MSc Finance and Investment

To enable students to understand and apply a range of skills in respect of listening, note taking and studying in a postgraduate financial environment.
• To equip students with skills in reading and writing at advanced levels.
• To introduce students to key elements of university writing and academic journal writing.
• To provide students with the opportunity to think laterally and argue rationally and applying these skills in planning written work and presenting written/oral data in appropriate format.
• To provide students with basic statistical skills and to train students in statistical analysis.
• To present descriptive statistics and graphs in SPSS.
• To discuss random variables and measures of central tendency and variation as well as, measures of association (bivariate correlation and simple linear regression), addressing issues such as extreme values, omitted variables and tests of normality of distribution.

This module aims to introduce students with the essential of financial mathematics supported by the development of financial engineering tools and machine learning methods. Students will gain a good background of probability theory, financial econometrics, and related analysis skills to fit in other MSc programs and expected data analyst roles.

This fundamental module in Finance aims to provide students with an understanding of the role of finance in business; the nature of available financial instruments and determinants of the prices of marketable securities; investment appraisal decisions, risk management methods, capital structure and dividend policy. All of these topics are studied in the context of effective financial management, corporate governance and business ethics. During the module students will gain an understanding of long-term financial strategies, basic valuation principles, basics of company valuation, effective investment decisions, bond pricing, cost of capital and capital asset pricing, corporate governance and ethics and basics of financial risk management, among others. Finance theories, tools and techniques covered in the module can be utilized in Page 10 of 22 (Updated as of 22 March 2024) any management decision-making process in any business sector. This module will provide an introduction to the theory and practice of finance and so provide a foundation for a more in-depth study of different aspects of finance in the MSc programmes.

The aim of this module is to familiarize module participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to construct, manage and evaluate the performance of portfolios of assets for individual and institutional investors. All investors (from the largest wealth funds to the smallest individual investors) share common issues in investing how to meet their liabilities, how to decide where to invest, and how much risk to take on. The module covers investment strategies for bonds, equities, and structured products including the use of derivatives in managing risk. Portfolio optimisation and asset allocation are covered, as well as how to measure portfolio performance. The module covers topics such: Fundamentals of Portfolio Theory; Utility Theory Given Uncertainty; Intertemporal Financial Decision making under uncertainty; Mean variance Portfolio Theory; Efficient Frontier Calculation Techniques; Non-Standard Forms of CAPM and APT and Multi-Index Model; Portfolio Planning and Construction; Multi factor asset pricing models and behavioural finance; Ethical and Professional Conduct; Performance evaluation. Measuring Returns. Benchmarking. Attribution Analysis. Risk-Adjusted returns. Performance Persistence & Industry Fund Ratings; Strategic and Tactical asset Allocation. Performance evaluation II. Factor models. Returns Based Style Analysis. Market Timing. Persistence. Manager vs. Fund Performance; Investment Strategy. Value and Growth Investing. Momentum and Trend following; Liability driven investments; Long-short investing. Fixed Income strategies: Butterfly Trades; Fixed Income strategies: Yield Spread trades and Hedging with bonds; Non-traditional investment funds. Sovereign wealth funds, socially responsible investment funds, Exchange traded funds, Islamic funds etc. Their origin, composition, use, investment strategies and main players.

The module provides students with conceptual frameworks to understand and evaluate the roles, functions and activities of financial institutions and financial markets in providing financing and risk management services to their users. It also informs participants of the principles underlying the latest techniques to measure and manage financial risks (essentially credit, market, interest rate and liquidity risks) and how to apply them. Additionally, attention is paid in the first half of the module to the impact of monetary and fiscal policies, business Page 14 of 22 (Updated as of 22 March 2024) cycles, market organization and structure. The second half of the module provides an in-depth analysis of credit and equity derivative products where an emphasis is given on corporate derivatives covering the most important products, their rationale and mechanics, pricing and modeling. The range of products analyzed covers Credit Default Swaps, indices and options; equity dividend swaps, Equity Correlation Trading, Credit Securitization and CDOs.

The aims of this module are to:

• Provide the students with the necessary knowledge and skills of financial reporting to be able to undertake an in-depth, fundamental analysis of company performance sufficient to be able to make an informed appraisal of the company’s future prospects and its underlying value.
• Appreciate the critical role played by financial reports in investment decision making.
• Identify and combine the information that is available publically to the shareholders in the financial statements and other sources with the theoretical principles that underpin a range of valuation models to evaluate, explain and assess the value of equities.
• Appreciate the factors that drive share prices and contrast with fundamental values.

The Research Methods course:

• provides guidance in developing a suitable research question in the area of accounting, banking, finance, financial management or other suitable topics
• explores the academic and methodological requirements for accountingand finance-based M.Sc. dissertations
• provides guidance in applying the basic elements of research methods, including methodology, research design, data collection, data analysis, to the research topic
• enables students to refine and develop the topic in the form of a research proposal with the involvement of a supervisor
• develops an understanding of the most commonly used research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, suitable for small scale research projects
• develops advanced intellectual skills such as evaluation, analysis, synthesis, critical thinking, project management skills

The aim of the project is to examine and report on a specific finance research question which will generally be set for students (although students may suggest their own question stemming from experience or interest). The MSc Finance & Investment master’s Research Project will be in the region of 8,000 - 9,000 words, excluding appendices. Students will apply the practical skills and knowledge of research techniques that have been established in the FINA1007 Research Methods and ECON1150 Financial Econometrics modules.