Syllabus and Calendar

Course Meetings Times

Lecture: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session 

Prerequisites

MIT students needed the permission of the instructor. 

Synopsis

This course is for students wishing to explore the ways in which new technologies are disrupting the financial services industry—driving material change in business models, products, applications and customer user interface. Amongst the significant technological trends affecting financial services into the 2020’s, the class will explore AI, deep learning, blockchain technology, and open APIs. We will then turn to four sectors of specific opportunities: payments, credit, trading and risk management. We will explore the competitive and strategic landscape amongst FinTech start-ups, incumbents from big finance and big tech in the U.S., China, India, and Europe. Students will gain an understanding of the key technologies, market structure, participants, regulation and the dynamics of change being brought about by FinTech.

COVID-19

This course was a half-semester course that was taught in the second half of the Spring 2020 semester. Set to begin at the end of March 2020, this course was conducted entirely online via Zoom, as the Covid-19 pandemic began in earnest in the United States.

Calendar

Class # Topic key dates
Class 1 Introduction and Key Technological Trends Affecting Financial Services  
Class 2 Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning  
Class 3 Artificial Intelligence in Finance Deadline to form groups for group research paper
Class 4 Open APIs & Marketing Channels  
Class 5 Blockchain Technology & Cryptocurrency  
Class 6 Payments  
Class 7 Credit & Lending Individual business write-ups due 
Class 8 Challenger Banks  
Class 9 Trading & Capital Markets  
Class 10 Insurance  
Class 11 Coronavirus Crisis & Finance  
Class 12 Conclusion  Group research paper due

 Requirements

Activity Percentage
Group Research Paper 40%
Individual Business Write-Up Assignment 30%
Class Participation 30%

See the Assignments section for details about each requirement.