remain the go-to for such matters. This is an issue for concern in challenger banks as the reduced deposit volume arising from the insufficient number of primary accounts in these banks results in lower profit margins. 

CFTE, being an education platform which finds its roots in the UK, was extremely curious on whether such a common sentiment is true. Therefore, we decided to see if such a phenomenon takes place in our own company as well by looking at the sort codes provided by our UK employees for their salary deposits. The results are shown below:

Results

Our findings show that our UK employees use a wide variety of banks as their primary account. Out of the 60 UK employees we have,13 banks were used. Indeed, the majority of CFTE’s UK employees still opt for traditional incumbents (55%), such as Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, Nationwide, Lloyds, Santander, First Direct, TSB and Halifax. However, it is also noteworthy that the incumbent banks only won by a minimal margin of 10%.

Interestingly, there are actually quite a number of employees who have their salaries deposited into challenger banks (45%), such as Revolut, Monzo, Monese and Starling. Contrary to popular belief, quite a large proportion of our employees are already utilizing challenger banks as their primary accounts.

Of course, these numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt since these CFTE employees are younger than the average and all live in London. Moreover, even if they were not all Fintech aficionados when they joined CFTE, they were certainly more aware of challenger banks than the average. Depending on one’s view, these results could be seen as a canary in a coal mine or just a random fact.

Challenger banks are not so far behind

Challenger banks have already won the hearts of many with the greater convenience that they provide to consumers. While many consumers still may opt to use traditional banks as their primary accounts, challenger banks are also increasingly being adopted as primary accounts as well. Some of the challenger banks today are also being rolled out by the incumbents, with examples including Marcus rolled out by Goldman Sachs and Hello bank! which was launched by BNP Paribas.

To catch up to the incumbent banks, challenger banks now need to work on winning the trust of more consumers. It is particularly imperative that challenger banks ensure that their digital infrastructure —given that they do not have brick and mortar branches like incumbents— are well-secured and free from data breaches. Incidents like the service outages by Chime in 2019 will only further erode the trust that consumers have in neobanks and should be avoided. Furthermore, challenger banks can also look into collaborations with incumbent banks in order to build greater credibility for themselves.

In time to come, should challenger banks be able to build stronger trust with its consumers as well, the high usage of digital banking by UK consumers today shows that they are open and ready to put more of their financial matters in the hands of these neobanks. After all, based on CFTE’s findings, it can be seen that the number of employees using incumbent banks for their primary bank account is only marginally higher than those using challenger banks.

Final food for thought: The definition of a primary bank account is changing

Lastly, in today’s highly saturated finance scene where consumers have the choice of multiple incumbent and challenger banks, CFTE would also like to recognise that the definition of a primary account is no longer merely the bank that one has his/her salary deposited into. It is perfectly imaginable that consumers have multiple bank accounts for different purposes in their lifestyles. Therefore, an account that has your salary paid may simply serve as a transactional account and not one that you use the most for your daily purchases.

In such a changing landscape, both incumbent and challenger banks need to recognise the place that they stand in the lifestyles’ of their consumers and resolve to fill in the gaps in their user journey. Banks who neglect their consumers will eventually be eliminated by the competition as consumers are increasingly spoilt for choice today, desiring for greater personalised banking services. Challenger or incumbent, it seems that ultimately, a bank which understands its consumers will win its consumers over.

If you would like to find out more about challenger banks and how they started thriving, do check out CFTE’s FinTech specialisation. Learn from distinguished lecturers, such as Andrei Kirilenko, Director of the Centre for Global Finance and Technology at Imperial College London, and Janos Barberis, Founder of Supercharger FinTech Accelerator. Through the courses, you will also gain an understanding about the significance of challenger banks and how they distinguish themselves from their incumbent competitors.

For more updates, follow us social media!

Latest Posts:

• The EU AI Act’s August 2026 Milestone: Is Your Workforce AI Literate?
• Global Women in AI Launches Hong Kong Chapter at LEAP East 2026
• Agentic AI in Financial Services: Governance Has to Move From Policy to Operating Model
• AI Governance Is Not the Brake. It Is the Way Forward.
• UK Finance and CFTE Launch New Offering to Build AI Capability Across UK Financial Services

The post Can UK challenger banks ever replace incumbent banks as our primary bank account? appeared first on CFTE.

