Welcome from the Programme Director

“The flagship programme of the Business School’s Finance Group, the MSc Finance is designed for recent graduates and young professionals of exceptional intelligence who seek a broad but applied programme from one of the world’s most prestigious universities. Over the past 11 years, it has developed a reputation as the most intellectually rigorous quantitative finance programme in Europe. 、

The programme is highly relevant, reflecting the strong corporate connections we have established with leading companies in the City of London and beyond, providing practical opportunities to build your technical skills and confidence. You will receive hands-on training, working through relevant case studies with leading practitioners and world-renowned research faculty. This innovative teaching approach, combined with the academic and quantitative rigour of the core courses, has established a truly inspirational learning environment that equips graduates with the technical and financial tools they need to be respected by employers in today’s financial sector.

The Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment (CISI) has designated Imperial College Business School a CISI Centre of Excellence in the field of Finance, and the programme was the first London taught programme with both CISI exemption and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) partner programme status.

Our MSc Finance is suitable for high-calibre, ambitious and technically-minded students, who want to study in London and work in the highly competitive, yet rewarding financial services sector.”

Professor Nigel Meade, Programme Director and Professor of Quantitative Finance

About the Programme

The one-year full-time highly quantitative MSc Finance is the first London taught programme to be both designated as a Centre of Excellence for Finance by the Securities and Investment Institute (SII) and awarded partner programme status by the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (CFA). This means that graduates of the programme benefit from an enhanced profile amongst employers. With the MSc Finance curriculum containing 70 per cent of the CFA curriculum, you benefit from a head start to the internationally recognized CFA qualification. You will also benefit from exemption from the SII's examinations.

The MSc Finance comprises nine taught modules and a 10,000-word project. Six of the modules are core courses and are taken during the first two terms. The three elective modules are taken during the spring and summer terms. You will devote the summer to the completion of the project.

A strong academic background in a quantitative discipline (e.g. mathematics, statistics, econometrics, engineering) is essential.

Core modules
        •      Online pre-study courses
        •      Corporate finance
        •      Mathematical techniques in finance
        •      Statistics and financial econometrics
        •      Empirical finance
        •      Asset pricing and derivatives
        •      Investments and portfolio management

Elective modules
        •      Advanced corporate finance
        •      Advanced options theory
        •      Credit risk
        •      Financial statement analysis
        •      Fixed-income securities
        •      International finance
        •      Private equity and entrepreneurship
        •      Venture capital finance and innovation
        •      Advanced credit derivatives and structured products
        •      Finance of regulated industries
        •      Hedge funds
        •      Numerical finance with C++
        •      Advanced numerical finance with C++
        •      VBA and C++ workshops

MSc Finance programme overview
A combination of the latest research, practical application and a broad range of topics, makes the MSc Finance a unique and challenging experience. Here is a snapshot of what our MSc Finance and Imperial College can offer you:

MSc Finance Foundation Courses
You will study four courses in September that will introduce you to the tools of modern finance and enhance your career development skills.

Markets and Securities
        •      Introduction into securities trading, pricing and investment
        •      Review of probability theory and optimisation

Financial Modelling
        •      Hands-on introduction into programming (Matlab, Excel/VBA)
        •      Review of matrix algebra and statistics

The Finance Industry
        •      An exploration of the financial sector, with special focus on investment banking
        •      Practical careers sessions

Business Valuation
        •      Systematic exploration of accounting and corporate valuation tools