had the chance to have its say. Thus, we aimed to fulfil one of the most important purposes of The FinTech Book, namely to give a voice to those that would remain unheard, those that did not belong to a true FinTech community in their local areas, and spread that voice to an international audience. We have immensely enjoyed the journey of editing The FinTech Book and sincerely hope that you will enjoy the journey of reading it, at least as much.
More than 160 authors from 27 countries submitted 189 abstracts to be part of the book. We asked our global FinTech community for their views regarding which abstracts they would like to have fully expanded for The FinTech Book. From all these potential contributors, we selected 86 authors who have been asked to write full chapters, which have now been included in this book. We conducted a questionnaire among all our selected authors to further understand their background and expertise.
Our selected final authors come from 20 countries. The majority have postgraduate university degrees (60 %) (Figure 1), strong domain expertise across many fields (Figure 2), and 93 % of our finalist authors have had articles published before.
Figure 1 What is the highest educational qualification of our authors?
Figure 2 Areas in which our authors have domain expertise (multiple choices were possible)
Figures 3 and 4 show that almost half our finalist authors are entrepreneurs working for FinTech start-ups (many of them part of the founding team), a quarter come from established financial and technology companies, and another quarter from service providers such as consulting firms or law firms servicing the FinTech sector.
Figure 3 Type of company in which our authors were working
Figure 4 Size of companies for which our authors work
Almost a fifth of our authors work for start-ups with up to five people and another 55 % for start-ups/small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of up to 100 people. 17 % of our contributors are employed by a large organization of more than 1,000 employees.
In summary, we are very proud of our highly qualified authors, their strong expertise, and passion for FinTech through being either entrepreneurs or often “intrapreneurs” in large established organizations who all are committed to play a significant role in the global FinTech revolution. These remarkable people are willing to share their insights with all of us in these pages.
Firstly, this project would not have been possible without the dedication and efforts of all contributors to The FinTech Book (both those who submitted their initial abstracts for consideration by the global FinTech community, as well as the final authors whose insights you will be reading shortly). In addition, we would like to thank Inna Amesheva, Suki Jutla, and Maya Petersohn for their invaluable help in the final stages of the editing process. Last, but certainly not least, we would like to thank our editors at Wiley whose guidance and help ensured that the project which started off as an idea in a London café has become the book which you are now holding in your hands.
About the Editors
Susanne Chishti is the CEO of FINTECH Circle, Europe’s 1st Angel Network focused on FinTech investments, founder of London FINTECH Tours, and Chairman of FINTECH Circle Innovate. Selected as one of the 100 leading Women in FinTech and top 15 FinTech UK Twitter influencers, she was recognized in the European Digital Financial Services ‘Power 50’ 2015, an independent ranking of the most influential people in digital financial services in Europe.
Susanne is a senior capital markets manager, entrepreneur, and investor with strong FinTech expertise. She is a mentor, judge, and coach at FinTech events such as SWIFT Innotribe, Barclays TechStars Accelerator, Cambridge Judge Business School, and Startupbootcamp FinTech Accelerators. She has more than 14 years’ experience across Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley, and Accenture in London and Hong Kong. Selected among top UK FinTech Influencers by City A.M. Susanne is also the author of FinTech articles and an international keynote speaker at FinTech conferences. She runs one of the leading online FinTech communities of FinTech entrepreneurs, investors, senior management from established financial and tech firms, and thought leaders – FINTECH Circle’s LinkedIn Group with more than 10,000 members worldwide.
You can follow Susanne on Twitter via her account @SusanneChishti.
Founded by Susanne Chishti, FINTECH Circle is an international brand linking the FinTech ecosystem of investors, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and influencers who all are enthusiastic about the growing FinTech sector globally. In addition to accessing top FinTech investment opportunities via the Angel Network, members also enjoy knowledge sharing amongst peers, access to board and non-exec positions in FinTech companies, and the opportunity to attend exclusive FinTech and angel investment educational seminars (www.fintechcircle.com). In addition, London FINTECH Tours (www.fintechtours.com) provide non-UK FinTech entrepreneurs with the opportunity to visit London to leverage London’s FinTech ecosystem of investors and clients to help them grow their business. FINTECH Circle Innovate (www.fintechcircleinnovate.com) was set up in response to demand from growing numbers of banks and large institutions who needed help to close the gap between corporate strategy and sustainable innovation in FinTech. We guide them through the global FinTech landscape and are able to source the best targets for partnership, incubation, investment and acquisition purposes. You can follow FINTECH Circle on Twitter via @FINTECHCircle and @FINTECHTours, and FINTECH Circle Innovate via @FTCInnovate.
Janos Barberis is a Millennial in FinTech, recognized as a top-35 global FinTech leader. His expertise is focused on the new regulatory considerations raised by the development of FinTech. With a passion to drive change, he founded FinTech HK, a thought leadership platform, and the SuperCharger – a FinTech Accelerator that strategically leverages Hong Kong as a gateway to Asia.
In parallel, he sits on the advisory board of the World Economic Forum’s FinTech Committee and is a PhD Candidate at Hong Kong University Law School. Janos regularly delivers Keynote speeches and has been featured in Forbes, The Financial Times and Business Insider, among others. He is also the Co-Founder and Editor of The FinTech Book.
Previously, Janos was the first hire at a prospective UK challenger bank, Lintel, helping it to secure a banking license from the PRA and FCA. This role followed a specialist interest, developed over 7 years, in financial systems and their stability. Notably, in 2012 Janos proposed to reform the Chinese shadow banking sector by developing P2P lending channels. He also introduced a framework of developingreal-time and dynamic regulatory supervision models for financial networks, paving the way towards what is now regarded as RegTech.
Janos holds an LLM in Corporate and Financial Law (HKU) as well as a BSc in Economics & Finance and an LLB in Law (UK). He has been awarded a Research Postgraduate Scholarship from Hong Kong University Law School. He co-authored the academic paper, “The Evolution of FinTech” which ranked within the Top 10 of SSRN globally.
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