Program Overview

Advanced Investment Analysis
Michael Frömmel
This course focuses mainly on asset allocation techniques and asset pricing models. Both the empirical testing of theoretical models and the empirical modelling of financial time series are discussed. The goal is to make the students acquainted with the academic literature in these fields and to learn them how to apply the methods introduced in these papers in real-world problem solving.

Economics of Financial Markets
William De Vijlder
The objective is to analyse the effects of changes in the macroeconomic environment on financial markets. More specifically, the course investigates the multiple relationships between various financial markets (stocks, bonds, corporate securities, exchange rates, commodities, emerging markets) and the evolution of economic variables such as economic growth, inflation, interest rates, government budget, balance of payments, central bank policy. The aim is to assess the implications of these interactions for investment decisions. The implications for the valuation of securities and their risk characteristics are also investigated. During the course frequent reference is made to current developments and topical issues. Students will be asked to manage a securities portfolio, in order to translate theory to practice.

Financial Econometrics
Gerdie Everaert
The aim of the course is to acquaint the students with modern econometric techniques commonly employed in the financial literature. The most important topics covered are: (i) autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models and the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator, (ii) vector autoregressive (VAR) models, (iii) unit root and cointegration tests, (iv) endogeneity, instrumental variables and the generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator and (v) Monte Carlo simulation and bootstrapping. These techniques are illustrated using applications from the financial literature, i.e. (i) testing market efficiency and the predictability of asset returns, (ii) modelling volatility (GARCH) and (iii) testing the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM).

Financial Risk Management
Frank De Jonghe
In this course, the pricing and the use of derivative products is discussed. Especially the quantitative techniques used for pricing and risk management will be extensively covered. Using recent empirical literature also the pitfalls of established methods will be illustrated.

International Banking and Financial Markets
Koen Schoors
The aim of this course is to give students an understanding of the dominant evolutions in the fields of international banking, international financial flows, and the determinants of the growth of financial centres. Special attention will be given to Central and Eastern Europe.

Management of Financial Institutions
Rudi Vander Vennet
The students should acquire a thorough understanding of the main issues and the complex interactions in the management of modern financial services firms (FSFs). By the end of the course the students should have the ability to (1) identify important trends within the changing competitive environment of FSFs, (2) articulate and understand strategic issues in financial intermediation, (3) master up-to-date analytical and quantitative tools to tackle the key decisions in FSFs, (4) propose and justify scientifically accurate and workable solutions for real-world problems, (5) confront evidence obtained in cases or research with the acquired body of theoretical and empirical knowledge in the field, and (6) critically assess competing paradigms of FSF analysis.

Microeconomics of Banking and Financial Markets
Koen Schoors
This course focuses on the microeconomic foundations of the banking firm. In contrast with traditional courses on banking (risk management, monetary and macro-economic issues), the emphasis is on the structural characteristics of the banking firm itself and within the context of the economy. Moreover, the banking firm will not be modeled as a passive agent within the economy but rather treated as an active economic player. That is: Why do banks exist? How are they organized optimally? What are their weaknesses and how can we overcome these weaknesses? Is regulation necessary? When is public intervention justified? The topics covered are of interest to both current/future practitioners and research oriented students. The course will mainly apply microeconomic theory: decision theory under uncertainty, game theory, and principal-agent theory are necessary prerequisites.

Monetary Economics
Gert Peersman and Frank Smets
Give the students a thorough understanding of the way monetary policy is conducted and of the transmission of monetary policy signals to the rest of the economy. Special attention is devoted to the monetary policy strategy of the ECB.

Strategy and Organisation of Financial Institutions
Herman Verwilst
The aim of the course is to make students understand the complex interactions in the organisation of financial services firms, their strategy formulation and the implmentation of strategic plans.

Topics in Advanced Corporate Finance
Sophie Manigart
This course wants to give the students a thorough understanding of various corporate finance decisions that are of particular interest to external fund providers. In other words, corporate finance decisions will be studied not from the point of view of the company, but with a focus on the external sources of funding : implications for stockholders, bondholders, banks. The emphasis is on funding provided through financial markets.
The course consists of three parts: (1) theoretical concepts and empirical studies on a selected number of corporate finance topics are discussed in class; (2) students write and present a paper that includes an original empirical analysis.

The program aims at training and educating students who are able to recognise and analyse problems of a financial-economic nature, based on the current state of the scientific literature. They have to be able to propose and develop creative scientific solutions to these financial-economic problems. In addition, the students have to be able to report effectively on their results, both orally and in writing.

Topics in Empirical Research in Finance
Rudi Vander Vennet  and Olivier De Jonghe
This course wants to expose the students to new developments in the empirical literature in the field of banking and finance. In addition, they will be exposed to quantitative financial methods using the software package MATLAB.
Students should be able to choose between the different methodologies and techniques in order to solve financial problems. They also have to be able to realize these solutions and to report about them, both orally and in written.

Thesis (Graduation Project)
During the last two months of the academic year (May and June) students will be given the opportunity to work in small teams on their thesis in an financial institution. This will allow them to demonstrate their capacity to analyse a real-world situations in scientifically accurate way using the modelling techniques covered in the Master courses. Often, they will be required to offer solutions to actual problems and to assess potential policy implications of such solutions. The thesis subjects are usually suggested by financial institutions or other companies. A team consisting of faculty members and supervisors of the company will supervise the students while working on the thesis. The findings will be presented by the end of June to the supervising team.