The Fintech Talent Development,Competency, and Manpower Study

The Fintech Talent Development, Competency, and Manpower Study 45 Technical Readiness and Technical Skill Gaps Design Thinking Design thinking is a design methodology that creates empathic solutions that are focused on human needs. It is particularly relevant to customer experience and product development. The design process is often non-linear and is collaborative between designers and end-users. In the domain of fintech, functional, emotional, and aesthetic appeal are becoming more important than ever in the user interaction and interface (UI/UX) of a digital product. Furthermore, the many constraints imposed on a problem require out- of-the-box thinking and a creative mindset. Design thinking is seldom part of the curriculum of finance, business or information technology which are the core academic backgrounds of fintech professionals currently. Our survey reveals a gap of talent in this area. Current practice is to hire graduates from art and design programs who work with software engineers and finance executives to meet the demand of the industry. Compared with the other four skills mentioned above which are highly technical and could take a long lead time to develop, design thinking is a mindset that can be nurtured via job experience supported by on-the-job training. Other Needed Skills: Process Automation, Open API, Regulatory & Risk Management There are other skills such as process automation, Open API, regulatory and risk management among others, which also score high in terms of the skill gaps of the surveyed firms.