MSc Financial Risk Management Curriculum
The programme consists of 6 core modules, alongside 9 elective modules. Students will choose 25 ECTS of elective modules in Hilary Term. The final Trinity term is dedicated to your dissertation. Assessment is through a blend of written examinations and continuous coursework.
| Module | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Credit Risk | 5 |
| Market Risk Measurement & Modelling | 5 |
| Operational Risk | 5 |
| Applications in Risk Management | 10 |
| Corporate Finance | 5 |
| Financial Econometrics | 5 |
| Dissertation | 30 |
Taught modules normally take place across Michaelmas and Hilary terms, with the final Trinity term dedicated to the dissertation or group consultancy project.
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September-December Michaelmas Term |
January-April Hilary Term |
May-August Trinity Term |
| Core |
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| Electives |
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Note: Modules offered each academic year are subject to change. The modules listed above and below are the modules and timetables for 2026/27.
Module Descriptions
Credit Risk (5 ECTS)
Examine how credit risk arises, how financial institutions measure it and why poor management can destabilise the wider economy. Compare fundamental credit analysis with market-based indicators such as bond prices, CDS spreads and Moody's KMV. You will explore exposure, default probability, expected loss, governance, regulation and IFRS 9 modelling in a changing global risk environment.
How this fits your MSc journey: Develop a core enterprise-risk capability in one of the most significant exposures faced by modern financial institutions.
Learning outcomes:
- Identify credit-risk sources: Recognise the transactions and financial relationships in which credit risk arises.
- Apply governance principles: Assess how major institutions organise and oversee credit-risk management.
- Measure exposure and loss: Calculate exposure, probability of default and expected loss.
- Use credit models: Evaluate current modelling approaches and the assumptions behind them.
- Integrate analysis methods: Compare fundamental analysis with market measures such as bond and CDS pricing.
- Navigate regulation and accounting: Interpret regulatory safeguards, IFRS 9 principles and their practical implementation.
Market Risk Measurement & Modelling (5 ECTS)
Learn how financial institutions quantify, forecast and manage market risk. Explore price sensitivities, Value at Risk, Expected Shortfall and modern portfolio theory while considering the practical challenges faced by banks, fund managers and pension funds. Alongside the finance theory, you will build introductory Python skills and apply them to real market-risk modelling problems.
How this fits your MSc journey: Combine quantitative finance with practical coding to prepare for technical roles in risk measurement, validation and portfolio analytics.
Learning outcomes:
- Measure market risk: Use price sensitivities, Value at Risk and Expected Shortfall to assess exposure.
- Apply portfolio theory: Explain the relationship between risk,return and diversification.
- Estimate Value at Risk: Compare variance-covariance, historical-simulation and Monte Carlo methods.
- Model correlated risks: Use Cholesky decomposition to generate correlated random variables for simulation.
- Back-test risk models: Assess the reliability and performance of market-risk estimates.
- Model with Python: Apply introductory coding techniques to practical financial-risk problems.
Operational Risk (5 ECTS)
Protect enterprise value by building operational-risk systems that work in practice. Learn how to design policies and frameworks, align them with risk culture and appetite, and apply best-practice controls across financial services and the wider economy. Interactive cases show how organisations identify, categorise, measure and respond to operational threats.
How this fits your MSc journey: Build practical enterprise-risk skills for governance, regulation, resilience and control roles across multiple sectors.
Learning outcomes:
- Design risk frameworks: Develop operational-risk policies and implement effective management practices.
- Embed risk culture: Align operational-risk monitoring with organisational appetite and tolerance.
- Categorise operational threats: Create clear risk taxonomies suited to the organisation and its activities.
- Apply control tools: Use risk and control self-assessments, keyindicators and operational-risk metrics.
- Use loss-event data: Draw insight from internal and external operational-loss information.
- Quantify capital requirements: Apply approaches for measuring regulatory and economic capital.
- Stress-test exposures: Compare scenario analysis and stress-testing methods,outputs and limitations.
Applications in Risk Management (5 ECTS)
Experience risk management beyond the classroom through guest lectures, company visits and live projects. Explore emerging challenges such as ESG, cybersecurity and financial crime with leading researchers, visiting academics and industry practitioners. This experience-led module connects frontier research with current organisational practice and develops the judgement needed to navigate complex financial systems.
