Financial Technology Major
Back to Majors, Minors & Academic Programs
About the Major
Financial service firms use emerging technologies and data to develop new ways to service customers, aid in decision-making, and improve financial transactions and how they function. The financial technology (FinTech) major is designed for students drawn to finance but with a specific interest in quantitative methods, data analysis and basic programming.
Jobs in Financial Technology
- Real estate
- Insurance underwriter
- Blockchain and crypto applications
- Investment apps
- New payment and lending providers
Related Majors
New FinTech major lets students dive into the future of finance
When planning Elon’s new financial technology (FinTech) major, which launched in the fall of 2023, Finance Department Chair Chris Harris posed the question: What is the future of finance, and what do students need to know to be ready for it?
One of the results? Permanent courses in Blockchain and Emerging Technologies, Trading and Markets, and Data Analysis in Finance.
FinTech, a combination of finance and technology, merges the theory of finance with the more technical side of data collection, data processing, payment processes and other forms of automation. The decision to create the new major— housed in the Love School of Business—was made collectively between members of the finance and management departments, as well as the business school dean’s office.
Students are happy to just to dive into something that is brand new. A few of them told me that it was amazing to have the possibility to study something that is happening right now.
“Technology is really changing the pace that things happen and how they happen,” Harris said. “It was unheard of not even that long ago that you could just send some cash to a friend online. Now it’s just so natural and common.”
Krishna Bliss, a finance major who is expected to graduate in 2024, has taken two of the FinTech courses— Blockchain and Emerging Financial Technologies and Data Analysis in Finance. During his internship this summer at BP on the gasoline trading desk, he is already applying what he learned in the latter class, which is Python-based.
“BP’s analytics and trading teams use Python for both automation and signal analysis,” Bliss said. “Basic familiarity with Python is table-stakes on the floor.”
Bliss said he is glad Elon is introducing a more technical business degree. “I believe the FinTech major will help those interested in industries like wealth management or technical sales stand out as a numerate candidate,” he said.
Finance professor Thibaut Morillon, who teaches Blockchain and Emerging Technologies, said he has seen students excited to learn about new technology in finance.
“Students are happy to just to dive into something that is brand new,” Morillon said. “A few of them told me that it was amazing to have the possibility to study something that is happening right now.”
Did You Know?
- A degree in financial technology combines traditional financial decision-making with emerging technologies that change how work is done and introduces new tools that will continue to become more common moving forward.
- The major offers flexibility to study computer science, data science, and math and learn how financial service firms such as Venmo, Stripe, Robinhood, and others use emerging technologies. A liberal arts elective is required to help students understand the ethics of new financial technologies, especially artificial intelligence.
- Elon is one of roughly 20 schools nationwide that offer FinTech as an undergraduate degree. The FinTech market, which is already seen in fields from wealth management to real estate, is quickly growing with average starting annual salaries between $70,000 and $90,000.