The new Master's programs open on the base of Institute of Cyber Technologies for Financial Systems starting with the next academic year. The Mathematical Support and Software for Global Financial Systems program focuses on training analysts in the field of mathematical modeling; Big Data in Financial Technologies implies training specialists in pulling and analyzing Big Data and modeling their application for developing financial services and banking products.
"ITMO University is one of Russia's leading universities where great competencies, knowledge, experience and traditions are accumulated. The collaboration between the largest and progressive bank like Otkritie Bank and one of Russia's leading technological universities results in the synergy of practical banking experience and a strong academic tradition, comments Alexey Blagirev, Otkritie Bank's Director for Innovations. The bank's employees are ready to share their experience with ITMO's students. We are most interested in engaging them in development of new high-technology products and services, which is why we also work on other projects for students, like hackathons and fintech-contests."
We'd like to note that Otkritie Bank and the Institute of Cyber Technologies for Financial Systems are already partners in the case-championship Fintech Cup 2017, where teams from all over Russia will have the opportunity to work with real tasks from the field of financial technologies.
According to Maria Sigova, Director of ITMO's Institute of Cyber Technologies for Financial Systems, collaboration with Otkritie Bank presents the opportunity to structure the programs’ educational process in accordance with real business instruments and technologies and not just pure theory.
"For us, it is most important to focus on the practical application of skills and knowledge that our students get and successful employment of our Master's programs' graduates, comments Maria Sigova. We plan to develop both "traditional" approaches, i.e. organizing internships for students, having lectures by the bank's employees and collaborating on the development of curricula, and collaborations on a wider scale. In our case, that would include using the virtual platform created in collaboration with the Otkritie Bank for internships and development of joint business projects. The bank's participation in development of our students' fintech startups is yet another opportunity."
Maria Sigutina
On June 11, ITMO University and the Otkritie Bank will organize a workshop by Alexey Blagirev on Know Your Customer (KYC) processes in blockchain. The current legislation and international practice call for having full range of information on every agency bank; until recent times, the banks exchanged KYC forms in paper medium, signed and stamped, which significantly slowed the process. Alexey Blagirev will explain how the introduction of blockchain can ensure the identity of a financial institute in a digital environment and the authenticity of data, as well as allow it to track the changes in KYC forms. One can register for the workshop here.
The Institute of Financial Cybertechnologies was created in January 2017 on the base of ITMO's School of Translational Information Technologies with support from the International Banking Institute. The new unit's main task is creating a system for training highly qualified IT specialists who focus on solving scientific and practice-oriented tasks in the fields of finance and the banking sector.
