Industry Engagement

Ngee Ann Polytechnic Seniors' Talk

The first industry talk which I attended was conducted by my seniors from Financial Informatics, and some seniors from other polytechnics. The nature of the talk was for the seniors to showcase the successful projects which they have completed in their course of study. There were many groups who took turns to present their projects, but there were a few which stood out to me.

The first project was about cashless payments, which even got praise from a DBS representative, who touted it as incredibly innovative. The group had re imagined the traditional approach of scanning QR codes to make cashless payments. Instead of having to get up close to the store and scanning a small QR code, customers can just take a picture of the store from a distance away, for example, in the queue. This makes it more convenient for the customer as they are able to just scan the store while in the queue instead of having to locate a tiny QR code and align it for payments. Their application also defaulted the common payment amounts for the particular store which the customer can select and also adjust the price incrementally if not defaulted.

The other project which stood out was on investments. The group had created an application which allows people to co-invest easily. Friends can browse through and decide on a particular equity they are interested in and contribute to the investment of the equity individually. This is especially useful for stocks which require a significant amount of capital to begin investment in. Their application not only creates a platform for trading and investment but at the same time exposes it to a wider audience. This is because the barrier of entry is decreased due to the lower capital required and the ease of use of their application, which addresses the main issues as to why people don’t invest, the lack of money and knowledge.

I attended the talk by my seniors as it would allow me to gain an insight into what I can expect to be doing for my current and future semesters and support them at the same time. After listening to all the seniors and the innovative ideas they came up with, I realised that it is important to think outside the box and differentiate yourself, and even if you don’t succeed, you can learn something from it and improve in the future.

India's PM Narendra Modi's Keynote Address

The second industry talk which I attended was the keynote address by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. In his address, PM Modi talked about how technology, especially financial technology, has changed and improved the lives of Indians in the recent years, and the launch of APIX at the end of the address.

The PM mentioned that the Indian government had a mission to provide financial inclusion for all its citizens within a year, which is very difficult considering the population of India. However, with the help of financial technology, he believes that they can accomplish this goal. Within the last few years, India has already opened over 300 million new bank accounts, which means that India now has more than a billion citizens with bank accounts. This includes even the poor citizens in remote villages. This would not be possible without fintech, which has helped to digitise payments and transactions in India.

PM Modi also talked about how India has grown to become a FinTech leader and innovator. Indian youths are innovating and creating fintech start-ups using all the latest technologies such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence which will benefit banks, regulators, and consumers. India is the destination for FinTech companies and start-ups as they will have support from the government and its people for now and the foreseeable future. At the end of his address, PM Modi also launched APIX, a banking solution which will help to reach billions of people worldwide who are unbanked.

I attended this talk as it was by the Prime Minister of India which would allow me to experience what the future of FinTech holds. If the PM of a significant economy supports the rise of Financial Technology, I wanted to understand what I should expect and know if I am to work with FinTech in the future. After listening to the talk, I learned about how India has benefited from FinTech and how they will utilise and integrate it into their economy in the future. I am glad that I am learning about Financial Technology in my course of study as I will be able to benefit the economy in the future and be part of an emerging industry.