ICM313: FinTech and Digital Transformation in Financial Services

Module code: ICM313

Module provider: ICMA Centre; Henley Business School

Credits: 20

Level: 7

When you'll be taught: Summer (vacation) semester

Module convenor: Professor George Alexandridis, email: g.alexandridis@icmacentre.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 19 November 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This is an elective module as part of a 1-month study-abroad trip in mid-June at ALBA Graduate Business School at the American College of Greece, in Athens, Greece. The study fees are covered by the ICMA Centre. A number of travel stipends are also made available to students that take this module to cover part of their accommodation and travel fees.  

The principle aim of the module is to provide the students with practical and theoretical understanding of how the financial services industry has been transformed through the adoption and use of digital innovation and information technologies as well as the abundance of data. The module takes both an external perspective on technological and market developments, as well as an internal perspective on organizational transformation and new ways of working for innovation and agility. More specifically the module will look at the recent developments of FinTech innovation for accounts and payments, digital transformation in banking, new ways of value exchange based on digital tokens (e.g. cryptocurrencies, ICOs, etc.) and shared-leger (e.g. blockchain) technologies, and case studies of artificial intelligence and big data in finance. Some of the relevant financial regulations in the UK and the EU (e.g. OBWG, PSD2, GDPR, MIFIDII, Dodd-Frank, etc.) will also be explored to understand how they affect developments in the sector.  

The module also addresses how banks and financial institutions adapt their internal structures and management processes in order to instil the culture and capabilities for continuous innovation and strategic agility in the face of technological disruption. Students will get exposed to the principles of design thinking and will practice some of the most common story mapping techniques. In addition, they will learn the principles of experimentation and validated learning (lean entrepreneurship) and they will practice the techniques of agile team work in product development, in a workshop using Lego bricks. Participants will also gain exposure to how Fintech innovation is being developed and applied in practice by visiting innovation hubs based in large financial institutions in Greece, speak to FinTech startup entrepreneurs from the Athens FinTech ecosystem, and attend guest talks by digital banking experts. They will also take part in a bespoke “digital banking challenge” whereby they have to work as part of a team to produce a mock mobile application of a digital bank and pitch it to a panel of digital banking experts from the industry and academia who will assess the feasibility and originality of the ideas as well as business potential. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that the student will be able to: 

• Critically evaluate and recommend organizational changes for promoting strategic agility and competitiveness in the face of technological disruption and discuss 
• the latest technological developments in finance (e.g. open APIs, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc.) and the impact of technology and big data on some of the processes and business models. 
• Assess fintech startup ideas and critically discuss how they make use of new technologies that provide a better customer experience or create efficiencies. 
• Apply the principles and practices of design thinking and agile product development in the process of prototyping a fintech product/service. 
• Build and pitch a comprehensive mock-up for a fintech product/service and get a glimpse of how to strategize and develop fintech innovations in finance. 

Module content

1. Module presentation and introduction to Digital innovation and ICT in Finance (FinTech) 
2. Enterprise Innovation & Digital transformation in financial services 
3. Principles of Design Thinking; Story Mapping workshop 
4. Lean entrepreneurship and Agile product development: theory and workshop 
5. The future of banking: Digital & Open Banking and FinTech startup ecosystems. 
6. Payment technologies and systems a nd the role of financial messaging standards. 
7. Introduction to cryptocurrencies. Application of blockchain technologies in finance. 
8. Big Data & artificial intelligence in finance. Regulatory frameworks in financial services and the need for transparency. 
9. Workshop: “Fintech entrepreneurship and (digital) product development” (6-hours) 
10. Dragon's Den pitch on digital banking mobile app 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures are designed to offer a practical understanding of the topics 

Practical classes will be used to discuss non-assessed problem sets and case studies. There will be 15 hours of lectures and 10 hours of practical sessions. The module will be delivered in 3xhour blocks. 

Study hours

At least 20 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

50% weighted average mark 

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs