Ah, the good old days. You’d earn your pay, get a check from the boss, take it to the bank (between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., please), deposit it, wait until it clears, write a check to the plumber, put it in the mail and wait until the plumber cashed it days or weeks later.

That’s how personal finance worked not so long ago.

Financial technology — fintech for short — has changed a lot of things. In the world of Venmo and PayPal, writing a check or mailing a bill seems so quaint. Almost half of all Americans with bank accounts now use mobile devices to manage their finances, according to a 2021 survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Just about everything moves much faster.

Fintech is an exploding industry, bringing the power of data science and computer engineering to bear on financial services in ways never before imagined. It offers new opportunities for those who have not had easy access to affordable financial services, and it presents new challenges for data security, regulation, policy development and computer engineering.

The University of Delaware has expansive new facilities to support the strategic work of its scholars and researchers in these fields at the six-story FinTech Innovation Hub, owned by Delaware Technology Park and located on UD’s Science Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. UD will cut the ribbon on its space in the building on Wednesday, but teams from the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and the College of Engineering already are in the building. More will arrive soon.

“The FinTech Innovation Hub adds another gem to UD’s STAR Campus, where collaborative hubs in health and life sciences already are thriving and strengthening the economy of the whole region,” said UD President Dennis Assanis.

“The research and innovation at this new hub will expand Delaware’s legacy of national leadership in financial services, drawing on UD’s top-shelf expertise in finance and technology. It also opens new space for education, giving our students access to a highly collaborative ecosystem and preparing them for great jobs and future success. And it puts UD and the state at the forefront of promoting equity in financial services and health — two serious problems facing our world.”

It’s important territory for the future, said Phil Goldfeder, executive director of the American Fintech Council.

“Fintech will be banking in 10 years,” he told participants at UD’s Data Science Symposium on Sept. 22.

The state of Delaware made an indelible mark in banking with its 1981 Financial Center Development Act, which was designed to allow market forces instead of regulators to determine interest rates. That decision brought many banks and jobs to the state — a 740% increase in banking and financial services jobs in the first 40 years of the Act, according to the Delaware Bankers Association.

Banking is changing a lot, though.

“And if you don’t evolve, you will find yourself going the way of Blockbuster or BlackBerry,” Goldfeder said. “What Delaware has done is to recognize the shift to technology in financial services.”

The University is wise to help shape the future of the field.

“The University of Delaware has been on the forefront of cultivating the idea of a well-rounded fintech education — to bridge the gap between academia and real-world experience,” Goldfeder said. “This new initiative will continue to elevate that program and idea and strengthen the bridge between the two systems.”

Ah, the good old days. You’d earn your pay, get a check from the boss, take it to the bank (between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., please), deposit it, wait until it clears, write a check to the plumber, put it in the mail and wait until the plumber cashed it days or weeks later.

That’s how personal finance worked not so long ago.

Financial technology — fintech for short — has changed a lot of things. In the world of Venmo and PayPal, writing a check or mailing a bill seems so quaint. Almost half of all Americans with bank accounts now use mobile devices to manage their finances, according to a 2021 survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Just about everything moves much faster.

Fintech is an exploding industry, bringing the power of data science and computer engineering to bear on financial services in ways never before imagined. It offers new opportunities for those who have not had easy access to affordable financial services, and it presents new challenges for data security, regulation, policy development and computer engineering.

The University of Delaware has expansive new facilities to support the strategic work of its scholars and researchers in these fields at the six-story FinTech Innovation Hub, owned by Delaware Technology Park and located on UD’s Science Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. UD will cut the ribbon on its space in the building on Wednesday, but teams from the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and the College of Engineering already are in the building. More will arrive soon.

“The FinTech Innovation Hub adds another gem to UD’s STAR Campus, where collaborative hubs in health and life sciences already are thriving and strengthening the economy of the whole region,” said UD President Dennis Assanis.

“The research and innovation at this new hub will expand Delaware’s legacy of national leadership in financial services, drawing on UD’s top-shelf expertise in finance and technology. It also opens new space for education, giving our students access to a highly collaborative ecosystem and preparing them for great jobs and future success. And it puts UD and the state at the forefront of promoting equity in financial services and health — two serious problems facing our world.”

It’s important territory for the future, said Phil Goldfeder, executive director of the American Fintech Council.

“Fintech will be banking in 10 years,” he told participants at UD’s Data Science Symposium on Sept. 22.

The state of Delaware made an indelible mark in banking with its 1981 Financial Center Development Act, which was designed to allow market forces instead of regulators to determine interest rates. That decision brought many banks and jobs to the state — a 740% increase in banking and financial services jobs in the first 40 years of the Act, according to the Delaware Bankers Association.

Banking is changing a lot, though.

“And if you don’t evolve, you will find yourself going the way of Blockbuster or BlackBerry,” Goldfeder said. “What Delaware has done is to recognize the shift to technology in financial services.”

The University is wise to help shape the future of the field.

“The University of Delaware has been on the forefront of cultivating the idea of a well-rounded fintech education — to bridge the gap between academia and real-world experience,” Goldfeder said. “This new initiative will continue to elevate that program and idea and strengthen the bridge between the two systems.”

To be continued…