Back to School? New Online FinTech Course Offered at The Open University

Innovate Finance, the membership association for the UK’s global FinTech sector, and The Open University, the UK’s largest online tertiary education provider, have announced that they will be launching an online introductory financial technology course.

The 50-hour course, titled FinTech 101: Understanding Financial Technologies, is geared towards professionals seeking to understand the technological changes shaping the future of finance since the economic crash of 2008.

The curriculum, developed by The Open University, has been shaped by industry experts, including Innovate Finance members. Given the scope of the FinTech sector, topics will range from mobile Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term, Crowdfunding Crowdfunding Crowdfunding is defined as funding of a project via raising smaller denominations of money across a large body of number of people.New businesses that need access to more capital may also conduct crowdfunding. Generally, crowdfunding is performed through an online community, social media, or crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and RocketHub. Depending upon which jurisdiction an investor resides within will dictate the sort of restrictions that are applied to the crowdfunding pro Crowdfunding is defined as funding of a project via raising smaller denominations of money across a large body of number of people.New businesses that need access to more capital may also conduct crowdfunding. Generally, crowdfunding is performed through an online community, social media, or crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and RocketHub. Depending upon which jurisdiction an investor resides within will dictate the sort of restrictions that are applied to the crowdfunding pro Read this Term platforms and peer-to-peer lending to challenger banks and digital currencies.

In the promotional materials, the university remarks: “Understanding FinTech and the role it plays to the UK economy is vital for people seeking to build a future career in banking and alternative finance. The value of the industry is estimated to be worth £20 billion pounds to the UK economy - a figure which is expected to increase as more talent and investment pour into the country.”

Liz Moody, Senior Lecturer, Executive Education at The Open University, says: “The brief for this course was to demystify a new era of financial services unfolding in the UK.”

“Traditional banking models and financial systems face uncertain futures and startup founders seeking a foothold in the marketplace will be encouraged to think critically about the implications and opportunities of changes happening in the FinTech ecosystem,” Moody concluded.