
Finance PhD Programme
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Experience cutting-edge financial insight and exceptional teaching expertise.
Are you an academic set on furthering your research? An alumni member seeking to reconnect with the latest frameworks? Or a potential student looking to enhance your skills?
Our Finance Faculty produce cutting-edge research and conduct analysis on finance industry topics – from fintech disruption to Eurozone insights.
We are a world-class research facility. Our faculty conduct globally recognised research, leading the following research centres and institutes:
Your company’s ability to thrive depends on strategy, execution and financial intelligence.
Assistant Professor of Finance
Professor of Finance
Assistant Professor of Finance
Professor of Finance
Professor of Finance
Assistant Professor of Finance
Professor of Finance
Professor of Finance
Professor of Finance; Alexander M. Knaster Chair;Fellow of the British Academy
Professor of Finance; Chair, Finance Faculty
Assistant Professor of Finance (on leave from London Business School)
Assistant Professor of Finance
Professor of Finance
Associate Professor of Finance
Assistant Professor of Finance
Professor of Finance (on leave from London Business School)
Professor of Finance; Academic Director, AQR Asset Management Institute
Professor of Finance; Academic Director, AQR Asset Management Institute
Richard Brealey Professor of Corporate Governance; Professor of Finance
Adjunct Professor of Finance
Executive Fellow of Finance
Emeritus Professor of Finance
Emeritus Professor of Finance
Executive Fellow of Finance
Emeritus Professor of Finance
A key part of our Masters programmes curriculum.
View courses Show lessAdvanced Investments:We begin by considering how to allocate wealth into different asset classes and investment strategies. A particular emphasis is alternative assets and on long-term investing with a coherent modeling of assets and liabilities. We then discuss performance evaluation and attribution. We cover common investment strategies based on value, profitability, investment, momentum, carry, beta, and volatility. We also cover recent developments of more complex investment products, and compare and contrast them with traditional fund structures. We finally discuss limits to arbitrage and the costs of implementing actual trading strategies
This course will give students a hands-on, operational, quantitative understanding of corporate financial decisions-how to make them and how to implement them. Consistent with the mission of the MFA degree, it is assumed students either have a familiarity with the basic theory, or that they will be able to pick up the basic theory on the go.
Corporate Finance: Learn how to value companies, taking into account the incomplete information one often finds in real life. You’ll discuss the challenges analysts face when valuing a company, and how to better cope with them. Emphasis is put on the role of information in financial decisions and agency problems. You’ll also gain a detailed understanding of corporate governance, payout policy,IPOs, and SEOs. Capital Structure: In the wake of the financial crisis, this course re-examines the fundamental linkages between valuation and financial structure. Develop an understanding of debt structure and related risk, and analyse the importance of illiquidity and its relation to benchmark asset pricing frameworks. M&A: Study the market for corporate control and the key concepts of mergers and acquisitions: how to value a target, strategic behaviour, and different landscapes around the world. You’ll also discuss the merits of dispersed ownership.
Why do companies make the investment and financial decisions they do? Understand the principles of project appraisal and firm valuation, financial structure and pay-out policy, using real-life case studies. Assess the merits of real investments; Compute corporate and project-level costs of capital ;Value corporate targets using discounted cash-flow and multiples-based methods ;Analyse financial structure decisions and credit risk at a quantitative level ;Understand the incentive effects of leverage decisions and the role of information in financial decisions ; Analyse corporate payout policy.
Analytics is now revolutionising the finance industry and central to most finance activities. Learn the concepts and tools needed to be at the forefront of this change. Consider how lenders can use Big Data to make faster, better credit decisions and examine how traders can use data analytics to maximise portfolio returns.
Learn how to manage your company’s finances and develop a framework to help you make the right financial decisions.
Build technical and theoretical know-how by understanding the foundations of finance, with an emphasis on applications. Discuss many of the major financial decisions corporate managers make, both within the firm and in their interactions with investors. Essential to this decision making is the process of valuation, an important focus of the course. Topics include criteria for making investment decisions, valuation of financial assets and liabilities, relations between risk and return, derivative securities (options) and mergers and acquisitions.
