Eamon McCarthy Earls

Boston companies can partner with public universities to create fintech skills pipeline

/0 Comments/in , /by Eamon McCarthy Earls
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

Read this op-ed in the Boston Business Journal.

Financial technology, or fintech, encompasses a variety of new technologies, including algorithmic asset management, thematic investing, and cryptocurrency, which are set to have a significant impact on the 200,000 workers in the Massachusetts finance and insurance industries. Last year, The Boston Business Journal reported that finance and manufacturing were the only two industries in Boston that experienced declining headcounts—finance due in part to more automated fintech processes. Opimas, a consulting firm, indicates that 90,000 asset manager jobs will be automated by 2025, potentially spelling bad news for many asset management professionals in Boston’s own Financial District.

This and other alarming statistics, such as projected 60 percent declines in profits for companies that fail to implement fintech, as reported by McKinsey & Company, indicate that financial firms need to be preparing for the future. In a new report prepared for the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based public policy think tank, I explored how public universities can boost skills and prepare students to meet the shifting demands of the industry in our region. But the responsibility to adapt rests with businesses as well.

Because fintech is new, there is often a lack of teaching material and expertise about it. Universities are inviting fintech executives to speak, and companies could do the same for internal training. Some leading private universities in the US, such as MIT, Harvard, Brandeis and others, together with schools internationally, are crafting fintech tracks and courses, and faculty at the Commonwealth’s public universities, such as UMass Boston and UMass Amherst, are joining the effort.

Boston firms will need to retrain many of their workers as well as rely on a steady supply of talent coming from our state universities. A collaborative approach to working with academia will help to boost the pipeline. Design thinking, communication and collaboration skills, as well as a broad understanding of the scope of new technology are very important for adapting the workforce for future demands. Project managers and other professionals combining business and technical aspects might focus on sharing insights with students. Even accountants adopting new ways of valuing businesses based on intellectual property could share their methodologies with students.  Firms could also design internships for undergraduate and graduate students focused on implementing fintech in the real world. As universities chart a course toward the fintech future, Boston financial firms must do the same and join them on the journey.

Eamon McCarthy Earls is a writer, researcher and town councilor in Franklin, Massachusetts.

Get Updates on Our Economic Opportunity Research

Read Pioneer’s recent report, Preparing Students for a Future in Fintech.

Related posts:

Mayor Christenson on How Immigrants Enrich His City

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Gary Christenson, Mayor of Malden, the second most diverse city in Massachusetts, with almost 43 percent of its residents born outside of the United States. It’s also home to The Immigrant Learning Center, the co-producer of this podcast. It’s always been a gateway city for immigrants and refugees, and it is this diversity that gives Malden its strength. Mayor Christenson looks to the revitalization of downtown with its disproportionate number of immigrant-owned businesses, and talks with us about managing the relationships between long-time residents and new immigrants, the reaction of the city to hate crimes after the Boston Marathon bombing, how much immigrants have given back to their new home, and his stance on sanctuary cities, in this week’s JobMakers.

Supply Chains Understood: Covid’s Global Demand Stress Test

https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chtbl.com/track/G45992/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/1148317750-pioneerinstitute-hubwonk-ep-78-supply-chains-understood-covids-global-demand-stress-test.mp3 This…

John Dearie: Halt Immigration? Fall Behind

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with John Dearie, founder and president of the Center for American Entrepreneurship, a Washington, D.C.-based research, policy and advocacy organization. Immigration is core to his mission to build a policy environment that promotes entrepreneurship because he knows all too well that the United States was and continues to be built by entrepreneurial immigrants who had the drive and determination to pick up, leave everything they know behind, and build a new life in a new homeland.

Competition Amongst States: How Tax Policy Drives Residents to Seek Better Value

This week on Hubwonk (our debut video & audio edition), Host Joe Selvaggi talks with research analyst Andrew Mikula about the findings from his recent report, A Timely Tax Cut, in which he explored the relationship between state tax rates and policy and the direction of interstate migration.

Bernat Olle Gets a Visa to Improve the World

This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Dr. Bernat Olle, co-founder and CEO of Vedanta Biosciences, about his journey from Catalonia, Spain, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he continued his Chemical Engineering studies at MIT. Navigating the complex immigration system while seeking purpose in his career, he eventually found his calling and was lucky enough to remain in the U.S. to see it through: designing a new class of medicines to modulate the human microbiome. 

Rent Control Re-Explored: What the Past Can Teach the Future

Hubwonk Host Joe Selvaggi talks with economist and MIT Professor Chris Palmer about his research and analysis of the effects of rent control in Cambridge during its 25-year implementation and in the aftermath of its repeal.