Simply put, FinTech is anything relating to finance and technology; or how technology delivers financial services or products.
FinTech includes areas such as banking, insuring and investing and job roles can vary from business analysts to cybersecurity specialists.
Today, Chirine BenZaied-Bourgerie, Head of Innovation at Finastra joins us to take a look into what a career in FinTech can look like, what skills and qualifications are important and how to establish yourself within the industry.
With more than 15 years’ experience in driving innovation in financial services, Chirine is responsible for intrapreneurship activities at Finastra, inspiring employees to innovate and share their ideas while also acting as a mentor. She also encourages collaboration across the wider financial services ecosystem, working with banks, financial institutions and fintechs to accelerate innovation through hackathons, webinars and industry events.
hello everyone thank you for tuning in I’m Katie Bateman the content director actually can code and today we’re
discussing how to build a career in fintech bintech includes areas such as banking ensuring and investing and job
roles can vary from business analysts to cyber security Specialists I’ve got Shireen Ben Zaid head of innovation at
finastra with me today to share what a career in fintech can look like what skills and qualifications are important
and how to establish yourself within the industry welcome Shireen hi thank you so much for having me today
thank you so much for taking the time to join us and can we kick off with a bit of background about yourself please
yeah absolutely so as you mentioned um um head of innovation at Financial I’m
also a advisor at Frida green and Associate us at a time for the planet
and I’m a mother of two I would say which which one of those is
uh most important role to you I would say being a mother of two yeah definitely to be going to talk a
little bit today about the fintech industry um but what about yourself how how did
you get into fintech is that did you take kind of a a curvy route in did you
know you wanted to go straight into fintech yeah that’s interesting actually so um I
have an engineering background I’ve studied um biology and Agronomy which is quite
different from from the fintech industry but as I was actually studying these
topics and I’ve done that as um I hope I take which is one of the French I want to call I actually had the
opportunity to still specialize in computer science and I knew at the time
that I wanted really more to focus on everything economics finance and
computer science so parallel to my engineering degree I’ve actually done a master’s degree in math modeling applied
to economics and finance as well so that’s how I got actually in the space amazing and so you were quite um
heavily involved in lots of uh different stem disciplines there was there
something about stem that was was there somebody um who inspired you or teachers that
encouraged you or did that come from home what was what was it about stem subjects
yeah I was actually naturally attracted by everything science
um particularly math economics but also I enjoyed really learning about physics
chemistry lots of things there so yeah definitely interesting topics yeah is it
we we’d love to hear that on this podcast how um the ladies that we talked to how they make their way into
technology um because we hear so many different routes and obviously you’ve you’ve found
yourself in um fintech could you just give us a little bit of an overview of
um the fintech industry and the intro there I mentioned you know banking um Insurance uh could you maybe just give
like a brief summary of of what it is yes absolutely so I think I can swear as
a like um Finn and Tech Finance and technology and uh
we can think of it as a vertical but actually you have lots of planes inside that each of them could possibly be its
own uh vertical um so you’d find things like payments
um retail banking everything Universal banking but also things like
um everything lending from Consumer loans mortgage loans to commercials
syndicated and each of these areas very different from the others
um and within friends I can also find everything Capital markets related both
by side so everything asset managers hedge funds activities to sell side which is more on the investment banking
trading Etc so um really lots of different things and on all of these area technology plays a
ipu role so yeah yeah it says like there’s so many parts
to to fintech and as a whole I I’m assuming that’s one of the things that
makes a career in fintech so exciting right that there are so many areas that you could move to just within that small
small industry yes absolutely I think what’s really exciting about fintech is is the
opportunity it offers to learn so many things so you know I mentioned my
background in engineering and then studying modeling math economics and finance but then probably most of what
I’ve learned what I know today I’ve learned it during my years and in the industry working I’ve learned from my
colleagues from my our clients and um it’s a definitely
exciting space when it comes to the learning opportunities it offers because uh as you dig into one of these
verticals you get to learn so many things about Market practices like the the technology behind it also the um in
some areas the math and the models that are behind it as well so depending on
your appetite and what topics you’d like to dig more into you can really get to
learn a lot of things in the space yeah I’m assuming you really have to keep up
on the industry as well and it must change incredibly fast so you must have to really stay ahead of the curve if you
want to work in it yes absolutely and that’s also the other really interesting aspect is that things are changing so
fast and it’s a huge opportunity for a for the market as well so we saw an
um maybe starting 10 years ago we started seeing first uh the impact of open
Banking and being open uh open apis and then collaboration between different
players so that’s that was the first wave of innovation in the space and then we saw how data AI machine learning
started to transform the industry and to bring a whole set of new capabilities
um so it started a while ago but we still seeing most recently with chat CPT
and other generative AI Innovations how how this can also continue to transform
