Banking and International Finance MSc

Compulsory modules

• Global Banking

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  This module aims to provide students with an insight into the major features of the banking business and to provide a framework for the understanding of the different types of banks and banking activities.

• Financial Statements Analysis

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  The ability to understand and analyse financial statement information is a key skill in a wide range of business activities, from managing a corporation to investing in securities.

  The overall aim of this module is to help students learn and practice a variety of financial statement analysis techniques which can support business decision-making processes.

• Principles of Finance and Valuation

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  The module is fundamental to financial decision-making in an uncertain and risk-averse world, from which important branches of finance are developed.

  To develop a coherent understanding of the functioning of financial markets and instruments, in conjunction with in-depth examinations of investor behaviour and the valuation principles for major categories of financial securities.

  The module covers major topics and addresses fundamental issues in finance, with regard to investors, behaviour, asset pricing, fixed income securities and equity valuation.

• Data Analytics for Banking and Finance

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  This module provides an overview of analytical methods used in the financial industry for understanding the interdependencies of financial, commodity and macroeconomic data, the random wandering behaviour of asset prices, the rapidly changing volatility in financial returns.

You'll take two compulsory and two elective modules

Compulsory modules

• Bank Risk Management

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  This module provides the conceptual framework necessary to understand the risk management problems confronting banks and financial regulators. These topics are discussed in relation to the 2008/09 financial crisis, key regulatory reforms following the financial crisis, and ongoing global changes such as opportunities and threads to the banking industry and the broader financial sector from FinTech/BigTech entrants.

• International Finance.

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  In recent years there has been a trend towards globalisation. That has impacted on all financial decisions and has necessitated the understanding of international financial markets.

Elective modules, choose from

• Corporate Finance

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  Building on term one’s finance modules, this module provides an in-depth analysis of the theory and international practice of capital structure decisions, dividend and cash policy, valuation, and mergers and acquisitions.

• Fixed Income

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  This module will look at forward rates and par rates, swap rates and interest rate swaps, duration, convexity, and hedging, hedging with interest rate derivatives, a brief introduction to term structure models.

• Alternative Investments

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  This course will give you the tools necessary to understand these alternative asset classes and to understand how they can be integrated into more traditional portfolios.

• Topics in M&A.

  • 15 credits
  • 3 hours per week in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self directed study

  This module will provide an understanding of the main drivers of the market for corporate control, as well as an understanding of the importance of this market within the context of the overall economy. It looks at pre and post acquisition, financial analysis and regulatory framework

In term three you will choose from either:

• Five elective modules plus Career Management Skills and Research Method
• Three elective modules plus a General Research Project.

• General Research Project

  This module will help you integrate your learning across a range of skills and in particular to enable you to demonstrate the results of your learning through the development of a final project. You may choose to complete more traditional academic desk research, complete a business plan or carry out a consultancy project and any reasonable proposal is acceptable providing that it is agreed with the project supervisor and the course director

• Career Management Skills and Research Methods

  Supporting your wider learning and career success through the development of key transferrable skills and attributes that you will use both in your programme and across your career. In particular: research and analysis, career planning and employability skills development, and sustainable working.

  Develop a grounding in research methods, targeted to your particular degree requirements. You will be able to use these skills to support your learning, substantiate your arguments and make assessments about the nature of the evidence you are using.

  Career and employability skills development, delivered in a highly targeted and applied format throughout the year, will help you develop your aspirations, take a planned and efficient approach to your job search and / or entrepreneurial plans, and help you create a strong base from which to manage your career in the longer term. The content of this module will also help you understand how to apply your learning in the wider context of your career.

Electives offered in 2024

• Corporate Restructuring
• Digital Finance
• Ethics, Society and the Finance Sector
• Financial Crime
• Financial Statement Analysis & Valuation in Banks
• Hedge Funds
• Investment Banking for Corporate Finance (with Nova Business School)
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Private Equity Investment
• Trading and Market Microstructure.
• International Electives

More about elective modules at Bayes

Please note that electives are subject to change and availability.