Certificate in Financial Technologies FinTech
The new certificate programme FinTech is offered at the master’s level and may only be started only in the autumn semester.
Consistent with the multidisciplinary nature of FinTech, the study programme stands on four pillars: Finance (F), Technology and Methodology (T), Data Science (D), and Business Applications (B).
The educational objective of this certificate is to enrich the students' knowledge about these four FinTech areas and provide them with necessary skills. Students who successfully complete the certificate will have extended their knowledge in the four above-mentioned areas:
F: Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and key Fintech concepts such as blockchain, smart contracts, (non-) fungible tokens, custody, swap, collateralized and uncollateralized (“flash”) loans.
T: Technological and methodological skills related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) relevant to FinTech applications such as predictive behavioural analytics, data-driven and algorithmic-based decision processes, robo-advisors.
D: Computer programming with emphasis on programming languages useful in FinTech, data analysis with emphasis on big and internet data, and computer-related issues such as cryptography and cybersecurity.
B: Digital businesses and digital value creation for financial services and products such as online and open banking, InsurTech, and RegTech.
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No: You can apply before you receive the admission decision from your master programme. We will check internally whether you are admitted to the main master programme before we decide on your admission to the FinTech certificate.
Yes, you are eligible to apply for the FinTech certificate when you already partly completed of your master programme. The maximum study duration on the master level however cannot be exceeded despite taking the additional the certificate.
Please check the official HSG regulations (Limits on number of semesters, Explanatory provisions and transitional regulations Resolution of the President’s Board of 4.10.2011):
“Supplementary courses: students who complete a supplementary course usually do so within the framework of a main degree course. The maximum number of semesters allowed for supplementary courses is therefore identical with the number of semesters allowed to students for programmes at the level concerned.”
and further:
“Students who use up the maximum number of semesters for their main degree course without graduation will also be barred from supplementary courses.”
and further
“The Dean of Studies is entitled to increase the number of semesters for supplementary courses by a maximum of 2 semesters, beyond which no extension is possible.”
No, there are no additional fees for taking the FinTech certificate. You have to pay the regular master semester fees of the University of St. Gallen.
Yes, you will receive separate budgets for the FinTech certificate and your main master programme. However, courses that count for the FinTech certificate and your main master programme will reduce your bidding point for both accounts.
For the FinTech compulsory courses you don’t have to bid with bidding points, as you have a guaranteed place for the compulsory courses.
Yes, if the course is the same (same course name and same course number), you may credit the course also for the FinTech certificate.
Yes, the compulsory courses require physical presence.
Based on individual requests to the programme management and the Admissions and Crediting Office of the university, courses taken abroad can be considered for the electives up to a maximum of 8 ECTS if they fit the scope of the FinTech certificate.
No, this is not possible. The compulsory courses may only be credited for the FinTech certificate.
No: if you are admitted to the FinTech certificate, you have to take the first compulsory course in the first fall semester and the second compulsory course in the following spring semester. The elective courses may be taken based on your own schedule.
You can graduate from your main master programme if you have fulfilled all respective requirements. However, you cannot finish the FinTech certificate after graduation.
You have to be registered as a master student to be able to finish the certificate.
No: the FinTech certificate is only valid with a completed master degree. Certificates will therefore only be issued once the main master’s degree is completed.
"The FinTech Certificate programme will allow me to gain a profound and indispensable knowledge of topics such as cryptocurrencies and blockchain which represent a disruption to the whole financial industry and are therefore of high relevance for everyone aspiring to work in finance."
FinTech is designed by a group of committed and excellent academics. The programme’s academic director, Professor Angelo Ranaldo, draws on his extensive research and teaching experience in FinTech-related fields. He is also a SFI senior chair. The programme’s interdisciplinary faculty offers different perspectives on FinTech. An advisory board, including experts from different schools of the University of St.Gallen, an SNB economist and an expert from FINMA, support the programme’s development.
Executive Programme Director
Academic Programme Director
Thomas Burri, Professor for international law and European Law | LS-HSG |
Enrico De Giorgi, Professor of Mathematics | SEPS-HSG |
Matthias Fengler, Professor of Econometrics | SEPS-HSG |
Siegfried Handschuh, Professor of Data Science | SCS-HSG |
Reinhard Jung, Professor of Business Engineering | SoM-HSG & Institute of Information Management |
Anastasia Kartasheva, Associate Professor of Insurance Economics | SoF-HSG & Institute of Insurance Economics |
Tomi Laamanen, Professor of Strategic Management | SoM-HSG & Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik |
Dr. Thomas Lustenberger, Economist | Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) |
Dominik Merz, Economist, Research Coordination, SNB & SFTA Board Director COO | SNB & Swiss Finance and Technology Association (SFTA) |
