Quantitative Finance (QF) – (M.Sc.)

The 2nd cycle degree programme in Quantitative Finance provides graduates with specific technical and quantitative know-how applied to financial market modelling, allowing them to work in finance professions (option pricer, asset manager, risk manager), also in an international context.

The programme is therefore oriented to specialising students specifically in mathematical, statistical and computing techniques applied to financial markets and the full command of the tools required to:

i) assess financial activities relating to commodity pricing;

ii) measure the risk of financial products and investment strategies and develop risk coverage techniques using both static and dynamic optimisation tools; iii) design quantitative tools for portfolio management which are able to combine statistical information from historical sources and implicit information in the current assessment of financial products;

iv) design quantitative procedures for assessment, replication and coverage of life and liability insurance products, using cutting-edge statistical techniques such as the extreme value theory.

For this purpose, the study programme is structured to:

• provide the necessary complementary mathematical, statistical and economic skills;
• further study quantitative methods for financial applications;
• further study one of the following areas: pricing, risk management, asset management, insurance.

The study programme therefore includes a large number of course units in mathematical subjects, distinguishing itself from other 2nd cycle financial degree programmes, and by the inter-disciplinary merger of contents referring to other scientific-disciplinary fields: Mathematical Methods for Economics and Actuarial and Financial Sciences, Statistics, Econometrics, Computing and Business Finance, the latter sector being considered the context in which all quantitative knowledge is applied.

Students are also offered the chance to carry out an internship in a brokering or consulting firm. The study programme is completed with the production of an original written dissertation. The dissertation is produced under the guidance of a supervising professor and both its topic and selection of methods are used to assess the student's autonomous skills in identifying a problem and proposing a rigorous, applicable solution.

The programme also has a strong international profile.