The Budapest Institute of Banking (BIB) launched, as part of a British-Hungarian cooperation with CFTE, an exceptional Payments in Digital Finance online specialisation (PiDF) at the occasion of the world’s largest financial technology event. The program is a world-class innovation in the educational market in terms of content and design as well. The lecturers were selected exclusively, being the best of minds in the payments industry, from all over the world.
Thanks to the National Bank of Hungary (MNB), Budapest was also a part of the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF), the world’s biggest financial technology event, which attracted more than 60,000 visitors last year. The pandemic forced SFF to use a virtual venue, where several global satellite events were formed in cities around the world. Budapest was one of the cities which welcomed their viewers with renowned speakers. BIB and CFTE presented the launch of the PiDF online specialisation, including an award ceremony about a voting of the most innovative participants of the payments industry and a panel discussion in this topic was also held.
The speakers of the event, the top tier experts of the specialisation, emphasized that the constant and rapid change of the payments industry cannot be ignored. Those who react quickly and efficiently on the changes can make a competitive advantage, while those whose reaction delays are lagging behind. The PiDF course was created to provide all segments of the industry with the proper knowledge, in order for the course participants not just to be able to recognise the changes, but also to be able to turn them to their advantage by applying the innovations.
The Payments in Digital Finance specialisation is completely online, consisting of 6 courses, which can also be accomplished individually. The course introduces the evolution of payments, the substructure and the interrelation of the payments system, the importance and the instruments of regulatory establishments. Furthermore, it explores the new technologies, the innovative business models and it also provides the possible outcomes for the digital transformation of the payments market. 5 senior lecturers and 25 further experts provided the course material with their experience-based knowledge in the topic. They were selected from 4 different continents and from different segments of the payment industry (financial service providers, regulators, innovative platforms), thus ensuring to cover each segments of the topic.
As part of the event also the winners of the Future of Payments Award have been announced, which aimed to find the „Game Changers” in payments. By voting visitors could nominate the most innovative company, regulator and individual of the industry. In the company category Ant Group and Infynit shared the top of the podium, in regulatory category the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK financial market regulator won, and the winner of the most innovative individual was Serey Chea, the assistant governor of the National Bank of Cambodia.
Tram Anh Nguyen, co-founder of CFTE and SFF ambassador, sees the upcoming future challenges of the payments service as the following: „Most of those working in financial services know little about payments. This wasn't a problem 10 years ago, but with digital payments driving all sectors of finance, this is a serious knowledge gap for those in the industry. This is why we decided with BIB to develop a series of courses in payments, for all to have the right foundation knowledge required for Finance 2.0.”
„There is a huge extent of innovation in payments, which is reshaping the financial system and the whole economy. Nowadays FinTech companies can achieve world success from almost nothing, moreover the game changer breakthroughs can come from London, the Chinese e-commerce or from even Cambodia. Regulators also play a key role in driving innovation, as the winners of the awards show it as well. These all is also an excellent chance for Hungary, where the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) is at the top of embracing innovation. The launched PiDF specialisation is designed to help seize the opportunities of the emerging changes.” said Gergely Fábián, the CEO of BIB.
The agenda and the registration for the education program is available on the website: https://my.cfte.education/bundles/payments-in-digital-finance