From Crypto Hype to Governance Reality: What an MBA Module on Fintech Actually Taught Me

When I first started the Fintech, Digital Finance and Blockchain module, I expected a fairly predictable mix of cryptocurrency discussion, disruptive innovation buzzwords and the usual promises about “the future of banking.”

What I didn’t expect was how quickly the subject moved into much deeper territory: governance, behavioural economics, algorithmic decision-making, digital ethics and the uncomfortable reality that modern finance is increasingly being shaped by invisible systems rather than human conversations.

One of the most interesting aspects of the module was realising that blockchain itself is only a small part of a much wider transformation. The real shift is infrastructural. Financial systems are becoming increasingly automated, data-driven and behaviourally engineered. Decisions around access, inclusion, lending and risk are now often determined by algorithms operating quietly in the background.

That became particularly apparent during my assignment comparing Monzo and Starling Bank through the lens of Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR). What initially started as a simple real-world observation — being rejected by one bank and accepted by another within 30 minutes using identical information — evolved into a much broader governance discussion around algorithmic calibration, prudential risk and digital inclusion.  

Coming from a clinical background, I found the parallels with NHS digital governance surprisingly familiar. In healthcare, automated triage systems, risk stratification tools and clinical decision support systems all require governance, explainability and oversight. Financial technology is increasingly facing many of the same questions:

• How transparent should automated decisions be?
• How much exclusion is acceptable in the name of safety?
• Who is accountable when algorithms shape human outcomes?
• And how do organisations balance inclusion against operational risk?

The more I explored the subject, the more obvious it became that many of these technologies have direct healthcare relevance. Algorithmic calibration is already happening across healthcare systems — whether through waiting list prioritisation, AI-supported radiology, predictive deterioration tools, referral management systems or digital triage platforms.

The danger is that healthcare often assumes algorithms are inherently objective. In reality, algorithms simply encode human priorities, thresholds and assumptions into scalable systems. A poorly calibrated financial onboarding model can exclude legitimate customers; a poorly calibrated healthcare algorithm could delay diagnosis, misclassify risk or worsen healthcare inequality.

That governance challenge becomes increasingly important as the NHS pushes toward AI-supported workflows, virtual care models and digital pathway redesign. The future opportunity is enormous:

• Earlier identification of deterioration
• Smarter resource allocation
• More personalised care pathways
• Predictive population health management
• Reduced administrative burden
• Improved access to specialist expertise

But the risks are equally real:

• Hidden algorithmic bias
• Opaque decision-making
• Automation without escalation pathways
• Digital exclusion of vulnerable groups
• Over-reliance on statistically optimised but clinically fragile systems

One of the most interesting takeaways from the module was recognising that “digital responsibility” is not really a technology problem at all. It is fundamentally a leadership and governance problem. The organisations that succeed will not necessarily be the ones with the most advanced algorithms, but the ones able to balance innovation with explainability, trust and accountability.

The module also exposed how quickly software innovation is accelerating. Experimenting with tools such as Replit demonstrated how rapidly functional applications and prototypes can now be developed with relatively low technical barriers. That was probably one of the more eye-opening parts of the experience. The gap between “idea” and “working product” is collapsing far faster than most traditional organisations seem to appreciate.

For healthcare leaders, that has major implications. Small teams — or even individuals — can now rapidly prototype digital tools, educational platforms, triage systems and workflow automations that previously required large organisational structures and external software contracts. The barrier is increasingly no longer technical capability; it is governance, implementation and operational credibility.

Looking back at the assignment feedback itself, the most valuable learning point was probably around academic discipline rather than subject knowledge. The feedback highlighted that while the argument, structure and critical analysis were strong, stronger evidencing throughout would have elevated the work further.  

That distinction was useful to reflect on. In clinical leadership and operational management environments, experience-based reasoning often carries significant weight independently. Academic writing, however, requires a far more explicit chain between assertion, evidence and theory. The process reinforced the importance of making that evidential linkage consistently visible rather than assuming the logic speaks for itself.

Overall, the module ended up being far more intellectually interesting than I expected. It shifted my perspective from seeing fintech as primarily a technology discussion to understanding it as a governance and societal systems discussion.

Ironically, the deeper lesson may not have been about banking at all. It may have been about what happens when high-stakes human systems — finance, healthcare, education and public services — become increasingly mediated by algorithms operating quietly in the background.

That said, after studying blockchain, digital finance and algorithmic markets, it still would have been nice if somebody could have provided a few reliable predictions for my crypto portfolio as well – i’m still waiting for it to go to the moon 🙂