Demand for online fintech courses driven by finance professionals
Seasoned professionals and executives from some of the world's biggest banks are among the students driving demand for online fintech courses. LinkedIn and Princeton have started their own programmes and more than half those who signed up for Oxford University's online fintech teaching product are company leaders. In 2016, a report by Citigroup estimated between two and six million jobs would disappear from the banking sector over the next decade due to automation and artificial intelligence.

Financial professionals are taking online financial technology (fintech) courses to fend off competition and stay ahead of disruption.

The boost in uptake is due in part to a feeling among those in the industry that financial technology has reached a turning point in its evolution.

A report from Citigroup in 2016 caused widespread debate when it estimated that between 2 million and 6 million jobs would be lost in banking across the U.S. and Europe over the next 10 years.

That was attributed to both automation and artificial intelligence (AI), innovation and the rise of more efficient and less cost-intensive challenger banks. Santander's fintech-focused venture capital fund, Santander InnoVentures, estimates cost savings for banks that implement blockchain technology as high as $20 billion per year by 2022.

Highly-regarded educational institutions are also being forced to innovate and provide the resources to the financial industry to up-skill and stay ahead of an ever-steepening curve.

The likes of Oxford University and Princeton now offer online courses aimed at busy and high-level banking executives.

According to a report from e-learning software provider Docebo, online education in general is set to grow by 5 percent over the next decade and generate over $240 billion by 2023.