/ Programmes / Master of Science in Banking and Finance / Course Descriptions

Course Descriptions

Foundation module

Foundation courses provide students with concepts and skills in key underlying disciplines of finance, providing a basis on which to build applied concepts and methods.

  • Macro-Economics: Aggregate economic performance measures; models of output, employment and income; money and money supply.
  • Micro-Economics: Theory of the firm, cost function, supply and demand, cost minimisation, monopolistic competition.
  • Financial Accounting and GAAP: Accounting theory and conceptual frameworks; Generally Accepted Accounting Principles; accounting ratios; depreciation; cash accounting; revenue and expense recognition.
  • Business Statistics: Distribution parameters; distribution types; mean-variance analysis.
  • Econometric and Empirical Models: Firm’s cost function; statistical analysis; introduction to empirical methods.
  • Financial Applications in Excel
  • Master’s Thesis and Business Field Project Preparatory Course

Corporate Finance Module

  • Corporate Finance I : Asset valuation, Capital budgeting; Capital structure and dividend policy; Options and corporate finance; Real options; financial innovation in corporate finance;
  • Financial Diagnosis and Management: Valuation of cash flows over different time horizons; value creation through optimisation of sources of funds; financial strategies and measures of liquidity; operating cash flows
  • Portfolio Theory and Management: Mean-variance approach and efficient frontiers; portfolio selection process; models of equilibrium in the capital markets; empirical tests of equilibrium models; portfolio performance measurement.
  • Derivatives: Derivatives markets; forward and futures; trading and hedging strategies; binomial trees and numerical procedures; option pricing models; exotic options.
  • Fixed Income Instruments: Debt instruments and markets; convexity; duration; term-structure models; interest-rate risk; credit risk; valuation.

Advanced Finance module

  • Corporate Finance II: Asset valuation, Capital budgeting; Capital structure and dividend policy; Options and corporate finance; Real options; financial innovation in corporate finance.
  • International Finance: Foreign exchange markets; determination of exchange rates; exchange rate systems; foreign exchange risk measurement and management; NPV analysis for multinationals; international portfolio diversification.
  • Investment Banking: Specialised v. universal banking; financial restructuring and IPOs; complex lending transactions; capital market borrowing; analysis of mergers & acquisitions.
  • Strategic Banking: Major developments shaping global banking and finance; reconfiguration of global financial services; global debt and equity markets; institutional asset management and private banking; competitive challenges.
  • Risk Management: Structuring and managing the risk management function; measuring market risk: the VaR approach; measuring and hedging credit risk; managing operational risk; capital allocation and performance measurement; model risk; risk management in nonbank corporations.

Accounting, Governance and Ethics module

  • Financial Instruments Accounting: Accounting treatment of financial instruments under IAS-IFRS; accounting for hybrid financial instruments and embedded derivatives, hedge accounting; recognition and de-recognition; the impact of the Capital Adequacy Framework.
  • International Financial Accounting and Reporting: Consolidated accounts and the multinational; IAS/IFRS presentation and interpretation of principal standards; international financial reporting and analysis.
  • Governance and Ethics in Finance: Issues in governance; Governance models; ethics in finance.

Banking Stream

  • Banking Value Creation and Asset & Liability Management: Sources of value creation in banking; profit-centre management; risk-adjusted performance management; pricing credit risk and loan provisioning; interest rate and liquidity risks; banking simulation.
  • Micro-Economics of Finance and Banking: Uncertainty and risk aversion; arbitrage and equilibrium; risk-sharing and insurance; moral hazard and adverse selection; credit rationing; signalling; information revelation and aggregation.
  • Credit Scoring Analysis: Accrual accounting and income determination; advanced financial statement analysis; using financial information for valuation and credit-risk assessment; anticipating and managing financial distress.
  • Monetary Policy and Banking Regulation: Money and banking, credit multiplier effect, policy transmission channels, central bank policy, banking regulation.

Investment Management Stream

  • Pension and Investment Funds: Investment fund structures; governance and regulation; performance factors; pension fund capital structures; asset and liability management.
  • Structured Financial Instruments: Off-exchange derivatives; structured finance and products; standard structured products; hybrid and customised instruments and products; key risk dimensions.
  • Hedge Funds and Quantitative Performance Measurement: Types of hedge funds; portfolio creation and risk management; evaluating and implementing hedge fund strategies; advanced measurement approaches; performance attribution techniques and managerial skills assessment.
  • European Financial Law: Major European financial services directives: UCITS, MiFID, AIFM; legal dimensions of money management.

Electives

Students must take one elective course from the following selection :

  • One course from the Investment Management Stream courses (for students in the Banking Stream)
  • One course from the Banking Stream (for students in the Investment Management Stream)
  • Sustainability in Finance
  • CPA Preparatory Course