Department of Finance

LSE Finance optional courses 2016-17

Watch video introductions to the optional courses available from the Department of Finance this year, from in-depth learning for non-Finance students, to advanced Corporate Finance and Asset Management.

Watch Now.

How to Fix Wall Street’s Flawed System of Compensation

The New York Times has reported on a recent speech by Emeritus Professor Charles Goodhart, who argues that transformation of the old partnership culture into a bonus culture where bankers, traders and executives have minimal accountability, has resulted in a marked increase in the frequency and intensity of financial crises. Read more.

MSc Risk & Finance Graduate is Awarded WCIB Dissertation Prize

The Department of Finance is pleased to announce that Jamie Reid, an MSc Risk & Finance alumnus, has won the annual WCIB prize for his dissertation. A small award ceremony attended by staff and faculty from the Department of Finance and a WCIB representative was held at LSE on Tuesday 24 May, where the winner was presented with his certificate of merit and a cheque for £300. Read more.

VIDEO: Has European Venture Capital Finally Arrived?

This event brings together academics and practitioners to discuss the state of the European venture capital market. Professor Ulf Axelson sets the stage with a short presentation of new evidence on the drivers of success of venture capital deals, contrasting results in Europe and the US. Professor Felda Hardymon then leads a panel discussion featuring Byron Deeter, Saul Klein, and Magnus Goodlad. Watch now.

Inaugural Women in Finance event takes place at LSE

The Department of Finance has hosted its first annual Women in Finance event, organised by Janet Bacastow, Andrea Vedolin, Michela Verardo and Kathy Yuan. A panel of seven women with successful careers in finance shared stories and gave advice on career progression, maintaining work-life balance and the importance of mentors. Read more.

LSE Finance Graduate features on Forbes 30 Under 30 - Europe Finance list

Lauren Hurwitz, who graduated from LSE’s MSc Finance (Part-time) in 2010, has been selected as one of the brightest young Finance professionals in Europe by leading business magazine Forbes.

The '30 Under 30 - Europe Finance' list aims to highlight the top emerging talent in the field. Read more.

Ulf Axelson receives Brattle Group Distinguished Paper Prize for second year running

The Department of Finance is pleased to announce that for the second year running Ulf Axelson has been awarded the Brattle Group Distinguished Paper Prize at the AFA annual meeting in San Francisco.

Professor Axelson’s paper, 'Wall Street Occupations', was co-authored with Philip Bond (Foster School of Business). Read more. 

VIDEO: Shaken but not Stirred? The Banking System Seven Years after the Crisis

While bankers and regulators are still busy implementing the lessons learnt from the crisis, new challenges have arisen that might once again change the banking landscape. Dr Andreas Dombret (Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank) joins Professor Sir Charles Bean to examine the issues. Watch now.

How Activist Wolf Packs Work

Wall Street Journal, 19 February 2015

New research by the LSE's Dr Amil Dasgupta and co-authors, shows how investors collectively accumulate big stakes and act together without actually coordinating, as discussed in the Wall Street Journal's Morning Risk Report. See the full paper here.

Risk-return relationship has been upended

Financial Times, 6 November 2014

The idea that higher risk investments, in the long run, deliver better returns is a cornerstone of market theory - but research from LSE's Dimitri Vayanos shows that in practice, in recent decades at least, low-risk stocks outperform riskier ones. Read more.

CEOs time news to boost stock prices when they sell equity

Financial Times, Bloomberg TV, Wall Street Journal, DiePresse.com

Dr Moqi Xu demonstrates how chief executives store and time positive press releases to coincide with their own sales of shares, and thereby reap the rewards of short-term increases in price and trading volume. Read more.

Double agents: the way investors choose fund managers may cause anomalies in the markets

The Economist, 13 September 2014

Most financial assets these days are not held directly by investors but by professional fund managers on their behalf. That separation may explain a couple of anomalies that undermine belief in the efficiency of markets. Featuring research by LSE's Dimitri Vayanos. Read more.

Beat the professionals: how private investors can take on the City and win

Investors Chronicle, 25 April 2014

Article references a study of US fund managers by the LSE’s Christopher Polk and colleagues, which found that even the typical fund manager - let alone the star performer - has a handful of stock picks that beat the market; but the typical fund doesn't beat the market.

MSc Finance Part-time Programme

The Department of Finance offers LSE's only masters programme taught in the evening. The MSc Finance (Part-time) evening programme provides a unique opportunity to comine a full-time career with a world-class masters in finance programme that is grounded in academic depth and rigour. See our Prospective Students pages for more details.