We co-founded the Duke MBA FinTech Club in the Spring of 2018, with the goal of fostering a community passionate about financial technology at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and to create an ecosystem that supports MBA students in pursuing careers within the industry.

Just a year after its founding, the FinTech Club had made significant progress towards many of its objectives. The club, in collaboration with Fuqua’s Career Management Center, increased the number of fintech-related internships and full-time positions being posted at Fuqua, developed many relationships with potential employers, alumni, and industry experts and helped expose students to Fuqua faculty that is focused on the latest research and industry trends.

Over the past few years, Fuqua has been a leader among top business schools in offering fintech-related electives. Professor Campbell Harvey’s blockchain course was the first of its kind and Professor Manju Puri’s elective course, “Raising Capital & Financial Technology,” explores how recent market disruptions have allowed firms to raise capital in new and innovative ways.

In addition to these courses, another highlight for us was the FinTech Club’s trip to Washington, D.C., to attend the “Fintech and the Future of Banking” conference jointly organized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship. The conference featured regulators, industry practitioners and researchers with the belief that at the intersection of research and experience lies good public policy.

Professor Puri was not only a key figure in organizing the event, but she was also one of the most exciting speakers at the conference. In her session, she shared a summary of her research paper, “On the Rise of Fintechs – Credit Scoring Using Digital Footprints,” wherein she was able to show the highly predictive powers of our digital footprint and its implications for consumers, firms and regulators. Another one of our Fuqua professors, David Robinson, moderated an insightful panel of experts from the venture capital industry.

Mnuchin and a moderator seated on stage chatting at the conference attended by the fintech club
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin speaking at the conference

With leading faculty, a strong alumni network, and the recent establishment of the Duke MBA FinTech Club, Fuqua is well on its way to providing MBA students with a complete package in learning about fintech and pursuing a career in this fast-growing and exciting industry.

Prospective students interested in the Duke MBA FinTech Club can find more information in this video we recorded as co-presidents of the club in the fall of 2018: