Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) is launching a new specialist centre to accelerate research into financial technology and develop real-world solutions to new challenges in the sector.
The Centre for Financial Technology Studies (CFTS) will become a knowledge and research hub for digital advancements in finance, including open banking, cryptocurrency, blockchain and artificial intelligence in financial services. It will collaborate with industry partners to provide theoretical insight and practical solutions to help businesses respond to the latest challenges they face and accelerate the adoption and impact of technology.
As the sector continues to diversify, the CFTS plans to offer a broad range of specialist courses and research areas for students and academics, spanning topics such as FinTech Disruption, Decentralised Finance (including NFTs and Web3), and Open Finance: Economics & Strategy of open APIs.
The CFTS will also act as a knowledge-sharing platform, bringing together Fintech firms and financial services institutions in Manchester and across the UK. It will host conferences, seminars and Hackathons, setting problem-solving challenges for some of the industry’s brightest minds, throughout the year.
The Centre builds on the extensive financial technology expertise within the current AMBS team, led by Professor Markos Zachariadis, Chair of Financial Technology (Fintech) & Information Systems at AMBS, which has played a pioneering role in Fintech research over the past 15 years. It has developed strong industry links and is already a strategic partner to independent industry body Innovate Finance.
Professor Markos Zachariadis, Chair of Financial Technology (Fintech) & Information Systems at AMBS, said: “The rate at which digital innovation is shaping the financial services sector has accelerated dramatically, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic. The Centre for Financial Technology (Fintech) Studies will ensure we can continue to lead on pioneering research that helps businesses to keep up with these ongoing developments.
“At AMBS we’ve always prided ourselves in being at the forefront of Fintech studies. The Centre will bring our experts closer together and enable us to combine our knowledge to accelerate research into new areas. By working closely with industry partners, we will ensure our studies relate to present issues and will have maximum real-world impact.
“The financial services industry needs new talent to drive the sector forward, and we hope we can play a key role in supporting future Fintech leaders.”
The new Centre will officially open at a launch event on the 23rd November. The event will comprise panel talks from AMBS academics and industry leaders, as well as representatives from the FCA and Innovate Finance.