Financial Economics I/Asset Pricing
Financial Institutions
This is a rigorous foundations course in investment analysis covering the basics of fixed income, equity and derivative securities as well as modern portfolio theory (how to invest across different securities/assets or asset classes). The focus is on understanding how to value securities, how to measure/manage the risk of these securities, the relationship between risk and return and the practical application of these concepts. Asset Management: Consider how to allocate wealth into different asset classes and investment strategies. You’ll explore the contribution of fixed income in equity portfolios and the role of alternative investments. Focus on long-term investing with a coherent modelling of assets and liabilities, and performance evaluation; look into recent development of more complex investment products; and compare and contrast them with traditional fund structures. This will include the limits to arbitrage and the costs of implementing actual trading
Learn the frameworks for financial decision-making through a robust understanding of the principles and practice of financial management. Explore advanced theories in the valuation of investments, management of portfolios and risk management strategies: Articulate the principle of “no-arbitrage” and why this is an important concept for valuing financial assets ;Calculate the value of risk-free and riskless cash flow streams, inc those accruing to real investment projects and financial assets ;Hedge an asset or liability’s exposure to changes in interest rates; Understand why the term structure of interest rates is important; Explain the theoretical basis for modern portfolio theory including its implementation and limitations ;Model and evaluate portfolio risk using factor models ;Value forward and futures contracts using the principle of no-arbitrage ;Value options using replicating portfolios, binomial option pricing, and the Black-Scholes model.
Managerial Finance
" This course will examine mergers and acquisitions. It will also examine conglomerates, focusing on unlocking the conglomerate discount, as well as examining alternatives to the traditional markets for corporate control, including private equity and shareholder activism. Private equity usually involves the acquisition of (or part of) a listed company or a private company. Activism involves the acquisition, usually, of a minority stake with the intention of changing the strategy of a company. Those strategic changes will often include, putting a company 'into play', restructuring the company, or spinning off some assets.
Personal Finance covers the financial decision-making of individuals/households as opposed to those of Corporations or Institutional Investors. More specifically, it will focus on the savings, investment and borrowing decisions. The course is therefore particularly relevant for those interested in the areas of wealth management, asset management, consumer finance, financial regulation and policy making.
The course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of private equity, including the main concepts, techniques, institutions, and dynamics of the sector. Specific themes include: deal sourcing, due diligence, valuation, financing and value creation, across both buyout and venture capital strategies. The course also covers the fund model and reviews the industry from the perspective of private equity firms themselves as well as their institutional investors.
Optional courses providing a deep dive into specialist areas.
View electives Show lessThrough in-depth cases and discussion of topical issues, discover the multitude of ways that corporate finance theory can be applied to practical problems, with all the complexities that the real world entails. Cover advanced topics in valuation and financing
Over the last 15 years markets experienced exponential growth in sub-investment grade (credit) investing with funds replace banks as a major source of capital. Leveraged Loans, High Yield Bonds, Private credit / Direct Lending, Distressed and Special Situations have come to dominate credit markets supporting the overall growth of the Alternative Investments space.The course will teach investment principles across the different strategies, best practices in the field, practical examples as well as market developments. The course will draw from the experience of industry professionals and in particular, from Alon Avner who has been managing Bain Capital Credit's European business for c.15 years. In the current turbulent market environment, and with the continuous growth in the alternative investments markets, the course is more relevant than ever for students looking for roles at investment funds and banks (Buyside and Sell side).
In the past, the field of finance developed a successful paradigm based on the assumption that investors and managers are rational and that the market is efficient. Anecdotal evidence and research means we now know that this paradigm is insufficient to describe real financial markets. This course adds institutional, social, cognitive, and emotional biases into an analysis of financial market phenomena
Together with the Finance Core Course, a two-course sequence covering corporate finance and investments. While not a core course, CFCM covers key areas of finance with which all graduates should be familiar.
The objective of this course is to enable you to value businesses. This involves the application of ideas that you already know: DCF, cost of capital, M&M, etc. It involves deepening and extending your knowledge of how to apply these methods in the specific context of valuing businesses, as well as providing you with other financial tools that are useful in that context.
Become a sophisticated and informed user of derivative instruments such as futures, swaps and options. Develop a sound understanding of the real-world details of the products and the models used to analyse them, as well as their limitations
Understand this innovative and influential area of corporate finance and private equity activity globally. Assess best practices in the field with reference to case studies, practical examples and lessons learnt. The course draws from The course draws from the experience of senior investment professionals and distressed fund advisors.
