The M.B.A. That Prepares Olim for the FinTech Era

Remember standing in line at the bank? Scrabbling in your wallet for cash? Those days are fast going the way of the horse and carriage, with mobile banking, digital payments, robo-advisors and artificial intelligence reshaping how we manage, spend and invest our money.

A new financial world needs new professionals, and Israel's Ono Academic College, already a leader in education, is stepping up with a cutting-edge M.B.A. program with a specialization in Finance and Capital Markets.

Launching in November 2025, the program will address the real-world challenges of financial technology (FinTech), artificial intelligence (AI) and financial regulation, and give students practical hands-on experience and networking opportunities as it prepares them for leadership roles in Israel's finance sector and beyond.

Revolution or evolution?
"We're moving into a world in which investment advisors will be computers, financial consultants will be robots, trading will be based on algorithms, and borrowing and lending will be automated," says Shmuel Hauser, Professor of Finance at Ono Academic College and developer of Ono's M.B.A. specialization curriculum.

"Our transformed financial landscape is characterized by some as a democratic revolution, which has made local and global financial markets more transparent and more accessible to many more people," says Prof. Hauser. "But I see it as evolutionary rather than revolutionary, transforming the way people and businesses interact with money. FinTech addresses every element of the financial world, from corporate companies to capital markets, from investment advice to raising money through different platforms. In doing so, it challenges both regulators and participants with trading based on algorithms, automated borrowing and lending, capital raised on the Internet and investment advice increasingly provided by social networks."

Prof. Hauser is the perfect person to head the new program. He is the Senior Vice President of Ono Academic College, a former Dean of Ono's Faculty of Business, and chairman of the recently founded digital bank Esh. Over the years, Prof. Hauser served on several boards of directors, such as G City and Cellcom, and he was the Chairman of the Israel Securities Authority (Israel's SEC) from 2011 to 2018. During this time, Hauser also served as co-chairman of the Israel Accounting Standards Board (IASB), was a member of an advisory committee to the Banks' Supervisor at the Bank of Israel, and a consultant to the Knesset on bank fees.

In 2018, Hauser received the Champion Award of Governance Quality from the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. In addition to all this, he pursued an intensive academic career in the fields of Corporate Finance, Capital Market Regulation, and Microstructure, and published numerous articles in leading international academic journals.

Unique M.B.A. program
It is not by chance that this trailblazing M.B.A. specialization is being offered in Israel. With its strong culture of technological innovation and entrepreneurship, Israel has positioned itself as a leader in FinTech. The country is home to over 500 FinTech start-ups, and has pioneered financial cybersecurity, digital payments, blockchain and AI-driven investment platforms.

Nor is it chance that the new program will be offered at Ono Academic College. The college's educational model has been prompting social, societal and educational change countrywide since its modest creation in a trailer by Ranan Hartman 28 years ago. Today, it is fully accredited by Israel's Council for Higher Education, having grown from a starting student body of 100 Law and Business students to an enrollment of over 25,000 across 47 study tracks on five campuses. With more than 73,000 graduates, Ono is committed to shaping professionals for high-demand careers.

The five-trimester M.B.A. specialization in Finance and Capital Markets at Ono will give aspiring finance professionals a unique opportunity to gain a broad view of FinTech with a focus on AI, along with practical skills and next-generation FinTech knowledge in financial markets, financial regulation and market evolution. Taught in Hebrew and English and unique in Israel, it is attracting new immigrants and international students, for whom it will double as an Israeli and Jewish experience.

Ono's M.B.A. program will start along the classical structured path of Business and Economics degrees, with classes on investment analysis, financial markets, derivatives, trading, risk modeling and risk management. It will teach the economic thinking and rationale that underlie each field, but it will do so within the new and evolving reality of how each will function in the future.

"A key consideration in designing the program was the speed at which the field is developing," explains Prof. Hauser. "FinTech is disrupting traditional finance, making it faster, cheaper, more accessible and more embedded into everyday life. Our graduates need to learn, for example, how algorithmic trading functions and the impact of computer-based investment advice."

All this, of course, takes place within the context of AI, which is rapidly taking FinTech (as it is taking much else in our lives) to another plane of innovation, efficiency and capability.

"The M.B.A. classes will be taught by experts with vast field experience, who will expose our students to AI in a very practical way," says Prof. Hauser. "They'll teach them to understand how AI enhances decision-making, automates processes and is shaping the future of banking, investing and risk management. Students will learn the ways in which many traditional banking roles – customer service representatives, financial advisors, etc. – are being augmented or replaced by AI-driven solutions, how robo-advisors handle billions of dollars of assets and how automated lending platforms issue loans without human intervention."

Will we still need humans?
Is the day of the human banker ending? Ono's M.B.A. program signals that, despite the robots and algorithms, financial services will still need humans. A completely human-free banking era is unlikely, at least in the near future, according to Prof. Hauser.

"We're heading toward a hybrid model," he predicts. "AI and automation will handle routine tasks and many of the traditional banking roles, such as customer service and financial advice. And because products and services are being transformed by digital currencies and crowdfunding, there'll be far fewer middlemen in play and far less cash in use."

However, Prof. Hauser maintains that human judgment will remain crucial in areas like risk management, regulatory oversight and complex financial decisions. "It will be human financial experts who determine which types of robots are used, how to mitigate algorithmic bias, which portfolios are managed by robots and algorithms, and the extent to which they're empowered to make decisions. And it will be human judgment which ensures that AI-driven financial services operate transparently and ethically," he elaborates.

The intermediaries of tomorrow's financial world will be different types of people with different skill sets from many of those needed today, he notes. "The Internet and social media enable far easier dissemination of information, but it's a dissemination which is often uncontrolled. Money raised over the Internet is often done so without disclosure about who's raising it and what they plan to do with it. This violates financial regulatory laws and leaves clients unprotected. Israel's massive binary options scam of 2023 – a €77 million fraud in which investors essentially bought no more than a promise – is a very clear example of this."

Balanced approach
Ono's M.B.A. specialization in Finance and Capital Markets is therefore not only timely but also essential. Informed by Prof. Hauser's wide experience and expert insights into financial regulation and market evolution, it is a unique opportunity to gain up-to-date knowledge and practical skills for careers in FinTech and financial markets across various sectors of the economy, including banks, investment firms, consulting companies, financial analysis, and corporate finance, both in Israel and around the world.

"The approach of our M.B.A. is balanced," says Prof. Hauser. "It embraces technological innovation while emphasizing financial stability and consumer protection. If we can't know the future, one thing at least is certain: financial services will never be the same again. We aim to educate financial professionals who will be equipped to lead our transformed global financial landscape, who will be masters of the technologies that are shaping it, and ensure that the global FinTech ecosystem continues to thrive."

For more information about Ono Academic College's M.B.A. in Finance and Capital Markets, visit international.ono.ac.il

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