the space um on the other hand you know everything around blockchain digital assets and and
searches will have been um have brought a whole spare of new applications and Innovation into the
industry so um we take the example of blockchain and how it can transform like
the um post-trade processes of capital markets If instead of issuing bonds as we do
traditionally we we leverage blockchain like ethereum and others to um to issue
those Securities we can achieve real-time settlement real-time payment so
um yeah a whole set of new capabilities that are enabled by the technology
and and probably the most recent way even um the one I’m most excited about is
everything related to ESG and and climate and again we see a whole set of new
um Innovations in that space that remind us actually of the importance of Finance
the role it has to play to be an enabler to the economy and an enabler also to
the transformation that is ahead of us towards the net zero and all of the climate challenges
yes yeah I mean it sounds like um there are so many areas that you could
go into um I think it it sounds quite as well if you got in and you didn’t like one area
or you wanted to transition to another it sounds like there are quite a lot a lot of opportunities available I think
um people would only think of the fintech industry as as you know Banking and payments and that’s probably it and
that you wouldn’t um have much opportunity anywhere else but from what you’re saying it’s it’s pretty varied
um and and quite an exciting place to work um in your experience do you feel that
the fintech industry is supportive of women and diversity is that something you’ve seen or still have room for
improvement um short answer there is definitely
still room for improvement yeah yeah spintech is is finance and technology
and the combination of these two industries actually each of them separately suffers from a lack of
diversity historically so the combination of the two sometimes can can
be not better um if we look at the numbers uh actually
we see we see some improvements but still less than 10 women in leadership
of fintechs [Music] um and that’s even lower and and with
fintech startups than on established financial institutions and and content players so there is definitely a
struggle to attract and retain women in the space
um so yeah definitely room for improvements and and changes required
and um and it’s it’s um I think what’s what’s
positive here is that we talk about it we’re talking about it today we hear a
lot about diversity and the need for um bringing more women and and the more
diverse um uh yeah people to the space and we also
know the levers that we can use to do that we know for example that um post covered everything around hybrid
and remote working is definitely attractive for for women and
um there was a recent report from MacKenzie’s for example saying that um women are 10 more likely to quit a job
it’s not a remote or hybrid working is not available so definitely something
that is more women friendly um also you know lots of things and I
think it’s important to talk about it um lots of things around child care support having apparently not only for
women but for all parents um offering support to women when they
return from a maternity leave so having specific programs for their for that because
um we see also women leaving uh quitting a job quite often after maternity leave
because it’s difficult to get back to to their job as it would before so it’s important to offer options and
opportunities to grow after these kind of um life events and
um what do we see work really well is is actually top down support so for example like finasteria we
um I personally find it certainly inspiring to see that we have 50 women and the executive leadership team and
it’s something that uh that is not um um
there was a direction put in place an objective that the team worked toward it doesn’t happen just randomly we need to
be aware that there is a problem and work towards
um towards fixing it and and it can be fixed definitely so yeah it’s just a
matter of using leveraging all of these levers to attract to retain talent and
to help women grow in the space yeah because I I was going to ask you
you know what do you think of some of the things turning or women often coming into the industry but you just mentioned
in there um you know having so many female leaders um within your company that
would be so encouraging for women to see um that it comes from the top down and
the example come you know it will trickle down um and it I think having those we talk
about it a lot on this podcast having those role models in place for people you know they’re visible and people can
see them um I think that’s one of the the most valuable things that companies can do
because I think and not being able to see someone in a company that that you can relate to and looks like you
um Can can really turn uh can turn women off from a you know what could have been a really good career
yes absolutely and I mean we’re taking the example of women here but the same we apply like for other types of
diversity that we would be looking to to see more and more in the industry yeah yes
um I am asking them what skills and qualifications do you think is important
um in the fintech industry you know if they’re thinking about coming in what what skills and qualifications should
they be thinking about yeah so it um this could be really a
wide range of of skills um depending on on what space
um people would be interested in so um like some areas would require more
quantitative skills some others would be more like just being able to learn about
the industry um so yeah it’s it’s a really wide range of
jobs in there and a wide range of verticals within the fintech vertical that it’s
um yeah the skills would be very different I think what’s what’s really important as we were mentioning how things are moving so fast in the fintech
industry is overall to be always open to learning new things to be to keep being
curious and probably all set of soft skills so yeah being open to change
being positive um and being agile also and
yeah always willing to learn new things yeah do do you think would you say you
have to be highly technical or is that one of those myths it sounds like a highly technical you know area of the
tech industry that you would need to be trained in in certain qualifications
