Foundations for Fintech

In the digital era, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain have revolutionized various ways of people's daily lives and brought many opportunities and challenges to the industries. With the increasing demand for talents in the fintech realm, this book serves as a good guide for practitioners who are seeking to understand the basics of fintech and applications of different technologies. This book covers important knowledge in statistics, quantitative methods, and financial innovation to lay the foundation for fintech. It is especially useful for people who are relatively new to this area and would like to become professionals in fintech.

<p><strong>Professor David LEE Kuo Chuen</strong> is a professor at the Singapore University of Social Sciences and Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore. His other appointments are the founder of BlockAsset Ventures, the Chairman of Global Fintech Institute, Vice President of the Economic Society of Singapore, Co-founder of Blockchain Association of Singapore, and Council Member of British Blockchain Association. He has 20 years of experience as CEOs and Independent Directors of listed and tech companies and is a consultant and advisor to international organizations on food supply chain, blockchain, fintech and digital currency.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Associate Professor Joseph LIM</strong> is with the Singapore University of Social Sciences where he teaches Finance. He has also taught at the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Management University. Joseph obtained his MBA from Columbia University and PhD from New York University. In between his stints in academia, he worked in various advisory positions in the areas of private equity and valuation. Joseph, who is a CFA charter holder, has served in various committees at the CFA Institute and as President of CFA Singapore. In addition, he was on the board and committees of various investment industry associations. In the non-profit sector, he was on the board of a pension fund and several endowment funds. He is a co-author of several popular college Finance textbooks.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Associate Professor Kok Fai PHOON</strong> teaches Finance at the School of Business, Singapore University of Social Sciences. He received his PhD in Finance from Northwestern University, MSc in Industrial Engineering from the National University of Singapore and BASc in Mechanical Engineering (Honours) from the University of British Columbia. His research interests focus on use of technology in portfolio management, wealth management and risk and complexity of financial products. In addition to his current position at SUSS, Kok Fai has taught at other universities in Singapore and at Monash University in Australia. He has worked at Yamaichi Merchant Bank, at GIC Pte Ltd and as Executive Director at Ferrell Asset Management, a Singapore hedge fund. He has published in academic journals including the <em>Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting</em> and the <em>Pacific Basin Finance Journal</em> as well as practice journals like the <em>Financial Analyst Journal</em>, the <em>Journal of Wealth Management</em> and the <em>Journal of Alternative Investments</em>.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Ms Yu WANG (Cheryl)</strong> is a fintech research fellow at the Singapore University of Social Sciences FinTech and Blockchain Group. Her main research interests are fintech, machine learning, and asset pricing. Prior to SUSS, she worked at National University of Singapore, Business School as a research associate on corporate governance and sustainability. She graduated with an MSc in Applied Economies from Nanyang Technological University and BSc in Financial Engineering from Huazhong University of Sciences of Technologies. She has multiple journal papers, including an empirical study on sustainability reporting and firm value published on an SSCI journal, <em>Sustainability</em>, and one investigating cryptocurrency as a new alternative investment published on <em>Journal of Alternative Investments</em> that has been cited for over 200 times and recommended by <em>CFA Institute Journal Review</em>. She also serves as referee for various journals such as <em>Singapore Economic Review</em>, <em>Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance</em>, and <em>Journal of Alternative Investments</em>.</p>