Future of Finance Archives - CFTE

CFTE at Singapore Fintech Festival – CFTE Blog

cfteadmin — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 13:59:53 +0000

CFTE’s Fintech tour of Asia came to a grand conclusion at Singapore Fintech Festival, the biggest Fintech event in the world attracting crowds of over 25,000 people from 100 countries.
And what a conclusion it was.
A huge bravo to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for organising a spectacular event that drew world-class speakers and members from the global finance community and beyond.
From Startups to Fintechs, Regulators, Financial Institutions, Venture Capital Firms, Insurance companies and Universities, they all came together to explore new ways to support global economic growth through Fintech innovation.
With so many talking points, we highlight our top 5:

#1

Collaboration and knowledge sharing is at the forefront of the fast-growing global Fintech ecosystem, and this was evident at Singapore Fintech Festival. The announcement of the formation of the ASEAN Fintech Network, a platform to connect Fintech hubs across the ASEAN region echoed CFTE’s mission to act as a gateway to connect Fintech communities and people from across the world.

#2

In his keynote speech, Ravi Menon, MD of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, outlined a number of forward-thinking strategies and initiatives that demonstrated Singapore’s position as a leader in the Fintech sector.
For us, his points on nurturing the right talent to help drive innovation in Fintech plus the opportunity for Fintech to deepen financial inclusion are two subject areas where we strongly align.
#3

CFTE’s first event in Singapore was our highest highlight where we welcomed 200+ invitees and students to come and share.
The event was centred on two evening sessions that dived deep into the growing influence of Fintech on the financial services sector.
The main session focused on helping professionals build the skills to help them transition from traditional to digital finance. A line-up of distinguished guest speakers helped to guide discussions and debate on how finance is transforming traditional career paths and included:
:: Tram Anh Nguyen, co-founder of CFTE
:: Huy Nguyen Trieu, CEO of The Disruptive Group & co-founder of CFTE
:: Gina Heng, co-founder of LATTICE80
:: Janos Barberis, Founder of SuperCharger
:: Veiverne Yuen, co-founder & CIO of tryb
:: Choy Siew Kai, Head of Data and Analytics at GIC
There were two-panel discussions on the night.
In the first, Tram Anh moderated the panel “HOW TO ACQUIRE THE SKILLS OF FINANCE 2.0″ with Gina Heng, Janos Barberis and Veiverne Yuen sharing their insights.
The second panel, “HOW TO BRIDGE TRADITIONAL FINANCE TO DIGITAL FINANCE, was moderated by Huy who was joined by Choy Siew Kai to discuss the impact of Big Data in finance.
CFTE’s co-founders, Tram Anh Nguyen and Huy Nguyen Trieu presenting CFTE’s vision at the ‘The Future of Finance’.
Packed crowds watched on as the ‘evening of conversations’ between guest speakers enthralled with the debate.
Tram Anh proceeding over the first panel of the evening, “how to acquire skills of Finance 2.0”.
The first session of the evening involved Supercharger, Asia’s leading Fintech Accelerator. They illuminated proceedings by highlighting the progression of Hong Kong’s Fintech ecosystem. A discussion panel consisting of alumni graduating from their Fintech accelerator program provided insights into front-line innovation in finance.
SuperCharger Founder Janos Barberis talking about Hong Kongs vibrant FinTech ecosystem
SuperCharger’s MD, Veronica Kuznetsova, on a discussion panel with Alumni from their Fintech accelerator.

#4

In a week full of memorable events, the Around Fintech in 8 Hours graduation ceremony was the ultimate highlight for us. It was both a proud moment and a major milestone for everyone at CFTE as we continue to rapidly advance our objective of delivering Fintech education globally.
Participants – some of them flying in from Australia and Taiwan – received their Certificate of Completion from our co-founders Huy Nguyen Trieu, Tram Anh Nguyen and Senior lecturer on Around Fintech in 8 Hours, Janos Barberis and guest speaker on our online course Veiverne Yuen.
The event also marked the beginning of the next chapter for Around Fintech in 8 Hours, with the announcement of the opening of registrations for the 2nd session.

#5

The prospect of Fintech to solve many of societies problems, particularity with regards to helping the billions of underbanked people in the world is a very important subject matter for CFTE. Hence why the Fintech awards, which recognised numerous innovative solutions to explicitly specified problem statements, were so impressive. It was also a great honour for CFTE to be involved in the selection process for the winners.

#6

A number of participants on Around Fintech in 8 Hours graduated after the event. So not to feel left out we presented certificates shortly before departing back for London!

If you wish to learn and get your Fintech Foundations right, please join our second session, which is now open for registration.