from you know University and you kind of needed to know what you wanted to do at University is that true or have you seen
people take you know all kinds of roots into fintech to be honest I’ve seen people taking all
types of foods into fintech it [Music] um
um um yeah as I mentioned earlier even though I’ve started in the Capital Market space and uh and on a quite
technical um area of capital markets like more quantitative Financial engineering uh
most of what I know there I’ve learned it during my job
uh of course there were some Basics on math and computer science but um
yeah um even on very technical jobs you would
be learning most of it on your day-to-day and reading articles and
getting to know Market practices Etc so lots of things you you want to learn at school anyway
so um actually and that’s an important aspect
because when we when we look to hire new people we really focus on their capacity
to learn new things versus what they already know or what they’ve learned at school we we generally just check that
they they actually got a bit of the basics but they’ve got that capacity to go and search for new things and learn
new things yes oh that’s good to hear because there’s always there’s always that disconnect isn’t it between the world of
work and when you’re at school and it is a baptism of fire when you get your first job but when companies are
complaining that there’s that skills Gap and we can’t find um candidates that suit us then then
you’re absolutely right if you’re a company that’s going out there just looking for somebody that’s got that
good attitude and is willing to learn then then you know why not bring them on for that and then train them up
um in the areas that you need them uh to be qualified in and
I completely agree uh agree with that approach and in terms of hiring people
um what can people do to make their CB stand out do you think when it comes to
fintech yeah that’s a good point so
um the series is what you get first before getting to meet someone and
um they don’t like the skills that people have and um or their background the the studies
Etc I think what’s what’s interesting is uh or what would make some people stand
out is really the um anything they are doing extra work so
like side projects or um getting into some hackathons or taking
some initiatives or even um things that are not really related to to fintech or to work but just to see
that people are actually taking they have that Innovations period the entrepreneurial Spirit they’re
trying things and they are learning outside of the traditional path so that’s definitely interesting especially
when you are starting you don’t have much in your CVS it’s good to see uh
already what you’re doing in terms of side activities inside projects yeah that’s great advice because
um I wanted to ask you next about what experience um do you think is necessary and what
can you do to gain some if you don’t have any and we get asked that question a lot during our um our Live Events
somebody always puts that question in what if I have got the experience what what what can you you know how do you
show that and you’re giving that advice there you know what attend some great events take part in a hackathon
um or volunteer somewhere is great experiences to get started really isn’t
it yes absolutely so hackathons are amazing we have a lot of experience there we’ve been organizing hackathons
for a while um and just to share with you maybe a couple of examples there so
um one of our hackathon winners is Anita I’m sure she she won’t mind me citing
her she’s um she’s an entrepreneur and she’s been moving careers and
um she’s decided at one point in time to to do a hackathon every month and I found it as a great initiative really a
great way to go and learn new stuff and also to help you make meet different people and maybe find ideas find
projects you’d like to invest further in so that was really one inspiring example
and and it does a great release you she participated in several of our
hackathons she won some of them and she’s really outstanding this is quite a
challenge yeah and she did it she’s really
impressive um and the other examples we had were
um you know students that would participate in our hackathons um we called them hack to the Future so
if you go and check fintech.death poster.com you’d be able to see all of these hackathons and projects that were
submitted Etc and they were open to professionals as well as students they would like compete to the same category
and sometimes it was it was so good to see actually some teams of students go
and win against some 10 15 20 years experience professionals yes but yeah
it’s it’s really cool and it’s something that you can definitely and we saw people like put it on their LinkedIn
profile and TV Etc so it’s it’s definitely a cool experience and a good
achievement to mention and last example I would I would add to that is [Music]
um uh I think two years ago we started also a new category for hackathons that was
focused on on youth so it was open to the 10 to 18 years old and it’s really cool because it shows that
um even at younger age you can actually start doing these side projects exploring Innovation and exploring the
space so we’re looking at innovations that would be pitched by
um like Secondary School um uh students and
um some of them were really impressive I remember last year we had a student from
India that actually submitted a project about um it was an art built
um on a blockchain actually and um uh sort of giving kids incentives to go
and do stuff so um giving parents actually the possibility to reward their kids for when they do good at school or
when they um do things at home Etc and you would do that via some sort of
tokens and then they can go and spend those tokens and
um that was really cool because uh even though it was it was not required actually but that the student there
um he actually like built something coded something and submitted it uh so it was yeah really
inspiring and lots of other ideas um broadened uh bits by youth
participants in the youth category so definitely inspiring and it’s a great way for them also to get into to get in
touch with some industry professionals to get to think about how to build an idea to pitch it Etc also really
inspiring so you can start very early and you can definitely add these kind of
projects to your LinkedIn profile and CV Etc yeah it’s always so interesting to see
what people come up with um at hackathons and we ran uh hackathons all
