FINTECH CHAIR

At the start of 2019, the Paris-Dauphine University and its Foundation 2019 signed a four-year sponsorship agreement with the international audit and advisory group Mazars and the bank Crédit Agricole CIB to foster the emergence of an ecosystem combining research, teaching, development, and entrepreneurial skills and focusing on FinTech and Digital Finance. Other partners will join them shortly to reach a total budget of one million euros.

Backed by Hervé Alexandre, Professor of Finance and head of the Banking and Finance master’s programme at Paris Dauphine, the chair is a response to the real needs of a rapidly growing market.

Through expert mornings, round tables and annual conferences planned in Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa, the chair and its partners will bring together academic specialists and professionals, recognised in France and globally, to discuss the theme of digital finance.

These discussions will give the chair an exceptionally fertile basis, enabling it to direct its research towards practical areas which support the emergence of pioneering entrepreneurial projects.

In parallel, the chair will roll out its “research and teaching” component through the creation of digital finance courses within masters programmes and by funding a doctoral programme at the Université Paris Dauphine. Beyond their academic scope and their impact on professionalism, these measures should play a part in developing a structured and managed framework for the long-term support of digital finance.

The chair will benefit from the university’s international academic network and will work in tandem with respected players in the FinTech ecosystem in order to promote research through worldwide calls for projects and an annual award for the best paper.

Finally, to promote entrepreneurship, the chair will also support key FinTech events such as the Paris Blockchain week and the Cosmos/Tendermint hackathon to establish competitions to encourage the operational deployment of innovative projects. The chair will also collaborate with the Paris Dauphine incubator to support masters graduates in the development and financing of their FinTech projects.

The chair was officially launched on 15 March 2019 during the conference entitled “Internationalisation - the next challenge for FinTechs” organised as part of the Université Paris-Dauphine House of Finance Days, and will take pride of place during the inauguration of the university’s new premises in London on 30 April 2019 in the presence of the French Ambassador to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Jean-Pierre Jouyet. 

Isabelle Huault, President of the Université Paris-Dauphine, emphasised that “Paris-Dauphine is characterised by its closeness to the economic and financial community. From the start, its founders were convinced of the importance of anchoring the university in society in order to assist both public and private decision-making. Thus businesses remain our key partners. These links are also valuable to scientific programmes: chairs can be set up in collaboration with businesses, as has been the case for the FinTech chair.”

Laurent Batsch, President of the Paris-Dauphine Foundation, said: “The University’s Foundations fulfill three functions, in varying proportions. They are first and foremost sponsorship structures for the financing of institutions, but they are also the vehicle for partnerships with local businesses, and, finally, incubators for innovative projects. Since 2008, the Paris-Dauphine Foundation has fostered excellence in research and supported a dozen chairs. My warmest thanks go to Mazars and Crédit Agricole CIB for boosting their investment in innovation and creativity at the university with this new commitment.”

Gwendoline des Lauriers Mirat, Global Head of HR Development at Crédit Agricole CIB: “Through its support for the FinTech Chair, Crédit Agricole CIB aims to encourage knowledge production and exchanges between the academy and the business world.

An ecosystem that combines teaching, entrepreneurial skills and research will make it possible to forge strong links between the partner businesses, academic institutions and students and alumni of the university.

Emmanuel Dooseman, Partner, Global Head of Banking at Mazars: “FinTechs are a matter of innovation, growth and employment. Their contribution is profoundly changing business models, operational organisations and customer relationships in financial services. Studying the impacts and the contributions of digital finance and its contribution to the global financial ecosystem, supporting the development of appropriate lessons, and fostering an entrepreneurial approach are all aspects that speak to the heart of Mazars’ values of excellence, innovation and knowledge transmission. We are very proud to be able to take part in this chair alongside Crédit Agricole CIB and Paris-Dauphine.” 

About Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (Crédit Agricole CIB)

Crédit Agricole CIB is the investment and finance arm of the Crédit Agricole group, the thirteenth largest banking group in the world in terms of its Tier I equity (The Banker, July 2018). Nearly 8000 staff spread across 34 countries in Europe, the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and North Africa support customers of the Bank in covering their financial requirements all over the world. Crédit Agricole CIB offers its major business and institutional customers a range of products and services in areas such as capital markets and investment banking, structured finance, commercial banking and international trade. A pioneer in the field of Climate finance, the Bank is a leader in this segment, with a full range of services for all its customers.

www.ca-cib.fr

About Mazars

Mazars is an international, integrated and independent firm, specialising in audit, accountancy, advisory, tax and legal services. Operating in 89 countries and territories, as of 1 January 2019, the firm draws on the expertise of 23,000 professionals to assist major international groups, SMEs, private investors and public bodies at every stage in their development.

