The Fintech Talent Development,Competency, and Manpower Study

The Fintech Talent Development, Competency, and Manpower Study 54 Sources of Fintech Professionals The UG and TPg programs comprise a range of courses covering the essential topics of fintech, including (1) cybersecurity, (2) blockchain, (3) big data or data science or data analytics, (4) artificial intelligence and/or machine learning, (5) data management or database management, and (6) cloud computing which meet the acute demand for technical skills as highlighted in Exhibit 16. Among the above topics, UG programs put emphasis on big data or data science or data analytics (33%), followed by cybersecurity (20%), artificial intelligence and/ or machine learning (19%), data management or database management (12%), blockchain (9%), and cloud computing (7%). Same as the UG programs, the TPg programs also put their focus on big data or data science or data analytics (32%). The second topic that received the most curriculum coverage is artificial intelligence and/or machine learning (28%), followed by cybersecurity (15%) and blockchain (15%), then data management or database management (6%) and cloud computing (4%). Fintech Degrees Rising, But Not Sufficient to Supply Hong Kong’s Needs The supply of Fintech degrees is rising yet a significant gap remains in the coming years. Data analytics and artificial intelligence are key technologies to support the development of fintech. As shown in Exhibit 13, financial institutions are investing heavily in data analytics and artificial intelligence, and these are the areas with the most acute shortage of talent (Exhibit 16). To probe further into the supply of talent in data analytics and artificial intelligence, we collected additional data from local universities. There are currently 20 bachelor's and master's degree programs related to data analytics, data science and artificial intelligence. According to the intake of these programs (Exhibit 22), by the summer of 2020, it is expected that around 570 graduates with the knowledge of data analytics, programming, and mathematical modeling will enter the market. By 2024, the number will grow to 1,054. While not all of them will enter the finance industry upon graduation, it is expected that a good proportion will be recruited by financial institutions.