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Start your Masters in the City of London

Postgraduate

MSc in Banking & Finance, full-time

Are you looking to move into a more senior position or to stand out from the crowd? Our masters in Banking & Finance can help you become a more successful financial services leader.

Apply Now

Female student writing in a classroom

About the degree programme

We’ve designed our masters degree programme to help you stand out from your peers.

At our campus in the heart of the City of London, you can learn from the experts. Everyone in our faculty has industry experience, and we regularly host events on our premises.

Our relationship with banking and finance institutions gives us – and our students – the networking edge. With us, you will be able to make valuable contacts for your future.

Our masters degree programme will also give you the strategic management skills and the analytical tools you need to evaluate contemporary industry issues.

The modules in this masters degree programme focus on:

  • risk management
  • corporate finance
  • economics
  • and leadership in the financial services sector.

But you will also be able to select an option module to tailor your learning to your ambition and interests.

Chartered status

Graduating with a  Masters in Banking & Finance from us will give you automatic chartered status – a mark of senior standing in the banking and finance industries.

Chartered status shows employers, customers and regulators that you have reached the highest level of professional education in your field. It demonstrates your commitment, raises your profile and improves your career prospects.

After graduation, you can maintain your chartered status by completing a programme of continuing professional development with us every year. Chartered professionals commit to ongoing professional development and the highest standards of conduct and ethics.

Enquire about the programme


Summer School

Not sure if a masters programme will be right for you? Why not take part in our Pre-masters programmes designed to introduce you to this dynamic sector, allow you to meet industry professionals and help you decide whether a masters is what you're looking for.

Find out more 

“Our faculty is connected to industry participants. Our career service knows what this industry wants. Our industry focus makes us truly unique in the world of banking and finance.”

Dr Peter Hahn
Dean and Henry Grunfeld Professor of Banking

Modules

Our masters degree programme runs over one academic year, with modules taught over three terms.

Stage 1: PGCert in Banking & Finance

Financial markets, institutions and instruments

  • The competitive landscape facing the financial services industry
  • How competition affects key aspects of the sector, such as the impact of new business models on the principles and structures of lending
  • How to develop a critical analysis of the structures and strategies of the industry
  • Understanding global banking businesses and market structures
  • Our framework for international comparison and the challenges facing the financial services sector
  • How strategic forces affect the operational structures of banking institutions
  • The industry's relationship to its key customer segments

Corporate finance

  • How to manage firms to maximise shareholder wealth
  • The strategic and financial decisions financial managers make, and their links to firm value
  • How to select investment projects
  • How to finance firms
  • When and how to reward shareholders through dividend payments
  • Advanced strategic management, including mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring
  • Technical points such as event studies, real options, portfolio theory, and company valuation

Bank risk management and regulation

  • Introduction to internal and external influence on risk taking and execution of business
  • How risk taking and reward are different for institutions and society
  • How regulation protects the interests of society
  • Internal and market controls on risk and regulation frameworks

Stage 2: PGDip in Banking & Finance

Economics

  • The economic knowledge and analytical skills you need to contribute to the strategic thinking and planning of a business unit
  • The microeconomics of a business in the context of its immediate industry and region
  • The macroeconomics of the wider environment
    The economic environment from the perspective of financial institutions and their stakeholders
  • Financial and business cycles
  • A critical approach to interpreting key economic performance statistics and indicators

Leadership in financial services

  • Recognising the roles of people as individuals and in teams and organisations
  • Relationships with the human resources (HR) function
  • Interactions with external parties
  • Understanding what organisations do to manage, develop, and support their staff
  • Leading and managing people and understanding others’ perspectives, especially that of the HR department or its equivalent

Stage 3: MSc in Banking & Finance

Research methods and dissertation (10,000 words)

The foundations of research methods in business including:

 

  • defining the research question
  • understanding different theoretical perspectives
  • carrying out a literature review 
  • identifying sources of primary and secondary data
  • collecting and analysing data

 

The dissertation offers the ultimate opportunity to engage with potential employers and build industry contacts as research is undertaken and analysed. Students are encouraged to start considering their research subject as soon as they begin their studies.

