Club explores financial technology

Last month, sophomores Chris Hailey and Armand Sarkisian connected over their interest in financial technologies. From there, they launched Fintech Innovation Group on campus for financial technology enthusiasts to convene, innovate and network.

Under the guidance of Anthony Borquez, an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship, FIG aims to develop industry events, group projects and community outreach opportunities for its members.

“I think this club is important because it shows how we’re continually evolving as a university,” Borquez said. “We’re staying relevant in emerging technology trends that are happening in the industry, and we’re showing a collaboration on how faculty and students could come together and provide solutions and be able to expand this industry with our collective partnering.”

Fintech covers payment technologies, financial services and algorithmic trading, according to Hailey, the president of FIG. He developed his passion for Fintech this past year, but noticed a lack of community at USC.

“I know a lot of people who are in finance, I know a lot of people who are in technology but this is my chance to bridge the two together,” Hailey said.

After Hailey posted in a student group on Facebook, Sarkisian, who is majoring in business administration, contacted Hailey, a computer science major.

“We’re both pretty passionate about [financial technology] so it combines pretty well,” Sarkisian said. “We’ll be prepared to take on clients within the community and offer them fintech consultancy solutions. This will be anything from suggesting potential sources of financing all the way to developing a dynamic fintech platform that might solve some kind of unique problem for them.”

Once they met, they approached Borquez, the founder of multiple firms including Grab, Blue Label Games and Spacient Technologies. Borquez currently teaches a business entrepreneurship course on creating a tech start-up, covering financial technologies and services in the curriculum.

“I was excited because once we see these type of student organizations start to take initiative, it’s a sign that this is something we need to be doing at USC,” Borquez said. “This is something the students are interested in. I think it also matches with the trends we see happening and evolving in the industry right now.”

Borquez said he will be providing guidance and will bring in educational speakers and companies hiring interns and full-time staff. During the process of connecting with different companies in the industry, FIG is scheduled to host four guest speakers in the future, including professionals from digital currency exchange platform Coinbase.

While there are Marshall School of Business organizations that offer business consulting and Viterbi School of Engineering programs that offer project-based technology, there’s nothing that shares the two, according to Sarkisian.

“A lot of students are excited about what’s in between,” Sarkisian said. “Because that’s where all of these new ideas are coming from, this interdisciplinary, polymathic study. We created this club to fill that gap.”