Mazars Hong Kong is part of Mazars Group, a business advisory firm providing auditing, accounting, tax, business risk advisory, corporate recovery, forensic accounting, and corporate finance services. Mazars Group is one of the world’s largest international accounting firms. With over 23,000 staff, Mazars is operating in 89 countries. Mazars is also one of the founding members of the Praxity Alliance, a global alliance of professional firms, which gathers 65 independent orgainsations and 39,000 professionals in 103 countries.

Press Contact: Michelle Chan – Michelle.chan@mazars.hk – (+852) 2909-5541

www.mazars.com - www.linkedin.com/company/mazars - https://twitter.com/mazarsgroup  -  www.mazars.hk

About the Paris-Dauphine University
Paris-Dauphine is the benchmark higher education institute in the field of organisational and decision-making sciences.
A large institution, and a member of both the Conference of University Presidents and the Conférence des Grandes Ecoles, since its foundation in 1968 Paris-Dauphine has developed a model of excellence for:
- the high standard and selectivity of its multi-discipline courses at undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels, with 8900 students, 4300 executives in further training and 305 doctoral students; - cutting-edge research in its six research centres (CR2D - Law, DRM - Management, Lamsade - IT, Ceremade - Applied mathematiques , LEDa - Economy, IRISSO - Social sciences), five of which are associated with the French National Research Centre (CNRS); - its close relationships with the socio-economic world and a powerful network of 88 000 alumni present on five continents; - its responsible commitment and its strength in innovation and creativity. The only EQUIS-accredited French university, Paris-Dauphine has developed a wide international influence and ranks among the world's top 30 universities for mathematics

About the Dauphine Foundation

Set up in 2008, the Dauphine Foundation’s mission is to support the University’s development and influence through two founding principles: Excellence and Solidarity. Since its creation, thanks to the generosity of donors and partner businesses, the Foundation has collected nearly 30 million euro, which has enabled it to:

- Admit and support at the Dauphine nearly 500 young people from “sensitive” neighbourhoods through the assistance of the Equal Opportunities programme financed by the Foundation

- House 57 students from modest backgrounds each year in affordable studios acquired by the Foundation in 2015 at Nanterre

- Create 10 chairs and research and teaching circles to develop innovation and knowledge

- Create more than 200 jobs via the Paris-Dauphine Incubator financed by the Foundation for entrepreneurs from the Dauphine

- Train more than 700 Dauphine students in cultural mediation to act as guides at major French cultural events

- Provide international mobility grants to more than 600 students on university exchange programmes abroad

In 2016, the Foundation was awarded the "Don en confiance" or "Giving with confidence” label. This certification guarantees that it satisfies the four major principles of the Giving with Confidence committee: transparency, respect for the donor, rigorous management, and unprejudiced management. 

In 2019, the Foundation is launching a campaign to raise 50 million euro to help shape the future of the Dauphine.

For more information: www.fondation-dauphine.fr

With its campuses abroad (Tunis, London), Paris-Dauphine has also taken the initiative in strategic international alliances such as SIGMA (Copenhagen Business School - Denmark, Fundaçao Getulio Vargas - Brazil, Singapore Management University - Singapore, St. Gallen University - Switzerland, Esade Barcelone - Spain, Wien Wirtschaft Universität - Austria, Hitotsubashi University - Japan, Renmin University - China). It has also developed prestigious academic partnerships across the five continents, encouraging off-campus education or double degrees. Paris-Dauphine is a founder member of the Université PSL, bringing together 22 Paris-based academic and research institutions covering a wide range of disciplines and including the École Normale Supérieure, MINES ParisTech, art schools, and the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. The Université PSL has so far been awarded 26 Nobel prizes, 10 Fields Medals and 34 CNRS gold medals. Classed 41st in the world in 2019 by the Times Higher Education Supplement, and 1st national institution, this new ranking allows France to creep into the top 50 best universities at international level.

For more information:www.dauphine.fr