Center for the Management of Financial and Digital Asset Technologies (FD-Tech Center)
The convergence of digital technologies, policy initiatives, regulations and the disruption of financial services brought about by new Information Technologies has given impetus to the new FD-Tech Center in the Naveen Jindal School of Management at UT Dallas. The center will conduct business research, host executive training on Fintech and Digital Asset Management and investigate phenomena of interest across all members of the financial technologies ecosystem. The center works in collaboration with industry, policymakers and academia and has close ties with the local business community.
Vision
In the year 2030, the Jindal School is a global research leader in the management of Financial and Digital Asset Technologies.
Financial and Digital Asset Technologies will reshape financial services and digital asset management over the next two decades. The emergence of new financial services, digital asset management and the corresponding digital economy will be the most significant and disruptive trends. Our vision for the center is the creation of applied knowledge to manage financial and digital asset technologies.
Besides creating significant value for end-consumers, financial and digital asset technologies will impact financial institutions (e.g., banks), capital markets and regulatory bodies. Data will become a key asset for individuals and institutions. We will see the disintermediation of traditional intermediaries (such as banks and stock exchanges) by nimble Fintechs that will be service-oriented rather than the supply-driven model of traditional financial companies. This reintermediation will deliver more value at higher efficiency by exploiting new information technologies (such as blockchain, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, machine learning and others). A key competitive advantage of future financial services firms will be their ability to manage and monetize data as assets. There will be a shift in the core business models of firms in this sector from financial arbitrage to information arbitrage. Financial and Digital Asset technologies will rapidly change how financial data is disseminated, processed, analyzed and traded. The innovation will be radical and fundamental. It will disrupt the modes of financial payment, funding, lending, investing, trading, financial services and ultimately the speed of financial transactions.
Mission
We respond to managerial challenges and opportunities in the job market created by Fintech and Digital Asset Management.
The FD-Tech Center leverages, combines and restructures existing resources to enhance student education and experience, create industry collaboration and deliver targeted executive programs in this area.
Advancing Fintech and digital asset research is the center’s key mission. We plan to create a new research focus and identity for the Jindal School and increase the research output of the school by fostering interdisciplinary research collaborations across departments and with industry partners. The explosive development of technology and data-driven business models creates unique managerial opportunities and challenges for the digital transformation of the finance industry.
We will conduct cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research involving all business school disciplines. We will provide students with the necessary skills and updated knowledge to navigate the competition in the market and facilitate business transformation and growth (e.g., blockchain associates, technology advisors, digital asset managers, Fintech specialists, etc.). We will provide customized executive training to respond to the special needs of companies transitioning to adopting new Fintech and digital asset models.