BSc Management (Accounting and Finance)

The course covers various topics around the phenomenon of Fintech revolution including the digital transformation, innovation, and regulation in the banking and financial services industry. The course will cover various tools and technologies, stakeholders (Startups, incumbent banks, big tech firms, and regulators) and their interactions, the processes of digital innovation and transformation at organizational level, and regulatory implications of the fundamental changes in this industry. The course will mainly draw on the literatures in information systems, organizational theory and strategy disciplines. The course unit is being proposed for the 2nd or 3rd year undergraduate programmes because the students would already have gained a basic understanding of the foundational courses by then. The course unit is primarily proposed for BSc – ITMB, BSc – Management and BSc-International Management. The course unit can also be opened to BSc-IBFE and BSc-Accounting programmes should there be an interest. 

Academic programmes that course is available to:
•    Primarily BSc-ITMB, BSc-Management, BSc-International Management programmes as an elective
•    Additionally can also be offered to BSc-Accounting and BSC-IBFE programmes should there be interest

The aim of this course is to provide students with a preliminary understanding of emerging trends in the FinTech space. In particular, the course will help students develop theoretical and practical understanding of how the banking and financial services industry is being digitally transformed by various digital and data-driven innovations. The module will cover some dynamics at the ecosystem level as well as some dynamics of organizations’ internal transformation and thereby examining the changing nature of work. Key focus will be on helping students envision various practical scenarios from which they can learn from and in which they can apply their theoretical, analytical, and practical skills. The course will also include discussion of relevant case studies of documenting journeys of various stakeholders (banks, FinTech startups, cryptocurrency exchanges, regulators) in the FinTech revolution, the challenges they face, and strategies they employ to address those challenges.

At the end of the course unit, student should be able to:
•    Understand the fundamental forces behind FinTech revolution.
•    Understand the FinTech ecosystem, the key players in the ecosystem, and their business models. 
•    Understand the implications of variety of digital technologies and tools in facilitating transformative change and powering digital business strategy of various stakeholders. 
•    Discuss the role of regulators as a key stakeholder in the FinTech space. Appreciate the regulatory frameworks (e.g. Open Banking) and their implications for competition and innovation in FinTech landscape. 
•    Appreciate the changing nature of work for various financial and non-financial professions in the FinTech space. 
•    Develop an understanding and working knowledge of Decentralized Finance and NFTs.
•    Develop an understanding and working knowledge of Central Bank Digital Currencies and Stable Coins.
•    Demonstrate the ability to analyse case studies, offer their perspectives by taking into account the views of their team members, identify the black, white, or grey areas of the issues, and offer recommendations for the case study organizations. 
•    Improve teamwork and collaboration skills from group project.

Week 1    
Lecture    
Introduction: The Basics of Money, Banking, Digitization, and FinTech    
•    Gomber et al. (2018)
•    Wang & Huang (2018)
Tutorial    
Case study: Cutting through the Fog: Finding a Future with Fintech

Week 2    
Lecture    
FinTech Revolution: Digital Transformation of Financial Services (overview of various financial services), FinTech Ecosystem and Stakeholders (Incumbent Banks and other Traditional Firms, Startups and Challenger Banks, High Tech Firms, Regulators, Accelerators)    
•    Dhar & Stein (2017) 
•    Lee & Shin (2018)
•    Muthukannan et al. (2020)
Tutorial    
Case study: Fintech: Ecosystem, Business Models, Investment Decisions, and Challenges

Week 3    
Lecture    
Data Science, Financial Performance Analytics and Marketing Analytics    
•    Joshi et al. (2021)
Tutorial    
Case study: Dark Side of Customer Analytics

Week 4    
Lecture    
Text Analytics in FinTech     
•    Jung et al. (2018)
•    Ge et al. (2017)
Tutorial    
Case study: YOB Bank: Application of Text Analytics in a Retail Bank

Week 5    
Lecture    
Incumbent Banks and Transformation of their Business Models: Innovation Labs, Open Innovation, Data-Driven Business Models    
•    Sia et al. (2016)
Tutorial    
Case study: CIBC: Internalizing Open Innovation

Week 6    
Lecture    
FinTech and Changing Nature of Work: From Bankers to Coders?    
•    Marshall (2019)
Tutorial    
Case study: Transferring Traditional Banking Skills to the Brave New World

Week 7    
Lecture    
Decentralize Finance Primitives    
•    Campbell et al. (2021) 
Tutorial
Deep dive into Custody, Incentives, Supply adjustments and risks of digital assets: Campbell et al. (2021) 

Week 8    
Lecture    
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)    
•    Kaczynski & Kominers (2021)
Tutorial    
Case study    
•    Bored Ape Yacht Club case study

Week 9    
Lecture    
Decentralized Finance (Decentralized Exchanges, Lending & Borrowing)      
•    Campbell et al. (2021) 
Tutorial    
Deep Dive into Decentralized Exchange: Uniswap (2022)

Week 10    
Lecture    
Central Bank Digital Currencies and Stable Coins    
•    Davoodalhosseini et al. (2020)
Tutor