Financial Technology

Content
This is a course on digital innovation and technology-enabled business model innovation in the financial services sector. It provides an introductory overview of innovations central to fintech in financing, asset management, payment, and other financial services. The focus is on blockchain technology and its specific issues and applications. Other innovations that will be covered include crowdfunding, robo-advice, social trading, central bank digital currencies, robots, and artificial intelligence. The course also examines the possibilities of these technologies for business creation and the development of established companies. In addition, the course typically includes guest speakers from industry.

Aims
- present the most important fintech business models and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages compared to the status quo
- present the benefits and meaningfulness of fintech in different regions of the world

By the end of the course, you should be able to:
- to distinguish which business models are promising, which are not and why
- evaluate the benefits and potential of blockchain technology
- you can explain why many fintech business models are linked to cybercrime and how this hurts the industry
- why fintech business models in regions like Africa and Asia sometimes have a much greater customer benefit than in Europe or the USA

Course organization
Classes are held weekly, with one two-hour session per week. In the first hour there is a formal lecture followed by a 30-minute seminar discussion.
The students are expected to have completed the compulsory reading before the respective lecture. Compulsory reading is marked with a *.

Exam date: date follows (binding appointments at the examination office).  The module examination consists of a written exam lasting 60 minutes.