Rise in Fintech Sector Unfurls a Wide Spectrum of Career Options

The rate of change in financial services is rapidly increasing. In this digital age, consumer behaviour shows that people want fast and easy access to their finances on their mobile phones; an application which would make banking easy and accessible from getting loans, making investments or tracking budgets. Fintech means to improve financial services for businesses and consumers. It has brought down huge cost for the consumers and has made banking very easy. In addition to benefits provided to consumers, fintech offers significant career opportunities and has become popular to professionals and graduates in the last few years.

Newer business models like peer-to-peer lending, robo-advisors, crypto currencies, investment management, big data and online banking have evolved with time leapfrogging on the ‘tech’ side of fintech. Innovation continues to transform the fintech space and will do so for the foreseeable future. Job-seekers eager to become a part of this growing domain are those who seek to redefine traditional methods with evolving technology. Here are few sectors where job seekers can explore their careers:

Cyber Security

Cybersecurity ventures estimates that cybercrimes will triple the number of open job positions in the next five years alongside projections that there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity positions by 2021. The demand for talented cybersecurity professionals is at an all-time high and is projected to rise. The fintech domain needs experts and specialists to develop security measures that thwart malicious threats.

Blockchain Developers

A whopping 30 per cent of financial companies are expected to incorporate blockchain technologies into their strategy by end of 2020, according to PwC.  Although this distributed ledger technology was initially developed to account for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, the fintech sector has found other uses. For instance, one solution includes the elimination of business intermediaries to make transactions less costly, faster and more efficient. Some authorities also foresee its potential to provide more secure methods for records management.

Product Manager

In the same way that fintech is synonymous with innovation, product managers also need to develop products by combining out-of-the-box thinking with customer empathy and unconventional techniques in order to drive business growth. Innovative growth should also be accessed through product development launches that other firms have adopted, integrating new technology with best practice in fintech products.

Risk and Compliance Management

There is a growing trend of fintech businesses pursuing bank charters, and in turn, banks are nurturing relationships with Fintech companies to fulfil consumer demand — a total transformation of both the fintech and traditional financial services domain. 

Both fields have been affected by new rules and regulations amid the evolution of technology. As a result, the risk of regulatory scrutiny and obligations have increased simultaneously, causing the need for compliance experts to rise. 

In addition to compliance, risk control managers are also in demand. More financial companies need specialists to analyse, prevent and mitigate risks, including regulations, operations and crime.  

Data Scientists

Data scientists take raw data, clean it, and then analyse it in order to harvest useful information from it for financial service firms to predict an outcome. Data scientists often come with a talent mix of computer science, maths and statistics skills. Other science qualifications may also enter the field, particularly those with PhDs.

Quantitative Analysis

These super scientists, also known as "Quants," are the brains behind complex trading programs. Specialists in this area guide securities firms, investment banks and hedge funds in making informed decisions about markets, pricing and financial risks.

The rise of fintech start-ups, machine learning, deep learning and AI will only intensify the demand for quantitative analysts. These specialists in math, data science, finance and application development will create the algorithms of the future to help companies reach their financial goals.

Artificial Intelligence

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have helped businesses make fast and critical decisions with data and insight. Across the industry, organisations have turned to these technologies to transform their business through AML pattern detection, chatbots, risk management, fraud prevention, network security and investment predictions. As per McKinsey & Company, 43 per cent of organisations report struggles with AI strategy, and 42 per cent report a shortage of AI talent.

While these are some of the focal areas that will remain in tremendous demand in the near future, there is more to come. Technology has taken rapid strides changing by the minute in some instances and there is no way that one can guarantee it will not undergo another round of change any soon. Be prepared, be successful!! 

The author is Co- Founder of Zaggle and Zik Zuk

DISCLAIMER: Views expressed are the author's own, and Outlook Money does not necessarily subscribe to them. Outlook Money shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.