How this fits your MSc journey: Integrate learning from across the MSc with real-world risk challenges while strengthening professional confidence, collaboration and industry awareness.
Learning outcomes:
- Analyse emerging risks: Evaluate ESG, cybersecurity and financial-crime threats in real organisational contexts.
- Reflect on expert insight: Use practitioner and academic perspectives to deepen understanding of current risk practice.
- Connect theory with practice: Apply core risk-management knowledge to company visits, cases and live projects.
- Collaborate on risk challenges: Work effectively in teams to investigate complex problems and develop recommendations.
- Communicate professionally: Present clear findings through reflective writing and group project outputs.
- Engage with the risk community: Interact with industry experts and researchers with curiosity, preparation and professional judgement.
Corporate Finance (5 ECTS)
Develop a strong foundation in the core principles of financial management and learn how finance drives strategic decision-making in organisations. Gain practical skills in investment appraisal, risk-return analysis, and value creation, while engaging with both theoretical frameworks and real-world financial practices.
How this fits your MSc journey: Equips you with essential financial literacy and decision-making skills that support leadership, strategy, and value creation across all areas of business.
Learning outcomes:
- Understand financial management fundamentals: Grasp the critical role of finance in organisational success and sustainability.
- Evaluate investment decisions: Apply key techniques to assess capital investments and guide financial strategy.
- Manage risk and return: Explore the balance between risk and return in corporate decision-making.
- Navigate financial markets: Understand stock market behaviour through alternative investment theories.
- Create corporate value: Examine how firms generate and maximise value in competitive environments.
Financial Econometrics (5 ECTS)
Use econometric methods to investigate financial data and research questions. Combine theory with practical software work as you explore the classical regression model, functional form, time series, choice models and panel data. You will learn to generate tests, diagnose model violations and interpret the econometric results reported by software and academic research.
How this fits your MSc journey: Strengthen the quantitative, technological and research capabilities needed to analyse evidence and solve complex financial problems.
Learning outcomes:
- Evaluate econometric models: Assess the classical model, functional-formchoices and potential model violations.
- Generate econometric tests: Apply appropriate procedures across classical, time-series and panel-data models.
- Interpret software output: Explain the meaning and implications of econometric estimates and diagnostics.
- Read financial research critically: Analyse econometric evidence presented in academic journal articles.
- Use econometrics in research: Design evidence-based approaches to financial questions and communicate the findings.
Advanced Data Analysis (5 ECTS)
Turn complex datasets into powerful insights that drive strategic decisions. Learn cutting-edge econometric methods with a focus on panel data, blending cross-sectional and time series approaches for deeper, more accurate analysis. Gain the skills to apply statistical theory to real-world financial and economic challenges using industry-standard tools like STATA.
How this fits your MSc journey:
Provides advanced data analysis skills essential for empirical research, high-impact decision-making and your dissertation work.
Learning outcomes:
- Master econometric techniques: Apply advanced methods to analyse panel and cross-sectional data.
- Use professional software: Build competence in STATA or other econometric tools for applied analysis.
- Interpret complex outputs: Draw meaningful conclusions from financial and economic data.
- Evaluate model performance: Compare parametric, semi-parametric and non-parametric approaches for realistic problem-solving.
- Link analysis to decisions: Translate data-driven findings into actionable economic and financial strategies.
Energy Finance & Trading (5 ECTS)
Navigate the financial dynamics of global energy markets. Map the energy value chain and its participants, evaluate energy companies and examine how climate-related challenges affect their valuations. You will also explore energy derivatives, market views, trading strategies and hedging approaches in a sector shaped by transition, innovation and volatility.
How this fits your MSc journey: Develop sector-specific expertise that combines corporate valuation, commodity-market insight and practical financial-risk management.
Learning outcomes:
- Map the energy value chain: Explain the roles of producers, traders, utilities, consumers and other market participants.
- Value energy companies: Critically evaluate pricing methods and the impact of climate and market challenges.
- Address sector challenges: Identify financial and strategic risks and propose workable responses.
