This innovative Banking and Finance MSc programme provides you with postgraduate training designed to develop your career in the banking and financial services sector. You will gain a thorough understanding of this field through practical and theoretical application, addressing financial economics, the economics of banking, quantitative methods as well as financial regulation both within the organisation and internationally. Graduates of the Banking and Finance Masters at Brunel will be able to pursue a wide range of careers in financial institutions, banking regulatory organisations and investment banks. Internationally, graduates of this Banking and Finance course are attractive candidates for their domestic regulators and private sector banks. In addition, many graduates will follow other career paths in the financial services sector and could undertake doctoral research. Aims The key aim of the Masters course is to provide a good balance between the four pillars of the programme: * Theories and debates about banking and financial regulation * Broader financial theories and related issues * Quantitative methodologies which are critical for economic and financial analysis * Successful completion of a dissertation in this field. On completion of this Banking and Finance postgraduate degree course you will be able to effectively manage a range of issues within banking and finance, such as recent banking regulations and successfully deal with matters arising in private banking. You will develop the art of thinking through economic problems within structured frameworks and the course will encourage you to critically evaluate and deliver strategic solutions.

The Department of Economics and Finance is proud to be celebrating 20 years of taught postgraduate education in Finance. Former students from our MSc programmes are now themselves teaching in the Australian Business School, EdHec Business School, Nice, Glasgow University and Oslo Business School. Other MSc students hold senior positions in financial institutions including the Bank of Cyprus, HSBC in Istanbul, Standard Life in the UK and TD Bank Financial Group in Canada. Many of our Banking and Finance MSc graduates also hold positions as government economists including the Bank of England and HM Treasury. The MSc in Banking and Finance is designed to expand our portfolio and address newly emerging demands in the following areas: * Deregulation and the increased investment demand for safe as well as risky assets has increased competition between financial institutions and also transformed the role of traditional Banking. There is a demand for postgraduates who are familiar with the new environment. * Aligning incentives, reducing risk and ensuring consistency across hugely diverse locations and operations requires appropriate regulation and control. There is a demand for graduates who can analyse such trends at a bank level. * Banking regulatory bodies in the UK and abroad are trying to establish a reliable and up-to-date system which will promote transparency and equality among the participants of financial markets and ensure stability of the financial system. There is increasing demand for graduates with knowledge on the latest regulatory debates. * The Masters programme aims to introduce the students not only to the economics of banking and finance but more importantly to establish the links between the changing nature of financial markets, institutions and investors’ decisions. Our graduates are thus highly employable in the non-banking sector. Graduate School workshops In addition to the Department’s events and training sessions, you will have the opportunity to undertake workshops and skills training provided by the University’s Graduate School, for example: * CV Writing for Masters Students * CV Writing Drop-in Clinic for Masters Students * How to Succeed in Assessment Centres (Masters Students) * Interview Techniques for Masters Students * Transferrable Skills for Masters Students For further information visit the Graduate School. Careers This course offers students advanced training in banking and finance so as to pursue a range of exciting careers in the City, government, or an academic career via a PhD. More specifically, graduates would be able to pursue a wide range of careers in financial institutions that hire economists to analyse economic and financial trends, banking regulatory organisations like the FSA, or in leading investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. Internationally, our postgraduates would become attractive candidates for their domestic regulators and private sector banks. In addition, many graduates will follow other career paths including financial services, and doctoral research. Since their training would include exposure to both financial economics and the economics of banking, they would be able to proceed to our doctoral programmes in both Economics and Finance. At Brunel we provide many opportunities and experiences within your degree programme and beyond – work-based learning, professional support services, volunteering, mentoring, sports, arts, clubs, societies, and much, much more – and we encourage you to make the most of them, so that you can make the most of yourself.