QC FinTech
Finance is evolving quickly and is being greatly impacted by technology. There is a relatively new field in finance, Fintech, that looks at how technology can be used to provide financial services. Fintech is utilized to help companies, business owners and consumers better manage their financial operations, processes, and lives by utilizing specialized software and algorithms that are used on computers and smartphones. We offer a FinTech concentration for our BBA Finance major. Competing the FinTech concentration will increase the choices of study for our students and provide training in a rapidly expanding field. The FinTech concentration better prepares students for jobs in a variety of quantitative finance roles including: quantitative analysts, financial analysts, blockchain developers, compliance experts, and cybersecurity analysts.
Unlike other BBA majors including the Finance Major Corporate Finance Concentration, students in the Finance Major FinTech Concentration are not be allowed to take Math 131 to fulfill the calculus requirement. They need to take a calculus course from the following choices: MATH 141/MATH 151/MATH 157. Students in the Finance FinTech concentration need a more in-depth background in calculus to understand programing (MATH 111), machine learning (MATH 342W), and advanced econometrics (BUS 386 and ECO 387), all of which are part of the FinTech concentration.
Unlike other BBA majors, students in the Finance Major FinTech Concentration will not fulfill the computer science / quantitative methods requirement with CSCI 48 Spread Sheet Programing. Instead, students in the Finance Major FinTech concentration will have a more advanced computer science programing course (CSCI 111) or a more finance specific spreadsheet programing course (BUS 356). Professionals in the FinTech field are expected to understand both finance and technology. The required computer science courses in the Finance Major FinTech concentration will help students develop knowledge and skills in computer programming and finance spreadsheet programing needed for jobs in the field.
Admissions to BBA Finance: Fintech
- Admission requires a GPA of 3.3 (subject to revision) in the first four courses listed below.
- The minimum GPA is 2.7 for courses taken for the major in finance at Queens College.
- No Individual Grade below C- is accepted.
- No more than 21 credits can be transferred into the program from other colleges.
| wdt_ID | Requirements: |
|---|---|
| 1 | The FinTech concentration will have the following courses: |
| 2 | Core Courses (same as Corporate Finance with the exception of Math and computer requirements): |
| 3 | Admission Courses to the BBA Program: |
| 4 | 1 ACCT 101: Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Accounting I |
| 5 | 2 ACCT 102: Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Accounting II |
| 6 | 3 ECON 101: Introduction to Macroeconomics |
| 7 | 4 ECON 102: Introduction to Microeconomics |
| 8 | Quantitative Courses: |
| 9 | 5 ECO 249: Statistics as Applied to Economics and Business, |
| 10 | or MATH 241: Introduction to Probability and Mathematical Statistics |
| 11 | 6 ECO 382: Introduction to Econometrics |
| 12 | or BUS 384: Forecasting and Regression Analysis for Business |
| 13 | Business Courses: |
| 14 | 7 BUS 243: Economics of Distribution and Marketing |
| 15 | 8 BUS 247: Business Economics |
| 16 | 9 ACCT 261: Business Law |
| 17 | 10 PHIL 160: Business Ethics |
| 18 | 11 BUS 160W: Introduction to Business Writing |
| 19 | Core Finance Courses: |
| 20 | 12 BUS 241: Corporation Finance |
| 21 | 13 BUS 341W: Intermediate Finance |
| 22 | For FinTech Concentration (courses that are different from Corporate Finance) |
| 23 | Core Quantitative Courses: |
| 24 | 14 MATH 141: Calculus/Differentiation, or MATH 151: Calculus/Differentiation & Integration, or |
| 25 | Math 157: Honors Calculus |
| 26 | 15 CSCI 48: Spreadsheet Programming |
| 27 | 16 BUS 356: Applied Financial Analysis |
| 28 | or CSCI 111: Introduction to Algorithmic Problem-Solving |
| 29 | Courses for the FinTech Concentration: |
| 30 | 17 ECON 201 Macroeconomics |
| 31 | or ECON 215 Money and banking |
| 32 | 18 ECON 301 Economics of Cryptoassets |
| 33 | 19 ECON 302 Blockchain and Money |
| 34 | 2 Electives for the BBA Fintech Concentration among (Courses 20 and 21): |
| 35 | BUS 357 Python for Financial Applications |
| 36 | ECON 387 Advanced Econometrics |
| 37 | BUS 386 Financial Econometrics |
| 38 | MATH 342W Data Science Via Machine Learning and Statistical Modeling |
- ECON 302 Blockchain and Money 3hr; 3 cr. Prereq.: Eco 201 or Eco 215.
Course Description:
Understand exactly what a blockchain is, why it matters for business activities with emphasis on the financial sector. Blockchain’s role as a decentralized distributed ledger is analyzed through use cases in technology, business, and enterprise products and institutions. Topics include the governance and regulatory issues surrounding blockchain’s applications.
- BUS 357: Introduction to Python for Financial Applications 3hr; 3 cr. Prereq. or Coreq.: BUS341W
Course Description:
This is a course designed to teach students how to effectively utilize technology for quantitative finance. Students will learn how to write programs in Python to work with financial datasets. We will be using many of the Python libraries to do more advanced data analysis.