The Equity Investment Management course covers Strategic and Tactical asset allocation, Portfolio Optimization, Risk Measurement, Factor models of returns, Active-Passive management, Long-Short investing, Behavioural Finance, Style Analysis and Performance Measurement. It highlights some recent developments and how they are having an impact on all aspects of investment management
Multiple new technologies are finding their way into financial services, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, distributed ledger technology, cryptography, digital identity, SaaS platforms, chatbots, robotic process automation, and augmented reality. This has triggered the opportunity to fundamentally morph the business model of practically every financial services vertical - including payments, deposits & retail banking, lending, capital raising, wealth management, insurance, financial infrastructure, and regulation.
The climate change crisis and its effect on the environment, households, and capital markets are spurring a worldwide coordinated response by governments, which has the potential to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon inclusive economy.Against this backdrop, this course introduces sustainability challenges from different perspectives and discusses the role of finance in impacting and addressing them.It is designed around a combination of cases and financial tools to reach course objectives and will end with an individual exam. We will ground our discussions in rigorous state-of-the-art academic research and apply evidence from research to real-world problems through case discussions and recent developments. We will cover diverse aspects such as ESG measurement, investment management, socially responsible and impact investing, role of shareholder engagement, integrated reporting, risk management, and the use of capital markets to create market-based emissions trading systems.
Gain the skills to value, hedge and manage the risk of a wide variety of derivatives and structured products.
Undertake a rigorous study of fixed income securities on this quantitative course.
Learn about the hedge fund industry, which has grown rapidly over the last decade and is gaining recognition as an alternative to the traditional mutual fund investment. Examine the reasons for this, the modus operandi of hedge funds, their legal, organisational and operational structures, their risk-return characteristics, their model of aligning the interests of investors and managers and the likelihood of their success in the future
Examine corporate re-organisations, including mergers and acquisitions, re-organisation through workouts and bankruptcy, divisional spin-offs and divestitures, and leveraged buyouts
The Project and Infrastructure Finance course focuses on the application of techniques and principles to structure, value and finance large-scale infrastructure and industrial projects. The course describes the many ways in which project finance techniques can be used to redistribute and mitigate the risks typically found in these complex projects. Students will work through a series of case studies to apply project finance techniques to real-life projects such as Public-Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure concessions and commodity development opportunities
Students will learn Python coding and will apply the skills in a variety of financial problems, such as devising and evaluating trading strategies, portfolio construction, and risk assessment, among others. Students are expected to have basic level of coding experience in any other language and a good technical background (namely should be familiar with linear regression and basic linear algebra).
Gain the concepts and tools you need to understand real estate markets and manage real estate assets with a focus on value creation. Most of the course will focus on commercial real estate. Topics covered include valuation and investment analysis, financing, economic, legal, political and taxation issues and recent trends and challenges
There are some $90 trillion dollars of professionally managed assets globally. Where does the money come from? Where does it go? What factors shape how it is managed? Together we take a tour of the world of investment management. We look at the investment challenge through the eyes of the principal actors on the global money management stage - and the current trends shaping the industry in which they work. After 5 days you will be better prepared for a career in investment or one in which investors are your clients. Please note: this course is not a masterclass in how to invest; it is a unique look at how and why investors invest the way they do and the investment industry in which they operate. The block week runs dawn to dusk. It features a parade of practitioners. The level of assignments is not particularly difficult - but the pace and continuous participation required is demanding. Do not take this course unless you can devote the entire week to it
Value Investing course is intended to teach students the principle of value investing as developed by Graham and Dodd and as practiced by prominent buy-side investment professionals. Students would be taught fundamentals of long/short equity investing. This would be done through a combination of formal lectures, speaker sessions and in-class discussion on real world ideas. The emphasis would be on real world Investing decisions with a goal to provide students theory and practice of investing and help students develop business acumen and industry experience
The course aims to help you recognise and navigate with confidence a broad range of conventional wealth management concepts, tools, and structures.
Econometrics I
PhD Seminar in Financial Economics 2
Continuous Time Finance
Financial Economics III / Corporate Finance
Short programmes offering academic excellence, global focus and exceptional diversity of perspective.
View programmes Show less"Attending the Accelerated Development Programme is a unique opportunity for participants to learn not only from our world-class faculty but from their fellow participants. Consequently, the way the programme is designed encourages you to get to know as many people as possible and to form a life-long network of culturally diverse peers".
"Thinking strategically, developing leadership skills and managing globally are the keys to achieving and maintaining competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving marketplace".
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