BVI will soon launch a customised FinTech course, through the collaboration between the Financial Services Institute (FSI) at HLSCC, BVI Finance, the National University of Singapore (NUS), School of Computing. The course is created by National University of Singapore, School of Computing, Strategic Technology Management Institute in collaboration with the NUS FinTech Lab.
The online programme that is proposed to launch in August, is designed to support the development of FinTech professionals in the BVI. Participants will receive professional certifications from NUS School of Computing.
The upcoming FinTech course was introduced to the BVI public via a virtual information session on April 28 and facilitated by BVI Finance CEO Elise Donovan, FSI Director Dr. Derry Hodge, and NUS Associate Professor Keith Carter.
The three-tiered course begins with a two-week introduction that addresses the importance of FinTech and an overview of the sector. The course then explores programming and development for six weeks. The final tier involves traineeship where the BVI companies are partnering with the programme to provide students hands-on practice for one to four months. In this phase, participants may explore various projects including digital payments, Robo-Fund advisory, Blockchain Real Estate, Crypto Exchange, process automation, blockchain insurance, digital exchanges infrastructure, and consumer behavior analytics.
Course instruction will be done via Zoom. Class dates and times have not been finalised.
In introducing Wednesday’s presentation, CEO Donovan said that the BVI’s cryptocurrency market is among the largest in the world, adding that leading FinTech companies have chosen to incorporate in the BVI.
The CEO noted that while FinTech and other digital services have been growing exponentially, there is a gap between what the industry needs in terms of talent or human capital, and what talent can be sourced in the BVI.
Ms. Donovan then explained that the FinTech course is one of the first steps in bridging the gap which will allow the BVI to further grow the sector and become more tech savvy and on par with countries like Singapore.
The FinTech programme targets new graduates and mid-career professionals who are looking to upskill. The overall objective of the course is to develop the BVI FinTech ecosystem and enable local talent to compete globally.
To that end, Dr. Hodge said the course is, “absolutely designed to prepare persons for careers in Fintech or to diversify their portfolio”.
Professor Carter said that the course reflects the developments of the future. He said, “This is now acutely known as digital transformation...it’s about going into the future, creating more jobs than ever before, and having really exciting inflections in history; not that we have seen since the 1920’s and1930’s with the introduction of electricity, telephone and cars.”
The NUS associate professor highlighted the various careers available in the FinTech sector, which includes both technical and business roles. Amongst the technical roles are front end developers, back-end developers, database engineers and security engineers. Business roles include project managers, adoption/ change managers, business analysts, automation engineers, quality leads and graphic designers.
Regarding the variety of careers available, CEO Donovan said that the training will also help participants compete on the global stage, stating, “Your marketability is not just for the BVI, it’s also for companies abroad who can hire from anywhere.”
For more information, contact the Financial Services Institute via telephone 284-340-6310 and 284-340-6322 or via email on derhodge@hlscc.edu.vg, Derry.Hodge@fsibvi.com.
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