CFTE and Pantheon Sorbonne University will be working together to transform La Sorbonne’s M2 Finance Technology Data programme into an online experience. This rapid evolution of teaching methods is meant to provide learning continuity and value to students.

The addition of Regulation Technology as a teaching topic falls in alignment with the design principles of the M2 Finance Technology Data programme, which aims to equip future graduates with a solid foundation in financial theory to critically assess and understand the global FinTech landscape.

RegTech is one of the fastest-growing growing sub-sector in financial services with an estimated US$25billion in spending by 2025. It provides, to financial institutions implementing it, a competitive advantage by being more customer-centric whilst upholding more efficiently reporting obligations.

The Academic Director of the programme and consultant at OECD, Olena Havrylchyk has said, “While technology is often seen as an efficiency tool, I’m convinced that it should be equally mobilized to make finance more stable and sustainable. This requires both a deep understanding of the financial instability as well as an informed view of how new technology could impact regulation. I’m happy to partner with the CFTE and its outstanding teaching team that will bring its international experience to the Sorbonne classroom.”

CFTE’s Co-Founder, Tram Anh Nguyen, said: “We are delighted to be working with La Sorbonne to launch this first of its kind programme to transform La Sorbonne’s ​Master 2 Programme “Finance Technology Data” into an online experience, whilst also ​providing students access to learn about the trending topic of Regtech. ​To CFTE, La Sorbonne is one of the most prestigious universities in France and I am extremely impressed by La Sorbonne’s willingness to innovate and try new pedagogical methods to maintain the best standards for their students.”

Janos Barberis, Academic Board of CFTE, who will be Teaching the RegTech Module of M2 Master at La Sorbonne also stated, “It is an honour to be in partnership with such a prestigious university, working on an initiative which leverages CFTE’s core business and long-standing knowledge in the space. The benefit of RegTech is that it is able to provide gains in efficiency for compliance, whilst having the potential to fundamentally transform the market structure. It is extremely exciting to be able to share this with La Sorbonne’s students.”

CFTE is also currently producing its Regulation Technology online course, which is scheduled to be released in May 2020.

About La Sorbonne:

The Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne university associates the glorious past of the 13th century Robert de Sorbon college with an innovative pluridisciplinary project. Since 1970, it associates social sciences, law and economic sciences. Implanted on 25 sites in Paris and its surrounding area, 43 000 students are supported yearly. At the heart of an international relations network spanning the five continents, the university plays a major role in training researchers, professors, magistrates, lawyers, administrative and corporate executives. Today, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University is the largest university in humanities and social sciences of France.

●  43 000 students and 22 000 graduates a year

●  Over 1 400 researchers and teacher-researchers

●  10 graduate schools and more than 370 doctoral theses in 2018

●  One moto: Hic et Ubique Terrarum (Here and everywhere on Earth)

For more updates, follow us on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.

Latest Posts:

• The EU AI Act’s August 2026 Milestone: Is Your Workforce AI Literate?
• Global Women in AI Launches Hong Kong Chapter at LEAP East 2026
• Agentic AI in Financial Services: Governance Has to Move From Policy to Operating Model
• AI Governance Is Not the Brake. It Is the Way Forward.
• UK Finance and CFTE Launch New Offering to Build AI Capability Across UK Financial Services

The post CFTE partners with La Sorbonne University to Bring Education Online appeared first on CFTE.

London, 21 January 2020 – The Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE) is delighted to announce that it has been chosen by EDHEC Business School to co-develop the Fintech and Entrepreneurial Finance module, within the Master in Financial Economics degree, which will be launched in January 2020. The launch follows a successful collaboration on Hybrid Fintech Specialisation programme in the 1st quarter of 2019. EDHEC Business School, based in France, is ranked as a Top 3 business schools for finance worldwide.

The Fintech and Entrepreneurial Finance module will constitute a core module for 320 Master in Financial Economics students, where they will acquire foundational knowledge about Fintech and digital finance. Students will be exposed to the main industry trends and technological changes happening in finance as well as the main players driving the growth of the ecosystem with use case examples both from Europe and Asia. Learners will also participate in the group business case challenge, where they will develop their problem-solving and entrepreneurial skills.

