The FinTech specialization provides an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the theories and evolution of FinTech, data-driven financial modeling, financial data mining and machine learning, financial data analytics, and new innovations in the financial sector, including AI, blockchain, bitcoin, cloud computing, machine learning, IoT, crowd funding, P2P lending, etc. The primary goal of the track is to develop students who have the necessary skills and knowledge to pursue competitive professional and academic careers.
Courses required for the FinTech track include:
- MBA531 – Financial Technologies
- MBA512 – Introduction to Financial Data Analytics
- MBA533 – Machine Learning for Finance, and
- MBA534 – FinTech Law
A 2020 report from Research and Markets found that the global FinTech market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 20 percent between 2020 to 2025, reaching $305 billion in value by the end of that period. It is important to educate our students the new developments in the industry and provide them with the opportunities to seek employment in this fast growing industry.
By finishing the FinTech track, students are expected to understand the fundamentals of FinTech and its applications in financial services; gain hands-on experience in the development of data analytics applications to analyze financial data, to evaluate performance, and to develop trading strategies; learn techniques in machine learning for canonical modeling and decision frameworks; and understand the key legal and regulatory challenges FinTech firms face.
Applicants to the ABM need to have earned a minimum of 75 credits toward their BSBA and 90 credits to start the ABM, have a current GPA of 3.2 or higher, and have completed an internship. UP to six credits of approved graduate eligible coursework can be counted toward both the bachelor’s and master’s degrees and the student is eligible, with the approval of the Graduate Director, to take other graduate level courses during their senior year toward their master’s degree while completing undergraduate requirements.