The Board of an incumbent financial institution—such as a traditional bank, venture capital fund, or even a charity—is seeking guidance on embracing Fintech. As a newly hired Fintech analyst with an MSc from UCL, your role

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FTE0013 – Individual Assignment: Additional Guidelines

Title: “A Fintech Opportunity for the Board”
(by a fresh Fintech analyst)

Case Context

The Board of an incumbent financial institution—such as a traditional bank, venture capital fund, or even a charity—is seeking guidance on embracing Fintech.

As a newly hired Fintech analyst with an MSc from UCL, your role is to:

  1. Highlight your preferred Fintech domain or technology, or
  2. Present a specific Fintech proposal, investment deal, or market opportunity.

You will:

  • Define a hypothetical incumbent institution profile
  • Conduct market and competitor analysis
  • Tabulate a small set of alternatives (3–5 early-stage Fintechs in the same domain)
  • Suggest the most relevant metrics and KPIs to guide the Board’s decision

Deliverable:

  • A formal, actionable report of approximately 2,500 words for the Board.

Objective

Building on your previous Group Assignment, which involved identifying innovative early-stage Fintechs:

  • Now, focus on your own ideas and perspectives
  • Identify potential strategic Fintech projects or business decisions for a hypothetical firm
  • Analyze the incumbent’s “pain points” and the Fintech value proposition

Note: You are not required to:

  • Create an investment proposal or start-up
  • Negotiate deals or provide detailed valuation/financial analysis

Instead, focus on market research, competitor review, and actionable recommendations.

Topic Guidelines

  • Do not provide a broad introduction to Fintech or technologies (e.g., blockchain, open banking)
  • Focus on:
    • A novel technology or business case
    • An underserved or niche market, potentially international
    • Practical strategic or operational opportunities for an incumbent

Deliverables:

  • Actionable suggestion of Fintech deal options
  • Critical review of selected Fintech companies
  • Tabulated comparison of alternatives with relevant metrics/KPIs
  • Optional: diagrams to support clarity

Key Points:

  • Decisiveness and clarity are critical
  • Justify your shortlisting of Fintechs or strategic choices
  • Emphasize specific, objective analysis over marketing or promotion

Scope and Research

  • You may choose any Fintech domain or company encountered in prior assignments
  • Leverage Fintech news portals, lecture slide resources, and AI tools for inspiration
  • Identify gaps in incumbent offerings, exotic markets, or exciting technologies
  • Focus on actionable, board-level recommendations, not exhaustive statistical or financial analysis

Additional Marks

You may earn extra credit by:

  • Identifying specific technical components or strategic business partnerships
  • Going beyond high-level ideation to provide well-scoped, actionable suggestions
  • Prioritizing KPIs, project scale, or cross-border market opportunities

Note: SWOT analysis alone is not sufficient.

Best Practices

  • Actionable recommendations are highly valued
  • Original insights may feed into the final Group Project
  • Strive for clarity, conciseness, and strategic focus
  • Depth and length can vary; impactful insight often requires fewer pages than extensive justification

Final Comments

  • No official sample essays are provided to encourage creative, non-AI-driven thinking
  • Successful essays often introduce unique Fintech applications or markets
  • Examples from past students: crowdfunding for fisheries in Southeast Asia

Acknowledgements

Thanks to past and current students from UCL, QMUL, WBS, LBS, and RAF who have contributed questions and clarifications, including:
Thi Thanh Thao Hoàng, Zhenhao Yi, Jothi Prasand Madheswaran, Usama Elahi Khawaja, Hadia Quimmi, and others