After attending this course, the student knows the theoretical and practical principles of the fintech industry. In particular he/she knows:
1) trends in the development of technological financial services;
2) enabling technologies;
3) cryptocurrencies;
4) technological innovations in payment systems;
5) the fintech sector of credit intermediation;
6) recent trends in the security and inclusiveness of financial markets;
7) the financial applications of digital technology such as crowdfunding and coin offerings;
8) how digitalization alters firms' financing by providing disintermediated access to external finance (equity- and debt-based crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, invoice trading, utility and security coin offerings).
At the end of the course, the student knows how to:
a) access digital financial services;
b) evaluate the choice between traditional and digital options.
The course contributes to the educational objectives of the course of study in the area of finance and financial intermediaries. In particular, it provides national and international digital finance skills, enables the implementation of tools for the analysis of digital finance services, credits and resource allocation.
The attendance of this course does not require the successful completion of any other course. Nevertheless, a basic knowledge of Business Economics and Corporate Finance is recommended for a fruitful attendance of the course.
The course is organized in teaching units. For each of them, lectures are enriched by discussion of case studies, scientific papers, or external speeches by industry experts.
Papers and case studies are the object of class activities, with group discussions and interaction with the lecturer.
The assessment of the two modules (fintech and digital finance), is integrated, and composed by two parts, for all students (both attending and non-attending):
1) Group valuation. Presentation of a report on an in-depth topic, chosen from among those proposed by the teacher, and developed in groups of 4-5 people. The assignment of the case will take place after the presentation of approximately 20% of the program, and requires submission by the end of the course.
Non-attending students share the choice of the topic with the lecture, and can submit their project both individually or as a group. If they cannot present their project in class, they can do it on any exam date.
2) Individual evaluation. Attending students who participate in classroom activities send the teacher a short report (on a track prepared by the teacher), following each in-class activity, in order to allow the evaluation of active participation in the course. At least 80% of the briefings must be submitted to be evaluated.
Students who do not attend or who do not send at least 80% of the briefs, can instead take a written exam, with closed and open questions, on the whole program of the course.
The module is organized in the following teaching units:
1) Introduction to trends in the fintech sector and in the development of digital financial services
2) Enabling technologies: artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and their application to financial markets; development of blockchain-based financial markets
3) Currencies and cryptocurrencies
4) Banking and non-banking digital payment systems
5) Digital credit sector
6) Recent trends in the fintech sector: financial inclusion and cybersecurity
7) crowdfunding
8) coin offerings
All the students, both attending and non-attending, will be evaluated on the basis of group and individual evaluation.