year at chican code um as well and the ideas sometimes I think
it’s as you said when you get students up against people that are a little bit more
um experienced it’s so interesting to see what they come up with because it’s almost like the students don’t see
barriers they they don’t think about it that way they just see a problem and that’s it but sometimes the more
experienced you get the more you start to think oh actually we you know you start talking yourself out of something
and why are you doing something but it’s lovely when you see students that just come in and think there’s a problem and
this is how we’re going to solve it um so yeah it’s a hackathons are always
um such interesting days uh and so definitely would advise a finding um some throughout the year to attend
um well that in terms of interviewing uh in fintech do you have any tips or
um you know how to how to stand out in an interview you know you’ve made it through the CV phase that they’ve
spotted your CV and they’ve kept you and you’ve made that first interview do you have any tips for that
yeah again I think it’s um it would be the same
um the same skills that need to show that
you need to show during the interview that um would make you a really stand out so
capacity to learn versus uh what you already know so maybe one very practical advice is
Don’t Panic if you’re asked a question that you don’t know about uh
um what we usually be looking for is around yeah how would you think about it
how would you still go and try to solve the problem even though you don’t have all the information required there so
capacity to to go and learn and um yeah
[Music] um and more generally being yeah being positive minded
um one other general advice but I think that would work and I can buy all this
and it’s also related to the CV I think one important thing is being able to
talk to anything that is on your CV and that’s the basis but it’s really important if you put something in your
CV but you’re not able to explain or talk about it that could be really a problem so
um make sure that everything you put in the CV is something that you’re able to tell a story about and explain what you
have done what you have learned what were the challenges what did you learn out of it and what achievements beyond
the day-to-day work what achievements were you able to to make really on on that job or on that experience so
um really owning your CV and and the Very and the Very details of it is is
very important yes it could be a bit of a red flag if you’re asked something and you’re like could you remind me well I’m
on my CV so you’re slightly strange um I loved it you said I think that’s the best advice I’ve heard for an interview
Don’t Panic the fact that is hands down the best advice definitely I
think um it it shows as well that you know in an interview um it should be a two-way conversation I
think a lot of people especially when you’re very new and you’re a graduate and you’re going for your first job
interview it takes a little while for you to realize it’s not them just
interrogating you you can ask questions and you would like to know what your
day-to-day would look like um if you joined the company um I think it takes a little bit of
practice doesn’t it when you’re a graduate to realize yeah definitely calm down and don’t panic
um Shireen uh am I right in thinking you are a mentor uh yeah so
um we have a group of finasteride called um women Afghanistan where we support
each other it’s a network and as part of that yeah I’ve been in Mentor for
um a couple of my colleagues yeah yeah and in terms of um you know what you get
out of that what what benefits are there to being a mentor I suppose there are benefits obvious benefits towards your
mentees um but but what about yourself oh
um it’s a very good question uh I really appreciate actually those moments I
spent with some of my colleagues just to reflect with them on what they are doing what their perspective and what’s next
for them and um yeah it’s it’s a way for for me also to
just to to understand what challenges other people might be going through
um and sometimes they’re very similar to some of the challenges I’m facing myself so it’s really interesting to look at it
at someone else and then trying to apply the same things to yourself so yeah it’s
it’s definitely great learning experience as well and I and I think of
it as a very important thing because it’s it’s important to help each other in a space where we don’t have we don’t
see much women in the space so it’s important that we can be supportive towards each other’s yes yes because I
think obviously there there are lots of benefits to having a mentor aren’t they and and um as you said just sharing even
you know um not just what you get from it but what they get from it and hearing that
your experience and that sometimes if your mentee is feeling a certain way and you think and just so they can hear it’s
not just them you know we’re all feeling the same way and we’ve all experienced um whatever it may be
um so yeah I think even just sharing stories amongst mentors is is super beneficial
[Music] we are almost out of time and I’ve got one last question for you do you have
any final advice for our listeners
um keep being curious and learning new things and
um yeah maybe one last advice is uh I would encourage everyone to get into maybe if you were to learn something new
I would encourage checking what’s happening with the climate that zero objectives what does that mean for each
of us learning about this the science behind it what it means from a
technology standpoint it’s the completely new space it is of course Very Much connected with
fintech when it comes to Green finance and lots of exciting really things happening there and
lots of things also room to improvements lots of things to to be done there
um but yeah I’d encourage if you want to go and check what’s happening there um it’s also very much growing space so
lots of opportunities for people to learn to get new jobs and to have an impact
yeah wonderful that is lovely advice to end it on um because we’re already out
of time so thank you so much for uh Shireen for joining us today it’s been it’s been um so lovely chatting with you
so thanks for coming on thank you so much for having me thank you and for everybody listening as always thank you
for joining us and we hope to see you again next time
