Financial Mathematics MSc

Course overview

This degree provides you with knowledge of advanced finance concepts, while developing your quantitative, mathematical and research skills.

Taught by experienced academics based in both Leeds University Business School and the School of Mathematics, you’ll cover key topics including financial derivative pricing, discrete and continuous time models, risk management, statistical and machine learning and portfolio optimisation.

You’ll be equipped with a rare combination of mathematical and business finance knowledge, a skillset highly sought after in the financial sector by banks and investment companies.

This course is ideal if you’ve previously studied mathematics or statistics, finance, economics, physics or computing, and are interested in applying your skills to financial markets. It’s also excellent preparation if you’re interested in pursuing further academic research.

Course Highlights

• This course is shaped by the latest knowledge and critical thinking through the work of our advanced specialist research units, including the Centre for Advanced Studies in Finance, the International Banking Institute, the Credit Management Research Centre, and the Financial Mathematics group.

• Benefit from our strong relationships with finance, credit and accounting professions, connecting you to the latest practitioner and policy developments.

• You’ll have access to our two, on-campus trading rooms, and the world’s top financial databases, such as Bloomberg, WRDS, CSMAR, Refinitiv Eikon and Datastream.

• Guest lectures from high-profile, industry speakers or regulatory bodies share current trends and valuable real-world insight. Recent speakers have included the Chief Risk Officer from the Royal Bank of Canada, and the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

• On all Masters courses at Leeds University Business School you’ll have an opportunity to apply for a place on a week-long international study tour which will include company visits, guest lectures and networking events, as well as an opportunity to visit local places of interest. Previous study tours have included visits to Berlin, Frankfurt, Milan and Zurich.

This course is jointly taught by Leeds University Business School and the School of Mathematics.

Find out more about studying your Masters at Leeds University Business School.

Applying

Entry requirements

A bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) in a related subject such as finance, economics, mathematics, physics, computing or engineering.

International qualifications

We accept a range of international equivalent qualifications.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Business (6 weeks) and Language for Business (10 weeks).

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional and our 10 week online pre-sessional.

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.

Career opportunities

From day one, we encourage you to think beyond your time at Leeds and reflect on a meaningful career. You have a wide range of opportunities open to you as a Financial Mathematics graduate, including quantitative analysis, risk management, investment banking, financial consultancy, insurance, accounting and academia.

Previous graduates have gone on to secure employment with a range of organisations, including Allianz (London), AstraZeneca, Barclays, CITIC Group, Deloitte, Gaz de France, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the UK Government Actuary’s Department.