- Design trading strategies: Formulate positions that express informed views on energy markets.
- Recommend risk controls: Develop hedging and risk-management approaches for energy exposure.
Financial Markets & Institutions (5 ECTS)
Understand how financial markets, banks and central banks support economic activity and influence financial stability. Explore the structure of the financial system, analyse major crises and trace how shocks spread into the real economy. By evaluating policy responses and regulatory reforms, you will learn to identify systemic vulnerabilities and judge whether financial safeguards are fit for purpose.
How this fits your MSc journey: Build the financial-system knowledge needed to understand where risk originates, how it spreads and how institutions and regulators respond.
Learning outcomes:
- Understand financial systems: Explain how markets and institutions support economic activity.
- Assess crisis-management tools: Evaluate the policies and mechanisms used to manage financial risks and shocks.
- Analyse systemic failures: Identify the causes, transmission channels and consequences of major financial crises.
- Evaluate regulatory reform: Judge how effectively financial rules promote stability and reduce future vulnerabilities.
- Interpret central banking: Assess how central-bank functions influence markets, stability and economic performance.
FinTech in Banking, Insurance & Asset Management (5 ECTS)
Create the future of finance with hands-on experience in FinTech innovation. From AI-powered models to crypto and robo-advisors, you’ll design, build and pitch products that respond to real market needs within the regulatory landscape.
How this fits your MSc journey: Builds practical innovation skills for careers at the intersection of finance, technology and strategy.
Learning outcomes:
- Spot future trends: Track how FinTech transforms banking, insurance and asset management.
- Design user-first solutions: Wireframe products that blend finance expertise with customer needs.
- Harness AI tools: Use ML and GenAI to build intelligent financial applications.
- Research and validate: Align product design with market insights and regulatory demands.
- Pitch with impact: Present FinTech solutions that demonstrate commercial value and industry relevance.
Managing Financial Risk in Start-ups & Scale-ups (5 ECTS)
Understand the financial dynamics and risk landscape unique to entrepreneurial ventures. This module equips students with a practical and theoretical understanding of financial risk in the context of start-ups and scale-ups. It explores the full entrepreneurial lifecycle, from ideation and early-stage survival to growth and exit, through the lens of finance and stakeholder interests. Students will engage with core concepts of venture finance, ESG-aligned investment, regulatory frameworks, and the challenges of managing uncertainty in high-growth environments.
How this fits your MSc journey:
Provides essential tools and insights for assessing and managing financial risk in entrepreneurial ventures, supporting careers in venture finance, start-up advisory, entrepreneurship, policy-making, and innovation strategy.
Learning outcomes:
- Analyse venture finance instruments: Compare and contrast key forms of funding available to start-ups and scale-ups, including debt, equity, business angel investment, venture capital, and corporate venture capital.
- Diagnose entrepreneurial risk: Identify financial and strategic risks across different stages of the venture lifecycle and evaluate their implications for entrepreneurs and investors.
- Design risk mitigation strategies: Develop practical risk management approaches that align financial goals with stakeholder interests, including ESG and long-term stewardship objectives.
- Understand stakeholder perspectives: Evaluate how various stakeholders, founders, employees, investors, regulators, and policymakers—perceive and manage financial risk in entrepreneurial settings.
- Assess regulatory influences: Examine how legal, regulatory, and institutional environments affect venture valuation, funding strategies, fiduciary responsibilities, and exit opportunities.
- Bridge theory and practice: Apply scientific theory and real-world case analysis to understand the balance between negotiation, compliance, and collaborative finance in high-growth start-ups.
Sustainable Finance & Investment Management (10 ECTS)
Harness the power of finance to drive real-world change. Explore how sustainable investing, ESG principles and impact strategies can deliver competitive returns while supporting the transition to Net Zero by 2050. Learn to navigate shifting regulations, emerging technologies and market forces to design portfolios that balance risk, return and purpose.
How this fits your MSc journey:
Builds the expertise to integrate sustainability into investment decisions, preparing you to lead in a finance sector where ESG is a core performance driver.
Learning outcomes:
- Master ESG investing principles: Apply best practice methods to create sustainable, climate-conscious portfolios.
