Despite the best efforts of Storm Ciarán to thwart RadSoc’s long-awaited networking event on the theme of fintech, over 70 members of the community joined us at the impressive home of Norton Rose Fulbright at Tower Bridge, where we were generously hosted by James Collis, a partner at the firm.
Our panel of experts spoke about a variety of topics ranging from computer science to venture capital investment in the fintech industry. As well as giving an overview of their own journey into the sector, and of their work, the speakers gave insights into the current landscape of the job market and the many various opportunities in fintech, an exciting and still relatively nascent industry.
After the panel session, a Q&A was held in which members of the audience posed questions such as what would be the best regions of the world in which to set up new fintech companies, and what the potential impact of generative AI will be on the sector. After the Q&A session, smaller groups were formed for short sessions of group networking with each speaker, followed by open networking with refreshments and finger food.
Thank you for the valuable insights shared by our expert panel:
Peter McBurney, Professor of Computer Science at King’s College London
Spencer Hanlon, Global Head of Travel Payments at Nium
Hugo Thorp, Fintech, Payment Services & InsurTech Team Leader at Protean Risk
Alan Vaksman, Founder & Managing Partner of Digital Horizon VC
Sigurd R. Wendin, Head of Business Development at Levenue
The gathering included a number of Radley parents and ORs who are currently working in fintech or adjacent industries who had valuable experience to share, alongside plenty of keen ORs who have recently moved into or are thinking about fintech as a future career. We were also joined by 16 current boys, interested in hearing about career opportunities in fintech, who came up from the College.
One young OR commented, “The most interesting comments I heard during the night were on the topic of AI and its intersection with fintech, and also on the side of investment. I didn’t study much economics at school, so it was fascinating to hear about the ways that things impact the market.”
A current boy said, “It’s definitely helped thinking about my career, and opened my eyes to more opportunities of things that I could go on to do with my current A-levels. In the future, I think I’d quite like to study a degree that focuses on the area of finance, and especially fintech as it’s a wide sector and includes so many new types and applications of technology.”
To explore other RadSoc business networking events, visit our YouTube channel where recordings of both networking events and our Beyond Radley careers series are available.
Visit the RadSoc Business Network page for more information about the Radley community’s thriving professional network, and for links to Radley Connect, our online networking and careers platform.
