Reference no: EM133818530

Analytics in Accounting, Finance and Economics

Assessment - Blockchain, Fintech and Regtech

Task
Create a report on Blockchain in the context of Fintech and RegTech.

This task is to be done individually.

Assessment Description
Learning Outcomes: LO2, LO4 and LO5

Blockchain is an emerging technology of great importance in Finance, Economics and Accounting. It impacts the way we deal with and monitor financial transactions, trade, identify ourselves, and is having an impact on auditing and regulation.

You are a compliance manager in a financial institution. Your company wants to use blockchain for three purposes:
As a mechanism for secure digital transactions and smart contracts
As a way of managing digital identities
To offer clients the chance to invest in cryptocurrencies

However, the executive management team are not sure of all of the benefits of these applications or possible ethical, legal and privacy issues.

You have been requested to prepare a report for management that will address the three key purposes above and to address the concerns raised by the executive. Your report should explain what blockchain is, explain these uses (applications) and how it will benefit yourself and the company auditors in a report, as outlined below.

You will also need to include a statement outlining the approach to research you have undertaken in preparing your assessment. This statement does not form part of the word count for this assessment.

Assessment Instructions
Undertake your initial research from the workshops then find relevant references to support your statements.

You are to write a report as follows:

Introduce the idea of blockchain and its applications in general. [400 words]
Briefly explain the applications that we are focusing on here (1,2 & 3 above). [200 words]
Describe in detail how and why blockchain can be applied in these three ways.  Do You Need Help? [400 words]

Describe the benefits blockchain can offer auditors and compliance officers and subsequent positive impact on the organisation. [300 words]

Assess possible ethical and privacy implications of the applications at the financial institution at which you are imagining that you work. The impact could be on staff, customers or other stakeholders. [400 words]

Outline your approach to research by clearly detailing your search strategy, including the selection and justification of relevant reference sources (eg databases, genAI tools). Include in your discussion an explanation of your chosen keywords and search phrases. You must also provide specific examples of prompts crafted and used in genAI tools (eg ChatGPT).

Use at least ten (10) relevant references in your report. References are not included in the word count for this assessment task.

Take care with your report structure and written presentation. Remember, your audience for the report is the executive management team, so you should write for that audience.

You may use Generative AI to assist in the development of your assessment as per the guidance provided for Level 2 assessment which is outlined on page 5.