- Build multi-asset portfolios: Use portfolio management foundations to allocate across equities, bonds and alternative investments.
- Address real-world challenges: Tackle the complexities investors face when balancing long-term returns with ESG mandates.
- Design robust wealth strategies: Develop tailored approaches for institutional and individual clients across economic cycles.
- Mitigate investment risks: Identify and minimise execution risks while aligning strategies with climate and sustainability goals.
Trading Psychology & Behavioural Analysis (5 ECTS)
Trade in real time and test your instincts under pressure. Learn how market psychology, behavioural biases and economic shifts drive asset prices and influence professional decision-making. Build confidence in managing risk and executing strategies in volatile conditions.
How this fits your MSc journey: Equips you with practical trading skills and behavioural insight essential for roles in asset management, trading and portfolio strategy.
Learning outcomes:
- Understand institutional dynamics: Compare how buy- and sell-side players approach decision-making.
- Decode market behaviour: Analyse the psychological forces behind price movements.
- Discover your trading style: Assess your strengths through simulation and feedback.
- Manage risk effectively: Apply strategies to handle volatility and liquidity stress.
- Build live strategies: Develop and test trading plans using macro and technical analysis.
Derivatives (5 ECTS)
Learn how derivatives allow companies and investors to reshape exposure to interest rates, currencies, equities, commodities, inflation and other market risks. Examine forwards, futures, options and swaps, how they are valued and how they support hedging or speculative strategies. Real market cases and developments in machine learning connect pricing theory with contemporary practice.
How this fits your MSc journey: Develop the derivative-valuation and risk-management capabilities that complement investment theory, fixed income, treasury and alternative investments.
Learning outcomes:
- Understand derivative markets: Explain the purpose, structure and analytics of the principal derivative instruments.
- Value derivatives: Price forwards, futures, options, swaps and related contracts.
- Design risk strategies: Assess how derivatives can support hedging and informed speculative positions.
- Compare specialised products: Evaluate index and currency options, futures options, exotic options and other structures.
- Learn from market events: Critically analyse historical derivative cases and apply the lessons to current risk decisions.
Treasury Management (5 ECTS)
Understand how treasury supports liquidity, resilience and corporate value. Explore cash and working-capital management, forecasting, financial and operational risk, treasury policy, funding and capital-structure decisions. You will also examine credit ratings and how market, regulatory and organisational factors influence access to capital and the cost of debt.
How this fits your MSc journey: Apply finance theory to the day-to-day management of liquidity, funding, risk and investor relationships across different organisations.
Learning outcomes:
- Understand treasury's role: Explain how treasury operates within corporate finance across different organisational structures.
- Develop treasury policy: Apply sound principles and practices while aligning policy with corporate objectives.
- Manage cash and working capital: Plan liquidity, prepare cash-flow forecasts and identify opportunities for optimisation.
- Evaluate treasury risks: Assessfinancial-market, operational, legal, regulatory, counter party and liquidity exposures.
- Optimise capital structure: Compare debt and equity choices and understand their effect on funding and investor relations.
- Assess credit ratings: Explain rating processes and evaluate the factors that influence borrowing costs and access to capital.
Dissertation (30 ECTS)
Undertake an independent research project focused on a contemporary issue in finance or financial risk management. You will identify a focused research question, critically evaluate the relevant literature, select and apply an appropriate methodology, and present evidence-based findings. The dissertation allows you to integrate the theories, analytical techniques and practical skills developed throughout the programme while building specialist expertise in an area aligned with your interests and career ambitions.
How this fits your MSc journey: Bring together your learning from across the MSc Financial Risk Management and demonstrate your ability to investigate a complex financial issue independently, apply rigorous research methods and communicate your findings to academic and professional audiences.
Learning outcomes:
- Evaluate relevant research: Critically analyse and synthesise the literature surrounding a focused research question.
- Explain financial theory: Demonstrate a clear understanding of the theoretical foundations underpinning the chosen topic.
- Apply appropriate methods: Select, justify and use suitable statistical, numerical, theoretical or qualitative research techniques.
- Analyse evidence rigorously: Interpret findings and develop conclusions that follow logically from the analysis.