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CFTE opens registration for second session of Around Fintech in 8 Hours at Singapore Fintech Festival – CFTE Blog

cfteadmin — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 12:50:31 +0000

Following the success of the first session of Around Fintech in 8 Hours, an online Fintech Foundation course, CFTE is pleased to announce that registrations for the second session, which is released on 11^th December, have opened. And to celebrate Singapore Fintech Festival, there is a special £50 discount off the course (discount code: ‘SFFCFTE’) valid until Sunday 19^th November 11.59pm.
The announcement was made at CFTE’s inaugural event in Singapore, The Future of Finance, the central focus of which was helping professionals understand how to build new skills in a world of digital finance.

CFTE co-founder, Tram Anh Nguyen outlining CFTE’s vision for education in finance

It was the stage for the graduation ceremony for participants from the first session to collect their certificates – some of them flying from Australia or Africa – and was held in partnership with LATTICE80, the world’s largest Fintech hub and SuperCharger, Asia’s leading Fintech accelerator.

Graduates from the first session of Around Fintech in 8 Hours receiving their certificates in front of packed crowd

The event was the opportunity for participants of Around Fintech in 8 hours to meet and discuss with LATTICE80’s Co-founder, SuperCharger’s Founder, Tryb’s CIO and GIC’s Head of Data and Analytics, and exchange about the skills required in a fast-changing world of finance.

Attendee putting her questions to the panel

Around Fintech in 8 Hour was launched with backing from 20 senior leaders from the financial industry, with the expressed goal of helping professionals working in finance – wherever they are in the world – to acquire a solid understanding of the core Fintech concepts transforming financial services.
Feedback from participants has helped to validate a number of key aspects of Around Fintech in 8 Hours. Zahid Kalolwala, GM at Oman Exchange said of the course:

“Am extremely pleased to have had the opportunity to attend and complete this exceptional course from CFTE. Best Fintech content, speakers and readings one could squeeze into 8 hours, a MUST DO Course for all that are close to and or follow Fintech!”

Winner of an exclusive prize draw for a free seat to Around Fintech in 8 Hours

Troy Hector, Director of technology and Innovation at Cloud Africa stated the course gave him a sound “theoretical framework” in Fintech and added:

“The Around Fintech in 8 Hours programme provided a comprehensive overview of the global developments in the Fintech sector. The video lectures, course materials and module assessments served as valuable resources to reinforce the learning experience.”

One of the first participants to complete the Around Fintech in 8 Hours

Registrations have now opened for the second session which will be released on 11^th December 2017. From 11^th December, participants will have 6 months to complete the online course, which takes on average 8 hours to finish. And to celebrate Singapore Fintech Festival, there is a special £50 discount off the course valid until Sunday 19^th October 11.59pm. To redeem, enter code: ‘SFFCFTE’ at checkout >> here.

About CFTE
CFTE is an education platform supported by senior leaders from the largest institutions, startups and universities. It addresses the needs of professionals in finance and technologists to up-skill in a rapidly changing industry being transformed by emerging technologies. For more information, see http://www.cfte.education

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Will Your Job Exist Tomorrow? – CFTE Blog

cfteadmin — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 10:10:19 +0000

With the financial industry on the cusp of a significant shift to digital, ‘Will your job exist tomorrow?’ was the perfect question for CFTE’s Co-founder, Tram Anh, to put to an audience full of finance professionals at this year’s Money 20/20 conference in Copenhagen.
The response was overwhelming.
The rest of this article will explore the backdrop to Tram Anh’s talk at Money 20/20. It will attempt to put into context the changes that are occurring in the financial industry as a result of technological disruption.

Money 20/20 Europe

Money 20/20 Europe is a leading international conference. Thousands of professionals across various industries such as banking, advertising, media, investment, and technology attend the conference annually.
This years conference was held against a backdrop of record levels of investment in FinTech. According to a CBI Insights report, investment in FinTech is set to exceed 2016 levels.
With FinTech gaining momentum people were naturally eager to understand how it would impact their jobs.

Tram Anh delivers her message on jobs in Finance 2.0

Tram Anh was invited to Money 20/20 Europe speak about the impact of technology on jobs on the brand new Arena Stage.
The innovative stage is designed to enable maximum engagement from the audience. The stage utilises multiple screens on all sides, floor projections and circular seating to deliver an immersive experience for the audience.
Thus, it was the perfect stage (no pun intended!) for Tram Anh to deliver her message on the impact of technological disruption on jobs in finance.

Tram Anh speaking on the Arena Stage at Money 20/20 Europe

Tram Anh’s talk was designed to be inquisitive and engaging.
She used polls and activities to get the crowd thinking more about how their roles within finance were beginning to changing with new technological innovations.
Even with a diverse crowd from a wide variety of backgrounds, a general consensus emerged. People agreed that technology was noticeably affecting their industries and consequently was also beginning to affect their jobs.