Fintech is a rapidly growing industry with a market share of more than US$187 billion across 48 Fintech unicorns that challenge the current financial legacy systems with blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) being among the most disruptive and fastest-growing technologies that affect the industry. The course aims to prepare students for this changing landscape and teach them how to exploit the opportunities of emerging technologies.

The course launch follows a successful collaboration of EDHEC and CFTE on the Hybrid Fintech Specialisation programme in Q1 2019. The course enrolled 80 master students and was oversubscribed in just 72 hours with a satisfaction rate of 97%. Adam Lasry, a course alumnus says: 

“I would genuinely recommend this course if you are looking for a structured understanding of how Fintech is impacting financial services with real-life examples and applications”.

The School is vastly recognised for its drive to be at the forefront of educational innovation and has attracted an array of reputable academic partners, from institutions such as the MIT Sloan School of Management and the London School of Economics. Michelle Sisto, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies at EDHEC, says: “We are delighted to continue and strengthen our partnership with the CFTE. It provides our students with an outstanding programme at the forefront of innovation in Fintech.” 

CFTE is very excited to continue the collaboration with EDHEC and is looking forward to launching the programme in 2020. CFTE is the largest corporate school to train in Fintech with over 55,000 alumni worldwide and a number of partner institutions such as Cyberport in Hong Kong, ADGM Academy in Abu Dhabi, or Budapest Institute of Banking.

“We are delighted to continue working with EDHEC, and to set up the most innovative programme within the school, allowing 320 students to learn about Fintech and get them to work on entrepreneurial Finance projects. We are very impressed by EDHEC’s willingness to innovate and try new pedagogical methods to keep bringing the best to their students”, says Tram Anh Nguyen, CFTE’s co-founder.

The programme aims to attract students with a strong interest in finance innovation, who want to understand the use of new technologies and develop new applications for the industry in the future.
The course will be taught through a mix of in-class and online lectures, case studies, applied projects, students presentations, and experts discussions. The course curators will include Dr Trenton Milner (Visiting Professor at EDHEC Business School),  Janos Barberis (Head of Entrepreneurship at CFTE), Alessandro Di Lullo (Director of Academia and Entrepreneurship at CFTE), and Wissam Farah (previous Managing Director of Nomura).

Laurent Deville from Edhec Business School signs the MOU with the CFTE’s Co-Founders.

Hybrid Fintech Specialisation graduation ceremony (April 2019) with the business case winners.

Hybrid Fintech Specialisation graduation ceremony (April 2019) with Sylvain Theveniaud, Tram Anh Nguyen, Laurent Deville, Michelle Sisto, Huy Nguyen Trieu, Janos Barberis and Alessandro Di Lullo.

Hybrid Fintech Specialisation graduation ceremony (April 2019), final lecture with  Sylvain Theveniaud, Tram Anh Nguyen, Janos Barberis, and Christophe Chazot.

Michelle Sisto and Laurent Deville from EDHEC joining the final pitches of the students.

Alessandro Di Lullo and Janos Barberis from CFTE at the Hybrid Fintech Specialisation graduation ceremony at EDHEC Business School (April 2019).

About EDHEC Business School

Founded in 1906, EDHEC is one of Europe’s top 15 business schools. Based in Lille, Nice, Paris, London and Singapore and counting more than 90 nationalities on its campuses, EDHEC is a fully international school directly connected to the business world. With more than 40,000 graduates in 120 countries, it trains committed managers capable of dealing with the challenges of a fast-evolving world.   

Harnessing its core values of excellence, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, EDHEC has developed a strategic model founded on research that is of true practical use to society, businesses and students and which is particularly evident in the work of the EDHEC-Risk Institute and Scientific Beta.

The School functions as a true laboratory of ideas and plays a pioneering role in the field of digital education via EDHEC Online, the first fully online degree-level training platform. 

These components combine to make EDHEC a centre of knowledge, experience and diversity, geared to prepare new generations of managers to excel in a world facing transformational change. 

EDHEC in figures: 8,600 students in academic education, 19 degree programmes from Bachelor’s to PhD level, 184 professors and researchers, 11 specialist research centres. 

For more information, please see www.edhec.edu

Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for regular updates!

The post CFTE partners with EDHEC Business School to train master students in Entrepreneurial Finance appeared first on CFTE.