Commercial Banking and FinTech

Catalog description

This course examines commercial banking transformation through dual lenses: traditional banking fundamentals and emerging financial technology disruption. Students develop analytical frameworks to evaluate how banks store value, move money, and allocate credit, while assessing how artificial intelligence, real-time data infrastructure, and digital platforms are reshaping these core functions. The curriculum employes a parallel reading structure, beginning with foundational banking concepts (money creation, financial intermediation, regulatory frameworks) before pairing traditional operations with technological innovations. Topics include bank financial statement analysis, risk management (credit, interest rate, liquidity, capital), Federal Reserve functions, blockchain and distributed ledger technology, embedded finance, algorithmic regulation, and bank-fintech partnerships. Students apply first principles thinking to distinguish fundamental economic constraints from historical practices amenable to disruption, preparing them to navigate an industry where traditional banking knowledge and technological fluency are equally essential.