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uva.nl
Master
Asset Management (Finance)
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The study programme

In the Asset Management track, you investigate the challenges of investing money and creating the right portfolio strategy based on your clients’ needs. The track focuses on investment management roles that require detailed analysis of companies, but no computer programming.

The programme

During your Master's you will follow 6 general courses and 4 track-specific courses. You will finish with a thesis. If you have a drive to enhance the adoption of sustainability in finance, you can participate in our Honours programme.

  • Compulsory courses

    Advanced Corporate Finance

    This course offers you a rich blend of lectures, guest lectures from industry representatives, readings, exercises and cases in the area of corporate finance. You will cover topics such as corporate investment strategies, corporate governance, bankruptcy, equity offerings, and mergers and acquisitions, all while discussing state-of-the-art research methodologies. You will extend your theoretical framework as well as understand how these theories are implemented in the real business world.

    Financial Markets

    This course provides you with a hands-on treatment of the field of market microstructure - the area of finance that studies price formation in securities markets.

    Applied Financial Econometrics

    In this course you expand your knowledge about regression analysis applied to finance topics,  a powerful tool in empirical finance for  analysing empirical relationships. You will review estimation and testing of the basic linear regression model and subsequently will focus on various applications and extensions of the basic model.

    Empirical Methods in Finance

    In this course you will focus on the current statistical methodology used in empirical work and the practical implementation of data analysis using STATA. You will attend methodology lectures on how to use the university’s databases and tutorials in which you present and receive feedback on empirical group assignments. Also you will write a first thesis proposal.

    Ethics and Professional Skills in Finance

    This course will explain to you the importance and relevance of ethics in finance. You will discuss:

    • the relationship with corporate governance and recognition.
    • personal dealing with ethical issues in the finance profession.

    You will also get acquainted with ethical issues in finance through practical cases.

    Workshops
    Being a professional requires more than specialised knowledge of finance. You also need professional skills to become successful. That is why during this course we offer you a selection of skills workshops to choose from:

    1. Public Speaking and Presenting
    2. People Skills
    3. Self-management
    4. Negotiation Skills
    5. Programming with Python
    6. Intercultural Competence

    Thesis Seminar Finance

    This course prepares you for writing your Master's thesis. It brings you up-to-date knowledge and professional skills.  Also, you will learn how to acquire a critical view on your own work and that of fellow students. In the course you will develop your thesis plan as well as learn to present, discuss and referee other’s work.

  • Track-specific courses

    Advanced Investments

    In this course, you look at the investment and asset pricing problems from a more fundamental academic perspective. We will discuss the core theoretical concepts that tie together all different asset pricing models, empirical methodologies we can use to test the models with the data as well as the latest state-of-the-art academic advances, both on the theoretical as well as empirical fronts. 

    Mandatory electives, semester 1

    Choose 1 out of 3 courses: 

    • Computational Finance
    • Derivatives
    • Valuation

    Mandatory electives, semester 2

    Choose 2 out of 3 courses:

    • Behavioural Finance
    • Quantitative Finance and Algorithmic Trading
    • Real Estate and Alternative Investments
  • Thesis

    The academic programme culminates in a thesis, which allows you to engage with state-of-the-art data analysis and statistical techniques. The Master’s thesis is the final requirement for your graduation. It is your chance to dive deep into a topic in your field of choice (track) that you are enthusiastic about, and allows you to do an independent research project in Finance. A professor of your track will supervise and support you in writing your thesis.

  • Honours programme: A Sustainable Vision for Finance

    The Honours programme is designed for students with excellent analytical and leadership abilities, and a fundamental passion to enhance the adoption of sustainability in finance. It is a challenging programme and a great way to stand out for future employers. The programme must be finished in 1.5 years, and includes 3 additional courses: Sustainable Finance, Honours Course on Impact Investing, and an elective course (Corporate Governance, Advanced Investments, or Financial Regulation).

Experience the programme

What is the Master's Finance about?
What is the Master's Finance about?
Get career tips from our alumnus Lychelle
Get career tips from our alumnus Lychelle

Real-life case: Algemene Pensioen Groep (APG) Asset Management

Algemene Pensioen Groep (APG) Asset Management is the largest institutional investor in the Netherlands and has around €459 billion in pension assets under management. These assets belong to 8 pension funds and are owned by 4.6 million people in the Netherlands. Is APG a giant facing diseconomies of scale or still harvesting cost-efficiencies? ABP is the largest client of APG. What if the interests of ABP differ from the interests of other clients? Who should design the strategic asset allocation of APG? Should APG manage the assets in an active or passive way?

Copyright: EB
'The lecturers are very good and try to engage with the student in every way' Vera Scholten - student Read Vera’s full review

Contemporary issues

You will discuss and learn how to analyse a wide range of recent financial market innovations. Professors continually update their courses to stay on top of the latest developments. Recent examples include:

  • Factor investing strategies like Smart Beta are increasingly popular among institutional investors. These funds select securities based on attributes like firm size and value that are statistically associated with higher returns. How can you implement factor investing? What are the most robust factors? What is the impact of factor investing on active asset management?
  • Pension funds, insurance firms and sovereign wealth funds are becoming increasingly active in the provision of capital to alternative asset classes, such as private equity, venture capital, real estate and infrastructure. What are the risk-return characteristics of these alternative assets? What are their investment costs? How much should funds optimally allocate to alternative assets?
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