Fintech. Quite a buzzword in today’s world. Yet, how many of us are truly aware of the industry’s inner workings? Its actual mechanisms, and the skills demanded in this growing industry? Basically, what is Fintech all about?
With the recent event organized by NUS Business Career Development committee (BizCare), “Future of Fintech”, we saw many of our enigmatic business students turning up, precisely to get the answers to those questions and more!
For the event, professionals from different companies and divisions involved in Fintech came in to lead the panel discussion on this booming industry. Among the panel were; Jessie Sim (Fintech analyst at DBS), Harris Leow (Business Associate at VISA), Daniel Huang (Director of Business Development at FUNDEDHERE) and Kenneth Lou (Co-founder and CEO of Seedly).
The panelists jumped right into it, taking it from the base – why did Fintech emerge and the reason of its prominence today? Two words to sum up their elaborate discussion in response – inefficiency and high costs. In order to cut down on the inefficiency and the high costs in the “finance” industry, “technology” is the way forward.
Furthermore, heavily anticipated topics such as “blockchain”, “cryptocurrency” and various forms or payment such as “Paylah” and “Grabpay”were in circulation, leading our panelists to discuss the topic even more in depth.
Our students gained profound insights from this engaging interaction as the floor was kept open to all questions, ranging from “How did you get where you are today?”, to “How do you think old players like Visa and NETS are handling entrants like GrabPay?”, as well as “What are the pre-requisites and how is the career progression in this industry?”.
Each and every discussion was put across in an engaging, open-ended and informative manner – light-hearted but accompanied by valuable pointers.
Some of the notable pointers and tips we picked up (in case any of you missed it):
⮚ “In fintech: Everyone is fighting for your wallet.”
⮚ “The holygrail for every person is the financial decisions they make day to day.”
⮚ “With internships, you learn more than theories; you learn more about what fintech is to you.”
⮚ “Taste as many chocolates as you can. Only then you can decide.”
⮚ “Follow your passion, work hard. Wherever you land up, it is a matter of perspective.”
⮚ “As millennials, we need perseverance. We need to learn fast, and especially go through hard times as well.”
⮚ “It is not only about resume. Do more. Join clubs, go for NOC, SEP etc… and create your own story. You go by the traditional way, you’ll get the traditional job. Do things that shows your passion and grit – it shows character. For success isn’t always necessary; it’s more about how you create your brand.”
Well, with that and many more such quirky, deep insights from the panelists’ own personal experiences, the event was successfully wrapped up, with BizCare having once more organized a conducive and enlightening panel discussion for our students to walk away with meaningful insights and a newfound understanding of the industry and the drive to achieve more.