Financial Economics

The Financial Economics major at NHH prepares you for a wide range of outstanding career opportunities within financial services, consulting and auditing.

The course portfolio is designed and taught by NHH’s internationally recognised faculty in finance and related areas. Their academic research and industry knowledge ensure that the courses are relevant and of high quality. Many of the courses are case-based and cutting edge.

The courses combine a rigorous theoretical approach with relevant applications. Students will develop a deep understanding of the theoretical framework and empirical evidence in finance.

You will learn to analyse real-life problems related to financial markets and financial decision-making in firms, and to apply principles at the research frontier.

Upon completion of the programme, you will possess skills for performing investment analysis and valuation, evaluating portfolio management strategies and techniques, and making corporate finance decisions and risk management considerations.

  • Subject areas

    Subject areas

    To ensure in-depth knowledge and skills vital for a chosen career path, you can tailor the major to suit your own interests and choose to specialize in areas ranging from corporate finance, capital markets or quantitative finance/Fintech:

    • Corporate Finance: prepares students for careers in investment banking, M&A advisory, security analysis, commercial banking, private equity, management consulting, and corporate positions. Students gain an understanding of how corporate financial decisions affect operations and the effect of capital budgeting and business restructuring decisions for the firm's choice of funding. Topics include corporate valuation, securities issuance, capital structure, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, banking, and private equity.

    • Capital Markets: prepares students for careers in portfolio management, risk management, treasury functions, and securities sales and trading. The courses deal with the pricing of financial securities, portfolio management, behavioral finance, and investor psychology. They also cover the interaction between financial markets and macroeconomics, including how financial markets are both a source of information and a tool for financial regulation and economic policies.

    • Quantitative Finance and Fintech: prepares students for careers as specialists in quantitative-oriented areas such as asset management, risk management, and financial product development, as well as financial regulation. The rapid technological development has increased the demand for candidates with a deep understanding of financial theory combined with strong quantitative skills. Companies have large amounts of data and need employees who can analyze this data, for example using machine learning, to make strategic decisions. This specialization also offers insights on implications of structural changes and opportunities caused by digitalization and new financial regulation.

     

  • Learning outcome

    Learning outcome

    Upon successful completion of the major, the candidate shall:

    Knowledge

    K1: have extensive, updated knowledge of relevant theories within finance, their application and empirical basis - as well as having special expertise in at least two of the three main themes of the financial markets, corporate finance and macroeconomics.

    K2: have solid competence in methods of empirical analysis in finance.

    K3: have a broad understanding of the issues that characterise today's national and international financial markets.

    Skills

    S1:be analytically strong with a proven ability to both understand and carry out a broad set of calculations.

    S2: be able to update skills on their own throughout their career.

    S3: be independent, reflective and mature in their work.

    General competence

    G1: be able to utilise available information and data with necessary critical understanding of sources

    G2: have the ability to work in teams and to communicate and present professional analyses and issues to both specialists and a wider audience.

    G3: have solid competence on ethical issues and social responsibility in general - and in relation to the financial market in particular.

  • Structure

    Structure

    The Financial Economics major consists of 45 ECTS courses and 30 ECTS for a master thesis. Students are recommended to take courses the three first semesters and work on the master thesis in the last semester. The general structure of the coursework is as follows:

    Course requirements

    • Two core courses: 
      • FIE400 Investments
      • FIE402 Corporate Finance
    • One empirical methods course: 
      • FIE401 Financial Econometrics, or
      • ECN402 Econometric Techniques
    • Three more elective courses within the finance major

    The core courses in the major provide a foundation for the elective courses in finance. You are encouraged to take the core courses and the course in empirical methods during the two first terms to have flexibility in your choice of electives.

  • Recommended course combinations

    Recommended course combinations

    The courses are organized in three tracks. If students want to specialise in a specific track, we recommend that a minimum of three FIE elective courses are chosen from that track.

    Courses within each track:

    Corporate Finance

    • FIE428 Cases in Corporate Finance
    • FIE433 International Finance
    • FIE436 Venture Capital, Private Equity and IPO's
    • FIE437 Valuation
    • FIE441 Taxes and Business Strategy
    • FIE443 Mergers and Acquisitions
    • FIE444 Bank Management
    • FIE457 Entrepreneurial Finance
    • FIE459 Sustainable Finance
    • FIE460 Ship Finance and Marine Insurance
    • ECO420 Corporate Governance
    • ECO422 Advanced Corporate Finance

     

    Capital Markets

    • FIE403 Business Cycle Analysis
    • FIE421 Long-Term Macroeconomic Analysis
    • FIE425 Derivatives and Risk Management
    • FIE433 International Finance
    • FIE434 Behavioural Finance and Wealth Management
    • FIE442 Growth and Architecture of Financial Systems
    • FIE446 Financial Engineering
    • FIE447 Trading, Liquidity, and Pricing in Securities Markets
    • FIE448 Banking and Financial Technology (FinTech)
    • FIE450 Programming with Applications in Finance
    • FIE451 Asset Management with Programming Applications
    • FIE459 Sustainable Finance
    • FIE461 Risk and Insurance
    • FIE462 Finance Innovations in Insurance
    • ECO425 International Macroeconomics
    • ECO440 Economics of Uncertainty: Insurance and Finance
    • FIE420 Pengemarkeder og Bankvesen
    • FIE423 Finansiell modellering av renteinstrumenter
    • FIE426 Kapitalforvaltning
    • FIE431 Krakk og Kriser
    • FIE432 Personlig Økonomi

     

    Quantitative Finance and Fintech

    • FIE435 Financial Modelling
    • FIE446 Financial Engineering
    • FIE448 Banking and Financial Technology (FinTech)
    • FIE450 Programming with Applications in Finance
    • FIE451 Asset Management with Programming Applications
    • FIE453 Big Data with Applications to Finance
    • FIE458 Deep Learning with Applications to Finance
    • BAN432 Applied Textual Data Analysis for Business and Finance
    • ECN430 Empirical Methods and Applications in Macroeconomics and Finance
    • ECO421 Asset Pricing
    • ECO423 Principles of Derivatives Pricing and Risk Management
  • Empirical methods

    Empirical methods

    Choose one:

    • FIE401 Financial Econometrics
    • ECN402 Econometric Techniques
  • Ethics courses

    Ethics courses

    Ethics course available in the Financial Economics major:

    • FIE459 Sustainable Finance

    Remember that the ethics course can also be a part of your elective courses.

    See list of all ethics courses

  • International opportunities

    International opportunities

    As an NHH student you have excellent opportunities to gain valuable international experience during your studies through semester exchange, the Double Degree programme, CEMS, Engage.EU, Intern Abroad and summer courses.

    Read more about international opportunities

  • Career

    Career

    The Financial Economics major prepares you for a wide range of outstanding career opportunities within the financial services industry, consulting, and management.

    Read more about career possibilities for NHH graduates