FinTech Foundations and Overview (Coursera)

This first MOOC on FINTECH in Asia-Pacific offered by HKUST presents the insight of several professors from the top business school in Asia as well as perspectives from industry professionals. HKUST has been ranked for many years as the No.1 EMBA program in the world, as the number one Finance program in Asia, and as the top MBA program in Asia by multiple independent rating and review journals and surveys.

This course "FinTech Foundations and Overview" offers the combined strengths of HKUST in Business, Finance, and Technology as one the world's leading academic institutions on an important area of technology and business innovations. For learners from outside Asia, this also gives an insight into changes happening in the most advanced FinTech markets of the world, since Asia leads worldwide in FinTech adoption and creative innovations.

Course 1 of 4 in the FinTech: Finance Industry Transformation and Regulation Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1

Introduction to FinTech

In this module (week one), students will gain a multi-dimensional perspective on what FinTech means from the perspective of large firms (and older participants in the industry - e.g. dinosaurs), entrepreneurs, investors, and consumers. Examining what FinTech is, or is not, provides a foundations upon which students can build for better understanding of opportunities and changes.

WEEK 2

FinTech Business Applications

The Business Applications of FinTech are essentially the Fin part of the FinTech world, and in this module, we will examine applications across six categories of FinTech, including lending and personal finance, crowd-finding and business financing, payments and retail transactions, equity, trading and investment applications, various types of cryptocurrencies, and banking infrastructure and tools.

WEEK 3

The Tech of FinTech

The Technology enabling and supporting FinTech is important to understand, and this module provides a brief introduction to each of the areas of technology that enable FinTech business changes, including identity and privacy technologies, blockchain and encryption, big data analytics, AI and automation, and consumer tech innovations. This introduction is designed to be at a level appropriate for business managers or students of business and is not intended to excite or engage tech geeks.

WEEK 4

FinTech Implications for Established Business

Building on our understanding of FinTech market applications and FinTech technologies, we move in this module to examine the implications of FinTech changes and challenges for existing financial services companies, and we look at current and future trends in FinTech world-wide. This module concludes, after the final quiz, with a final course project in which students will present their recommendations for senior managers of a large, established Asia-Pacific bank to take advantage of and respond to FinTech challenges and opportunities.