From the first day of your degree course, you will begin to learn the skills to develop as a banker or financial practitioner. You will have access to excellent facilities, resources and extensive information technology to support your learning journey.
Teaching is delivered through a combination of lectures, workshops and seminars. You can expect to have a minimum of 12 hours contact time during each teaching week. You will also be expected to undertake independent study and group work, and participate in online activities and discussions using our virtual learning environment.
In your first year, you will learn the fundamental principles of banking and acquire an understanding of financial techniques and financial instruments. You will gain insights into the wider economy in order to gain an appreciation of the context in which banks and financial markets operate. You will also start to build up your analytical and quantitative skills.
During your second year, you will build a deeper understanding of banks and financial markets. You will study the role of central banks in monetary policy and deepen your knowledge of financial markets, and the decisions that investment and portfolio managers are faced with. You will develop your quantitative skills to be able to analyse the relationship between different financial variables within formal models.
In your third year, you will develop your knowledge, skills and expertise to a more advanced level. You will study international aspects of banking and financial markets, as well as topics related to bank management. You will learn more sophisticated econometric techniques and how to apply them to real-world financial issues using specialist software.
Throughout the three years, you will have a wide range of optional modules to choose from. You will have the option of choosing modules from subject areas elsewhere in the University including, for example, modern languages or social policy. However, if you prefer to focus on banking and finance, then there will be options for you to study related topics in corporate finance and a variety of more specialised topics, such as mergers and acquisitions.
What will you study on this course?
Year 1 Compulsory Modules
Introduction to Banking
This module will provide practical knowledge and understanding of the types of financial institutions that operate in financial markets. It will develop intellectual expertise of the operations of financial firms and markets and prepare students for an eventual career in banking and financial services.
Economics (Autumn & Spring)
These modules will provide an overview of the history of global economic development as well as considering important contemporary issues such as inequality and sustainability of economic growth. They will introduce the key tools and models that economists use. The autumn module will focus on microeconomics – how individuals make choices and how they interact in markets. The spring module will focus on macroeconomics – the behaviour of the economy as a whole.
Discover Economics
The module will provide an overview of economics and economic systems and the key theoretical foundations of microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics involves the study of individuals and firms, and the interrelationships between them. Macroeconomics examines the economy as a whole and involves the study of economic aggregates.
Business Analytics
This module will focus on manipulation of algebraic expressions, collection and presentation of data, producing descriptive statistics, measuring uncertainty using probability, estimating confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and investigating association and causality.
Financial Techniques & Analysis
This module covers quantitative techniques that are applicable in a wide variety of Financial and Economic contexts.
Year 2 Compulsory Modules
Central Banking and Monetary
This module will provide a global perspective on Central Banks. It will consider the money supply process; the tools and conduct of monetary policy. The nature of money demand will be studied, with consideration of both quantity theory and Keynesian theories within a broader aggregate demand and supply analysis. Various aspects of monetary policy theory will be examined, including the role of expectations and the importance of transmission mechanisms.
Econometrics
This module will cover the fundamentals of probability theory and of statistical methods. It will introduce the method of ordinary least squares (OLS) used in estimating the quantitative relationship between economic variables, in the context of cross-sectional data. There will be instruction on data management and the use of the statistical and regression tools within Excel.
Corporate Finance
This module will examine the concepts and principles underlying key financial decisions and provide an introduction to corporate finance. Topics will include: Present value and the opportunity cost of capital; Net present value and alternative methods of investment appraisal; Project analysis; Financial planning and analysing financial performance; Investment risk and return, and portfolio theory.
Law for Business
This module will introduce the legal system of England and Wales, providing a framework to study ‘What is Law’. It will provide an outline of the essential differences between common law and civil law systems. It will also introduce Employment Law, and the understanding of Contracts of Employment and elements of dismissal and Redundancy.
Personal Banking and Finance
The module will introduce the main elements of personal financial management and retail banking. The module is focused on both developing key skills in managing personal finances as well as assisting an individual to navigate decision making at a time where individuals face increasing responsibility for their financial actions.
Investment and Portfolio Management
This module will provide a solid grounding in the theory and practice relating to the principal asset classes. The module will cover aspects such as: Investors and investment objectives; Investment management process; Investment risk and return; Portfolio theory; Capital Asset Pricing Model; Valuation (time value of money).
Year 3 Compulsory Modules
Financial Technology
The term Financial Technology (FinTech) brings together a very diverse range of innovations in financial services and related technology. This module aims to provide students with a firm conceptual basis and to provide a broad overview of current developments and issues around financial technology in banking, investment, insurance, financial regulation and cyber risk in finance.
Merger and Acquisition
This module will introduce the theoretical and institutional aspects of Merger and Acquisition. It will provide a theoretical basis for an empirical analysis of governance issues concerned with Merger and Acquisition incentives and outcomes, and the reciprocal relation between Merger and Acquisition incentives and its constituencies.
International Banking
This module identifies key relationships between financial development and economic growth; the role of the state and politics in banking; what international banking is its evolution through time. With globalisation shaping how international banks behave and operate, we assess how banks decide which markets to enter, how they reach their clients, and how they perform. Given repeated incidence of market failures, we critically evaluate financial crises and changes to the regulatory architecture that is expected to reduce the future probability of crises.
Behavioural Finance
This module provides an in-depth coverage of Behavioural Finance, which replaces the "rationality" assumption with behavioural biases that have been documented by psychologists. This approach will be applied to explain puzzles in asset pricing and corporate finance, and to underpin practical applications.
Bank Management
This module examines the main theoretical and practical issues concerning banking business. In particular, the module covers the theory of the banking firm by considering all aspects of the bank’s balance sheet in addition to regulation, structural and environmental issues that affect the bank’s strategic decision-making and risk behaviour.
Corporate Governance
Module information available soon.
Market Risk Analytics
This module will provide an introduction to the key concepts of market risk analysis and financial engineering. It examines derivatives such as options, swaps, and securitization. The module will look at how derivatives can be used for speculative, hedging, and arbitrage strategies, how derivatives are priced, and how they can be used to manage risk.
Course content is for guidance purposes only and may be subject to change.
