MSc in Data Science with Specialization in FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY (OFFERED BY FBA)

Corporate Finance   3 credits

This course offers students a more advanced understanding of important concepts in the field of corporate finance. It covers basic topics including capital budgeting, alternative valuation methods, capital structure decisions, corporate payout policy, securities offering decisions, as well as more advanced topics (optional) such as corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate risk management. The objective of this course is to provide students with essential tools to study more advanced courses in finance.

Financial Risk Management   3 credits

This course focuses on risk management techniques in multinational corporations and credit risk management. A strand of risk management topics would be covered such as foreign exchange, money market instruments, derivative products, risk exposure of corporations, measurement of exposure, and risk management in financial institutions. The credit risk will discuss various economic and financial factors that affect credit quality of corporations, evaluating corporation’s debt servicing ability and their likelihood of default. Topics covered will include business and financial risk analysis, debt covenants, security structures, credit scoring and credit rating models.

Introduction to Financial Technology   3 credits

Financial Technology, FinTech, refers to the use of technological innovation, particularly digital technology, in financial systems, business models, and existing and new financial products. This course offers students an introduction to how an ecosystem for the financial sector is created using disruptive technology. Topics covered include fintech financing, fintech innovations (such as smart contracts, robo-advisors, cryptocurrencies and block chain, insurtech, proptech), and cybersecurity. Through this course, students should have a foundation on how fintech innovations affect the finance industry, such as traditional banking, financial services, investment decisions, innovation on financial products, financial data analytics, and financial regulations.

Commercial Bank Management   3 credits

This course is structured around the microeconomic problems of financial management of banking firms. It focuses on decision making and offers a unique approach to understanding commercial bank management. Topics to be covered include banking trends and competition, performance analysis, liquidity planning, interest rate risk management, credit risk analysis, cost of funds, and capital management. Both domestic and international banking activities will be examined. The objective of this course is to provide the student with the conceptual framework necessary to analyze and comprehend the current problems confronting managers of commercial.

 Project Report    6 credits

This Project Report gives the students an opportunity to apply the knowledge obtained from their previous studies in data science and their field of specialization. Students will be required to identify existing practical problems in their field of specialization. To develop solutions for the problems identified, they need to conduct detailed literature review, design appropriate research method, gather relevant data, analyze their data using big data analytic techniques, interpret their findings, and finally write up the entire project report.