Top US banks unite for 'Fintech Focus' coding bootcamp

Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo are to turn their New York offices into coding bootcamps for under-represented college students in a new initiative intended to increase the representation of women and people of colour in software engineering within the financial services industry.

Over the course of the three week 'Fintech Focus' programme, 43 young women and 37 young men from the New York metro area, will learn the principles of computer science, gain exposure to financial services technology, and get hands-on experience developing real-world applications. 

Upon completion of the programme they will create and present their own full-stack web application. 

Goldman Sachs' global head of campus recruitment Vicki Tung believes that this hands-on experience and early exposure to software design will improve student preparedness for coding careers in financial services and increase Stem degree completion rates.

"We recognise that the lack of awareness that potential recruits have on the engineering opportunities within financial services isn’t an issue that is specific to just Goldman Sachs," she says. "It’s great to set an example at the enterprise level on our approach to tackle an industry-wide issue. This partnership not only increases our reach but significantly expands our impact as we are able to pool from our collective resources inclusive of intellectual capital, access to our engineering veterans/innovators and more."