No other innovation has disrupted the BFSI industry more than the one caused by FinTech solutions. By simply integrating technology, financial institutions have evolved their products and services making it convenient for their customers to manage their finances real time. By offering financial services and solutions online, a large number of underbanked or unbanked segments of the population have been brought into the formal banking system. This digital transformation of the BFSI sector has unlocked not just newer opportunities for expansion of services but also increased employment prospects.
In India, the FinTech market is expected to jump by 22.7 per cent CAGR between 2020 and 2025 from ₹1,920.16 billion in 2019 to ₹6,207.41 billion by 2025. Despite the Covid-19 crisis, digital transactions rose 42 per cent. As soon as the entertainment, travel and tourism sectors completely reopened, this number is likely to climb further.
In FY20, new retail digital payments crossed the 30-billion mark and the value of such transactions went past the ₹3 lakh billion-mark for the first time in India. Thanks to the FinTech players and their payment solutions, the impact of Covid-19 on digital payments is more than that of the post-demonetisation drive in India, say reports.
With funding from domestic and international companies, India is becoming a FinTech hub with the highest adoption rate in the world. Many players are entering the market with innovative solutions in payments, mobile wallets, budgeting, loans, credit, investment, trading, insurance, crowdfunding, cryptocurrency and other specific financial services. Easy-to-use financial products and services cater to various strata of society with a sleek and simple interface, and design is the key success mantra of the FinTech offerings.
Demand for IT engineers
As technology disrupts the BFSI sector, the demand to hire IT engineers directly in BFSI companies is seeing increased growth. The value of FinTech is determined by the efficacy of products and services and their ease of use; and this is possible by a well-crafted programme using the latest intuitive technologies. To that end, coders, developers and UX/UI specialists with niche IT skills are most sought after.
Moving from traditional aspirations of being part of leading IT organisations such as Infosys, Oracle, Accenture or HP, FinTech now presents IT engineers ambitious and lucrative roles within the BFSI sector itself. In fact, it’s a great career move for engineers to explore this option and establish themselves early as leaders in the FinTech space.
To maximise on this opportunity, engineering graduates must take advantage of specialised courses to build or renew skills in technical architecture, business analysis, DevOps, agile development practices, nd so on. These skills would initially take a long time to understand as people usually learn them on the job. In fact, some renowned academic institutes provide hands-on experience in real-life projects and use cases from the industry that provide for a deeper understanding of the domain with active mentoring. Why not build the expertise that can help be first-day, first hour productive?
Upskilling in FinTech
While London is considered to be the capital of the FinTech start-ups, countries like the US, Canada, China, Brazil and Israel are prospering FinTech markets besides India. Product development is happening worldwide with even global leaders ready to fund local innovations.
To maintain global standards and expectations, IT engineers need BFSI-oriented training before starting a career in the FinTech domain. This specialised training should focus on both technical and financial aspects to holistically develop the required skills and enable IT engineers to succeed in their careers.
Everything is pointing towards FinTech being a promising career option for IT engineering graduates. To be able to develop FinTech solutions and drive business growth for BFSI companies, both organisations and engineers must invest in industry-relevant skills that are driving global economies today.
(The author is Chief Business Officer, Manipal Global Academy of BFSI.)