Banking and Finance MSc

The MSc consists of both compulsory and optional modules, a typical selection can be found below. Modules can vary from year to year, but these offer a good idea of what we teach.

Full-Time Programme

Compulsory

Quantitative Methods for Finance and Economics: This module is essential in understanding the empirical content of the Banking and Finance MSc programme and provides the necessary tools to undertake the dissertation. The aim of the module is to enable students: to conduct their own empirical investigations of a range of financial and accounting relationships, to impart the knowledge necessary to understand empirical analysis in academic related journals, and to provide a basic foundation in the theory and practice of econometric modelling as applied in finance and accounting.

International Finance: While a large part of Banking and Finance, in theory and practice, can be treated as a mainly domestic exercise, an increasing number of areas that apply to a multi-country setting exist. This module aims to i) equip students with knowledge necessary to work in an international, multi-currency professional environment and ii) provide students with knowledge on whose basis future academic research and doctoral studies in the area of international finance can be pursued.

Global Financial Markets: The aim of this module is to provide an understanding of both the key areas of development finance (the finance-growth relationship) and selected aspects of the applied economics of modern financial institutions. The topics covered include financial development and economic growth. Special attention is given to the topics of financial crises and the role of regulation.

Banking: You will explore the nature of banking as well as links between financial intermediaries, risks and the broader economy. The module seeks to conceptualise the economic function of banks and also show how banks are subject to important risks, which necessitate both a complex system of regulation and sophisticated risk management by the bank itself.

Bank Regulation and Macro-Prudential Policy: This module aims to develop a sound understanding of the nature of the market failures in banking that require regulatory responses, and the potential problems with regulation. The module aims to develop a sound knowledge of the role of bank regulation in ensuring financial stability in the international economy, especially in periods of crisis. The module also aims to develop a framework for understanding the nature and use of the wide range of other tools used in macro-prudential regulation.

Banking and Finance Workshops: This module will provide the opportunity for master's students to demonstrate a sound knowledge of the operation of financial institutions and their regulators and the theory underpinning macro prudential policy. It will also identify how theory and applications are linked in practice and be able to relate this to the techniques used to model financial institutions and their regulators decisions. It will further address the methods that arise in other modules being applied to different types of data from different countries, and provide an understanding as to how they are used. Assessment includes a Powerpoint presentation that adds to the student’s marketable skill set. Furthermore the speakers often provide insight into working in the field of finance and possible employment opportunities.

Dissertation: A 60-credit dissertation is mandatory for all students who graduate on this MSc Banking and Finance programme. Students are invited to select a research question which they investigate under supervision by an academic. Data support is provided by the department, including Bloomberg and Bankscope. Dissertations raise the employability of students by allowing them to choose research questions that are specific to their job market requirements.

Optional

Foundations of Finance: The main aims of this MSc module are for students to establish an understanding of various financial instruments, markets and concepts which are necessary when conducting the corporate investment decision.

Security Analysis and Funds Management: The aims of this module are to:

• Provide an overview of securities traded in fixed income, stock and derivative markets and their characteristics along with the stylised facts of financial markets.

• Introduce classical models used for portfolio selection and risk management.

Financial Analysis: This module emphasises the importance of book values and earnings in deriving the intrinsic value of a firm and to analyse empirically their informative role over explaining future cash flows, earnings and returns. The module also provides an overview of the relation between accounting-based equity models, excess volatility and efficiency in securities markets. Additionally, the module examines the fundamental and behavioural explanations for excess volatility and abnormal returns in financial markets.

Business Finance: This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the financing decisions and policies of modern corporations.

Part-Time Programme

Level 1

• Essentials of Mathematics and Statistics
• Banking
• Quantitative Methods for Finance and Economics
• Bank Regulation and Macro-Prudential Policy
• Global Financial Markets

Level 2

• International Finance
• Banking and Finance Workshops
• Dissertation

Students must choose two optional modules from the following:

• Foundations of Finance
• Security Analysis and Funds Management
• Financial Analysis
• Business Finance

The dissertation must be submitted in the spring term of the third year.

Read more about the structure of postgraduate degrees at Brunel and what you will learn on the course.