MSc Finance and Economics 30th Anniversary

We were delighted to be joined by seventy alumni and current students to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the MSc Finance and Economics (F&E) programme on 20^th June 2026 with a schedule of talks, networking and dinner on the LSE campus. The F&E degree is the longest-running programme of the LSE Department of Finance, and has trained many leading practitioners in the field.

During the anniversary event Professor David Webb shared his memories of the first group of faculty and students as they overcame challenges to lay the foundations for the Department of Finance. We also paid tribute to early finance faculty who made a huge impact, including Jean-Pierre Zigrand, Oliver Linton, Greg Connor, and the late Sudipto Bhattacharya. Faculty from the Economics department in those early years included Leonardo Felli and John Moore.

The F&E degree is distinctive in taking an academic approach to both finance and economics. F&E Programme Director Professor Ian Martin continued that tradition with a stimulating research talk on Information in Financial Markets, and posed the question, why haven’t we seen a quadrillionaire yet?

There was no better example of the F&E’s research and teaching legacy than Prof Martin Oehmke who graduated from the F&E in 2003, later returned to LSE as a faculty-member, and this year co-taught the core FM436 course. Professor Oehmke shared his research on socially responsible investing and answered questions from a very engaged audience.

Alumni also got a chance to see the transformation that LSE has undergone in recent years with a tour of the Marshall Building, the Centre Building and the Cheng Kin Ku Building. However, there was also appreciation that some things had not changed. There was lively discussion in one tour group of the ever-popular Wright’s Bar, which happily still operates in Houghton Street.

The evening concluded with a dinner at the Senior Dining room, where alumni Elizaveta Kovaleva and Kamal Gajree shared their F&E journeys. Attendees made the most of the summer sunshine on the terrace as old friendships were strengthened and new ones forged.

We are deeply grateful to all who joined us and look forward to the next chapter of the Finance and Economics programme.