Columbia Conference Offers Sneak Peek at Future of Fintech
Columbia Business School announced its Frontiers of Digital Finance conference, sponsored by Deloitte, Microsoft and Goldman Sachs, and organized in part by Columbia’s FinTech Club.
The full-day conference wrangles nearly 250 senior executives, investors, panelists and Columbia alumni to explore major themes within the fintech industry, including p2p lending, risk analytics, asset management, blockchain and AI.
Touted as a “mutual learning environment to build a deeper foundation for success within digital finance,” the Frontiers of Digital Finance conference arrives at a moment where there’s a surge of opportunity in fintech for MBAs. Many talented financiers and bankers are ditching or completely foregoing the big name brands for fintech and app-only companies. HEC Paris hosted a talent fair that saw fintech startups like GoCardless “vie with investment banks and traditional financial services companies for fresh recruits.”
Or a case in point closer to home: Jon Stein, Columbia alum and founder of Betterment, a digital wealth software manager valued at $700 million.
In an interview with Business Because, Financial Studies Program Director Melina Robbana says, “Financial services firms worldwide are grappling with unprecedented opportunities and challenges in digital finance due to changing customer expectations, new technology and regulations in flux.”
The Frontiers of Digital Finance conference is scheduled for May 31 at Lerner Hall and featured speakers include: Goldman Sachs Head of Digital Finance Harit Talwar, Biz2Credit CEO Rohit Arora, Columbia Professor of International Business Bernd Schmitt, Capital Markets Partner Christopher Austin, Venture Partner Pascal Bouvier, US Blockchain Lab Lead Daniel Simmonds and Yale Senior Research Scholar in Law Gregory Fleming.
About the Author
Jonathan Pfeffer
Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as contributing writer at MetroMBA and contributing editor at Clear Admit, he is co-founder and lead producer of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.
