Disrupted by new technologies and agile fintech players (such as PayPal), the financial industry has no other choice than to innovate in order to survive. According to the PayPal CEO, innovation will definitively come through deep research in this field.
While visiting Luxembourg to launch the first public-private chair dedicated to digital financial services in partnership with the University of Luxembourg, Mr Schulman estimated that “the financial sector will change more in the next 5 years than it has done in the last 20”.
These changes are “only going to happen faster than before” as they are being pushed by 5G, the explosion of data available and the arrival of quantum computing that will be able to process massive amounts of data in record time. “All of that make this chair so important,” he added.
Trusted autonomous payments methods to be studied
“This chair is about interaction between the right players in technology, research and the financial industry,” explained Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna.
The PayPal-FNR (Luxembourg National Research Fund) PEARL chair will explore the future of financial services. Professor Gilbert Fridgen, currently teaching at the University of Bayreuth (Germany), will lead it.
The fields of research will include the opportunities brought by blockchain, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things in financial services, trusted autonomous payment methods and sustainable technology organisations in the business sector.