Run by Bangor Business School

15.000 Credits or 7.500 ECTS Credits

Semester 1 & 2

Organiser: Mr Alistair Milne

On completing this module students will:

• Be aware of the leading technology-based companies in financial technology and how they are challenging banks in payments services and lending around the world
• Understand examine how technology, regulation and business context together shape the opportunities for technological innovation in banking
• Have critically examined the strategic and public policy issues raised by the new technologies, including the application of competition law and policy and the extent to which technology leads to new forms of industry competition and co-operation

The module addresses the current rapid changes in banking technology and the disruptive impact of new ‘fintech’ start-ups, challenging conventional bank business models. The focus is on the interaction of technology (cryptography, mobile banking, AI and machine learning), regulation (e.g. the EU PSD2) and changing business models. A broad issue will be the extent to which new technology is leading to disintermediation of traditional banking functions and to what extent resulting in a co-operation between banks and new non-bank technology-based companies. The lectures will focus on two business areas where the new technologies are having the biggest impact:

1. domestic and international payments;
2. small business and unsecured personal credit, including trade and supply chain finance. They will also provide a discussion of the public policy and strategic issues in financial technology – in particular the interaction of regulation and innovation in banking technology; and the prospective change in co-operative and shared institutions such as the international card companies Visa and Mastercard and the international payments network Swift. The first three lectures will provide an overview of new payments providers, looking at international payments, and at the rapidly evolving landscape of domestic C2B and B2B payments. A supporting case study will examine the role of the major card companies Visa and Mastercard. The next two lectures will look at technology based ‘non-bank lending’ especially the role of P2P or market place lenders and also invoice and other forms of supply chain finance & the extent to which credit may be supplied entirely outside of the banking system. The final lectures will look at the changing financial technologies from a public policy and strategic perspective, critically examining the role of regulation in both support of and as a barrier to innovation; and the impact of technology on the banking landscape in the years ahead.

threshold

50%

Knowledge of key areas/principles

• Understands main areas
• Limited evidence of background study
• Answer focussed on question but also with some irrelevant material and weaknesses in structure
• Arguments presented but lack coherence
• Has several factual errors
• No original interpretation
• Only major links between topics are described
• Limited problem solving
• Some weaknesses in presentation and accuracy

excellent

70%

• Detailed understanding
• Extensive background study
• Highly focussed answer and well structured
• Logically presented and defended arguments
• No factual errors
• Original interpretation
• New links between topics are developed
• New approach to a problem
• Excellent presentation with very accurate communication

good

60%

• Understands most but not all
• Evidence of background study
• Focussed answer with good structure
• Arguments presented coherently
• Mostly free of factual errors
• Some limited original interpretation
• Well known links between topics are described
• Problems addressed by existing methods/approaches
• Good presentation with accurate communication

1. Critically examine the strategic and public policy issues raised by the new technologies in financial industries. This includes the application of competition law and policy and the extent to which technology leads to new forms of industry competition and co-operation

2. Understand examine how technology, regulation and business context together shape the opportunities for technological innovation in banking

3. Comprehend how the leading technology-based companies in financial technology are challenging banks in payments services and lending markets around the world

Type	Name	Description	Weight
	Assignment		100.00

		Hours
Seminar	Three one hour live web-ex seminar sessions for duscussing the module learning outcomes	3
Lecture	Five one hour on line recorded lectures	5
Private study	Private study assisted through the provision of a study guide and on-line resources.	142

• Literacy - Proficiency in reading and writing through a variety of media
• Self-Management - Able to work unsupervised in an efficient, punctual and structured manner. To examine the outcomes of tasks and events, and judge levels of quality and importance
• Exploring - Able to investigate, research and consider alternatives
• Critical analysis & Problem Solving - Able to deconstruct and analyse problems or complex situations. To find solutions to problems through analyses and exploration of all possibilities using appropriate methods, rescources and creativity.
• Argument - Able to put forward, debate and justify an opinion or a course of action, with an individual or in a wider group setting
• Self-awareness & Reflectivity - Having an awareness of your own strengths, weaknesses, aims and objectives. Able to regularly review, evaluate and reflect upon the performance of yourself and others

• An appreciation of the nature of the contexts in which finance can be seen as operating, including knowledge of the institutional framework necessary for understanding the role, operation and function of markets and financial institutions (e.g. the economic, legal, regulatory and tax environment, both national and international; the firm; the capital markets and the public sector).
• An understanding of financial service activity in the economy, and an appreciation of how finance theory and evidence can be employed to interpret these services (for example, information asymmetry, adverse selection and moral hazard could be employed to analyse the fundamental nature of services, such as insurance, pensions, bank lending and consumer credit, and also explore fundamental problems arising in such financial service provision. Efficient market hypothesis could be used to explore evidence for fund manager performance and the effectiveness of equity and bond saving services).
• Articulating and effectively explaining information.
• Conceptual and critical thinking, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

Talis Reading list

http://readinglists.bangor.ac.uk/modules/asb-9049.html

Reading list

The is no text book yet available for this topic - a detailed study guide is provided

Optional in courses:

• N3BN: MBA Chartered Banker year 1 (MBA/CBDL)