Latvian fintech company DelfinGroup is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with BA School of Business and Finance (BASBF) and Riga Technical University (RTU) on cooperation in the fields of studies and research. As a result, the fintech company and these higher education institutions have arranged to work together as part of the Financial Management Information Systems joint vocational bachelor study programme taught by BASBF and RTU.

 

DelfinGroup has been actively involved in educational projects for several years now, helping people in Latvia gain competitive education and relevant skills that today’s job market demands. Meanwhile, the interdisciplinary vocational bachelor study programme in Financial Management Information Systems pools the strongest resources of two schools: RTU infrastructure for information technology and computer science studies and BASBF expertise and experience in financial education and business management. In close cooperation with industry professionals, the study programme prepares financial system software developers, and thus provides the financial and fintech industries with the highly skilled specialists that the job market demands.

 

Nauris Bloks, Chief Innovation Officer at DelfinGroup: "I have been working successfully with BASBF for a few years now. It can be felt that both universities want to involve industry specialists and provide their students with as much hands-on experience in their studies as possible. So that once they graduate, they understand how work is done in the various segments of the financial and fintech industries. On the other side, DelfinGroup has years of industry experience that the company can and wants to share. Our cooperation provides students with practical knowledge and facilitates their entry to the job market, bringing skilled and capable specialists into the industry."

 

Andris Fomins, Head of the Financial Management Information Systems programme and docent at BASBF, is confident about the comprehensive and productive nature of this cooperation: "This new mutual arrangement will undoubtedly give the programme a boost, informing the students of the latest industry trends and current market events, making it possible for them to better assess the quality and applications of the knowledge they’re getting in the fintech business environment."

 

RTU professor Ingars Eriņš: "This study programme in Financial Management Information Systems, or fintech, is unique for Latvia. RTU and BASBF created it five years ago with the goal of training financial system software engineers. The programme produced its first graduates this summer. It results from demand in a financial industry that uses increasingly complex solutions. Given that the fintech industry players are interested in such specialists being trained, RTU, BASBF and DelfinGroup signed a trilateral cooperation agreement."

 

"As someone working in the industry, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to get involved in annual projects of the students, their qualification and graduation theses, to be a member of internship defence boards, to participate in guest lectures and experience exchange seminars, both to assess the knowledge of the specialists and to share my professional experience with the students. Cooperation between the industry and the schools is synergetic, which is a critical condition for the growth of all the parties, bringing much added long-term value given the challenging job market situation," N. Bloks concluded.

 

The agreement aims to create broader opportunities for cooperation in scientific, academic, and administrative work for DelfinGroup employees and the students and teaching staff of the Financial Management Information Systems vocational bachelor study programme. Furthermore, it will result in the students gaining the ability to consolidate their knowledge in practice and get advice from industry professionals throughout their studies.

 

About AS DelfinGroup

 

DelfinGroup is a licenced technology-based financial services company established in 2009 and operates under the brand names Banknote and VIZIA. The company continuously develops and offers consumer and pawn loans, loans developed for senior citizens, Buy now pay later loans (BNPL loans), and the sale of pre-owned goods online and at more than 90 branches across Latvia. On average, 35 thousand loans are issued monthly and serviced by a professional team of more than 300 DelfinGroup employees. The company has a total of over 400,000 registered customers. Since 2014, DelfinGroup has been known on the Nasdaq Riga Stock Exchange as a bond issuer and, since 2021, as a listed company on the Baltic Main List. The company's IPO in 2021 attracted almost 6000 new shareholders. The company regularly pays dividends to its shareholders. In the first nine months of 2022, the company's net loan portfolio grew to EUR 59.7 million, while its EBITDA reached EUR 9.3 million, with profits before income tax for dividends of EUR 5.4 million. The company's sustainability is based on focused corporate governance, fintech innovation, responsible lending, financial inclusion, and facilitating the circular economy. The company has been profitable every year since 2010.

 

For further information, please contact:
Linda Eltermane,
DelfinGroup Head of PR
Phone: +371 28700457
E-mail: [email protected]