Option modules

Commercial and corporate banking

  • The financial needs and solutions of small business customers – from a sole trader to a medium-sized enterprise
  • Trade finance and instruments to manage exchange rate fluctuations for small importers and exporters
  • Debt factoring or leasing products
  • The different kinds of derivatives
  • The relationship between banks and their small and medium enterprise customers
  • The corporate market including financing and relationship management issues from a global banking perspective

Investment management

  • Theories to support modern investment and risk-management techniques, as well as their application in practice
  • The rapid and deep changes in the investment industry over the last three decades
  • New trading strategies resulting from developments in IT and communication
    The pricing and trading of financial assets – equity, debt, and derivatives – using concepts of valuation and return as well as fundamental and technical analysis
  • Risks and risk-assessment methods, particularly the analysis of yield spreads, interest-rate risk, and currency risk.

Careers and employability

The MSc Careers and Employability Training programme is built into your timetable and will cover:

  • career development and planning
  • putting your CV together and writing a cover letter
  • building your personal branding and networking
  • LinkedIn career development
  • a market overview of financial services and banking careers
  • careers in consulting
  • informational interviewing
  • how to work with search firms
  • assessment centre training
  • mock interviews
  • building career resilience

We also have a dedicated Careers and Employability Service at our Lovat Lane campus who offer:

  • one-to-one support to all our students
  • individual career coaching
  • weekly job alerts
  • campus employer events
  • mentoring programmes
  • opportunities for professional development and employment in the UK and abroad


As a student of The London Institute of Banking & Finance, you will also have access to all our professional networking events.

Studying and assessment

We teach all these modules through a combination of classroom presentation, group activities and real-time tutorials.

To assess your work and your progress, we will ask you to carry out a range of tasks that will be similar to what you'd expect to be doing in a workplace. These could be based on reports, projects, case studies, essays, closed-book exams and research proposals.

Support and guidance

Our Student Centre will be able to help you with pastoral matters, academic issues, career guidance and student-engagement activities. Our academics are easily accessible for personal tutor meetings and can provide further support and advice on any aspect of your studies.

Mentoring

We offer all our students access to our e-Mentoring platform. Our 'future self-mentors’ are equipped to support you with study skills, motivation and time management. As our mentors are already working in the financial services industry, they can also provide advice and guidance on career development and finding employment opportunities. 

Summer internships

Many banks and financial services organisations offer student internships over the summer.

If you are interested in applying for one of these opportunities, our Careers and Employability Service can give you more information and help you with your application.


Connect with the Careers and Employability team

business services

Entry requirements

We are happy to consider applications from one of the three routes below:

  • Normally a relevant 2:1 Honours Degree (or equivalent) from a recognised institution
  • Normally a 2:1 Honours Degree (or equivalent) from a recognised institution and demonstration of relevant professional experience within financial services
  • The London Institute of Banking & Finance Chartered Associateship (through the ‘banking qualification route’) and demonstration of relevant professional experience within financial services
We also welcome applications from anyone who can demonstrate relevant professional experience within the financial services sector.


Please note, if you do not meet all our requirements, we may ask you to attend an interview, to submit a piece of written work – or both of these – with your application.

Frequently Asked Questions

In order to be eligible for the MSc programme, applicants normally hold an undergraduate honours degree (2:1 classification) in a relevant subject, or have completed the Chartered Associateship (‘qualification’ route) with us.

If you are unsure about your eligibility for the course, please get in contact with us to discuss your application in further detail at masters@libf.ac.uk.

No. We are happy to discuss and agree a payment plan with each applicant on a case-by-case basis and many of our students pay their fee via instalments. However, we do normally ask to receive a partial payment towards the course fee before the beginning of the programme.

We are happy to consider potential exemptions against modules within the Masters programme. In order to take such discussions further, we would normally ask, as an initial step, for you to provide us with details of previous module(s) studied, usually in the form of a syllabus or module specification.

Situated near Monument, in the heart of London’s financial district, our Lovat Lane campus has a lot to offer. 

Find out more

Contact us

For advice and more information about the programme please contact the Postgraduate team or call +44 (0) 207 444 7131.


Enquire about the programme

Graduation ceremony