The audiences and their thoughts

A highlight from the talk was when she asked the audience:
What do you think your job will be in the next 5 years?

My job will disappear
My job will stay the same
My job will be significantly different

For the answer, she pulled the audience onto the stage with her and via projections onto the ground floor, she asked them to choose a segment that corresponded to the three choices she had given.
Most people seemed to think their jobs would definitely change as a direct result of technological advancements. Some were insistent that their job would remain totally unchanged, no matter what happened in tech.
Nobody thought his or her job would totally disappear – not a single person.
Was the audience correct in their assumptions (after all, they are all professionals… many senior managers or CEOs)?
Or were they being too optimistic about the security of their positions?

The audience participate in the interactive vote

Learning lessons from History

As much as we would like to, we cannot look into the future for answers.
However, it is possible to reflect on past data to make accurate predictions. Many parallels can be drawn between the financial and advertising industries.
In the past 2 decades, advertising has gone through a technological revolution, which has reshaped the industry and redefined jobs. Tram Anh drew on this data to illustrate what is happening in Finance now.

The Disruption of Advertising

If one looks at the total advertising industry, it has undoubtedly transformed during the last 10 years.
Upon closer inspection, it is revealed that, while Internet advertising grew to around 5 times its initial size, print advertising collapsed, shrinking by around 60%.
Overall, the advertising industry is bigger today than 10 years ago.

What happened?

As the Internet grew as a network, new digital technologies such as search engines grew with it, changing how readers accessed and consumed information.
People began to spend more time online consuming content, thus the emphasis shifted from print to new business models that leveraged the power of digital technology.
This led to a subsequent decline in the sale of books, newspapers, and magazines and gave birth to an ecosystem of innovative businesses that live online.

Online advertising grows

Businesses like the Huffington Post, WordPress and variety advertising technology platforms were born. Some print newspapers, like The Independent, have even become digital pure plays as they look to move with the times.
With a shift in the way content is consumed came a shift in the way advertisers had to sell products. Nowadays, Google alone makes more advertising revenue than the entire US Print Media, see figure 1.

Figure 1. The rise of Google’s advertising business

This overview shows that even when an industry grows, certain sectors can still shrink. This, of course, has implications for employment.
Overall, the total number of jobs in advertising has decreased slightly but not by much, which could lead one to believe that jobs have remained fairly unchanged. However, as before, this macroscopic approach to analysing the data is very superficial.

New jobs created

What really happened was some jobs disappeared, others were transformed and some entirely new positions have emerged.
Demand for digital skills such as data analytics, SEO, social media has grown as advertisers now compete for the short attention spans of online readers and consumers.

Figure 2. The changing face of jobs within the publishing sector

Figure 2 above, highlights the decline in print jobs was almost entirely offset by an increase in online publishing roles.
It is also worth noting that these figures don’t take into account the number of jobs created in other verticals like AdTech and digital marketing, meaning in actual fact the total number of jobs increased.
In other words,

Hundreds of thousands of jobs disappeared in newspapers,
Hundreds of thousands of jobs were transitioned to a digital world

And many totally new jobs were created.

What does FinTech mean for your job?

What Tram Anh concluded was that innovation in financial technologies will likely lead to:

Jobs Totally Changing: In the advertising industry, the technological revolution meant almost everybody had to adapt from print media to online media. In finance, most jobs will experience a similar transformation.

Jobs Disappearing: Technology will, unfortunately, lead to whole sectors of finance becoming obsolete with certain job roles disappearing. Print advertising as a segment saw a massive decline and with it, many jobs disappeared.

New Jobs Being Created: As demonstrated by the advertising industry example, technology creates jobs. Both within existing industries and in new adjacent sectors that are born of a need to service facilitate the growth new technology brings.

Which roles? Some new job roles can be predicted, others less so. For example, the explosion of data is increasing demand for financial companies to better manage their data, thus we can fairly confidently predict that demand for data specific skills will increase. Other roles likely to emerge are harder to predict. But just as blogging and social media have flourished we can expect similar parallels to emerge in Finance 2.0

The inescapable fact is, change is already happening.
Take the number of Cash Equity traders in Goldman Sachs’ New York Office. In 2000, there were 600 but today, following advancements in Automation and AI, there are only 2.
Most of the people in finance are now beginning to become more aware of the technology-driven changes like these.
The next step is for professionals working in finance to take proactive steps to ensure that they are best positioned to benefit from these changes.
It was on this principle, to help finance professionals transition to Finance 2.0, that CFTE was founded.
The FinTech courses CFTE is developing have been designed to educate and empower professionals to seize the opportunity technology creates.
For more information, register with us here.

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