[glossary_exclude]The University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business convened a workshop on the latest developments and future prospects arising from the convergence of banking and financial technology, or “fintech.” The event was co-sponsored by the Institute for Outlier Research in Business, Lexant Advisors, and Berkeley Research Group.

The Institute for Outlier Research in Business (iORB) provides resources for researchers, managers and policy makers to encourage, fund, and reward outlier research through entrepreneurial programs and initiatives.

“This revolutionary event brought together bankers, academic researchers, and leaders at pioneering fintech companies to collaborate and address some of the most challenging business and big data issues facing our rapidly evolving sector,” said Gerard Hoberg, Professor of Finance and Business Economics at USC Marshall.

Walt Mix, Managing Director and Financial Services Practice Leader with Berkeley Research Group, kicked off the corporate presentations with a description of the big picture on the regulatory, business, and fintech environment. He discussed the rise of fintech and its impact on the financial world.

Additional program highlights included:

Jeff Keltner, Head of Business Development for Upstart Finance shared how the company has successfully developed and deployed machine learning to extend consumer loans, now reaching $4 billion while meeting regulatory requirements;

Daniel Mason, VP Strategy and Operations of Spring Labs described the challenges facing the credit score business and suggested some technological solutions;

Victor Ardulov, CSO of Calypso AI shared his years of experience in helping financial institutions by using big data to meet and even surpass compliance requirements;

Rich Finkelman, Partner with Vista Analytics updated the latest R&D on mashing learning and AI.

Juan Suarez, VP Legal with Coinbase––a leading bit coin company in the United States––shared with the audience the latest developments in blockchain operations, financial data mining, and bitcoin trading.

The session concluded with a robust discussion covering a wide-ranging subjects from the core themes of the conference to international business issues with active audience participation.[/glossary_exclude]