The Fintech Center at the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance

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Philanthropists Kate Tiedemann and Ellen Cotton, long-time supporters of the University of South Florida’s programs on its St. Petersburg campus, recently made gifts totaling $14 million to support efforts to make the USF Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance a “hub of excellence” in fintech education. The latest gifts bring the couple’s total giving to the university to close to $30 million.

Fintech, short for “financial technology,” is a catch-all term for any technology that is used to augment, streamline, digitize, or disrupt traditional financial services. Fintech automation impacts everything from mobile banking and insurance to crowdfunding, blockchain, cryptocurrency and investment apps.

“Fintech is one of the fastest-growing tech sectors in the nation and world,” said Moez Limayem, the Lynn Pippenger Dean of the USF Muma College of Business, which is comprised of six schools that serve some 7,500 students across three campuses, one of which is the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance. It was named to help support students and faculty and provide much-needed resources to support new educational programs and scholarly inquiry.