What
programming language is most suitable for fintech?
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9 Answers
Matthew Harris, Fintech professional | Python
enthusiast
Updated Feb 28
Python is an ideal programming language for the financial
industry. Widespread across the investment banking and hedge fund industries,
banks are using Python to solve quantitative problems for pricing, trade
management, and risk management platforms. Python also seems to have answers to
most challenges raised by the financial industry when looking at analytics,
regulation, compliance, and data, which are made easy by the abundance of
supporting libraries.
I don’t want to deter those who are using other
server-side languages for their fintechs. Most will allow you to accomplish
similar goals and, in fact, many companies use several back-end languages to
build out their product.
However, while that’s the case, there are some
technologies that will help you to achieve your goals in a far quicker and more
intuitive manner. I’m sure that many will have their reasons for why their favorite
back-end technology is ideal for fintech, and I’ve seen a couple suggested in
previous answers, but in a recent article I wrote I went in depth
regarding Why Python Should Be the
Technology Choice for Your Fintech. Have a read and
see if you agree. If you don’t, it should at the very least make for a more
interesting debate on this forum.
For the sake of brevity I will include an interesting
finding from the article below and share some conclusions from the larger
write-up.
Financial Giants Using Python
After reviewing the labor pool and recruitment trends,
it’s important to know that the programming language that you ultimately choose
has a good track record. Additionally, it shouldn’t put you at a disadvantage
when tackling issues typical to the financial industry, such as speed,
scalability, and quantitative problem-solving.
Though Python is by no means a new language, its growing
popularity across the investment banking and hedge fund industries is a
relatively new development. Much of the ubiquity of Python among financial
services giants can be attributed to Kirat Singh. If you haven’t heard of
Singh, read about how this investment banking guru quit to start his own firm.
His reason for introducing Python? In a 2014 interview
given to eFinancialCareers, Singh (a former MD at Bank of America Merrill
Lynch) said, “It is a good scripting language and easily integrated into both
the front and back ends, which was one of the reasons we chose it in the first place.”
Python is a core language for J.P. Morgan’s Athena
program and Bank of America’s Quartz program. Singh went on to say: “Everyone
at JPMorgan now needs to know Python and there are around 5,000 developers
using it at Bank of America. There are close to 10 million lines of Python code
in Quartz and we got close to 3,000 commits a day.”
While J.P. Morgan and Bank of America should be added to
the list of those incumbents that fintechs are attempting to overthrow, this
does add some serious weight behind why the language is applicable to financial
services in the first place.
Below is a summary of some of the key
benefits that make Python suitable for fintechs
·
Python’s simplicity leads
to lower error rates and less bug-hunting.
·
Python may not be the fastest
performing language, but it’s a top choice for optimal time to market.
·
The straightforward syntax of
Python will facilitate collaborationbetween developers, technical
experts and the C-suite.
·
Finally, Python’s wealth of open
source libraries provides ready-to-go solutions for many
common problems in fintech.
A little bit of background about me. In my previous life,
I worked for a promising Polish fintech. My exploits culminated in a “Best of
Show” win at Finovate Europe 2016 (see the video FinovateEurope 2016 - Valuto if
interested).
To go more in depth you can find the full write-up here
- Why Python Should Be the
Technology Choice for Your Fintech.
If you would like to know which Fintech companies use
Python you can checkout the following sources:
Top 17 Fintech Companies that
Include Python in Their Tech Stack
or
8 Fintech Companies with Python
in Their Tech Stack - Insurtech Edition
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