Inaugural INSEAD Master in Finance programme grooms future finance industry leaders for top spots
INSEAD, the leading international business school, today celebrated the graduation of its inaugural Master in Finance (MFIN) class. The MFIN programme is designed to prepare the next generation of financial leaders to positively shape the corporate finance and investment management industries of the future. The first 20 graduates represent some of the top financial institutions globally, including Citi Private Bank, ING Investment Banking, DBS Bank and Prudential Portfolio Managers.
Attending the graduation ceremony for INSEAD’s Master in Finance pioneer class: Ilian Mihov, Dean of INSEAD (top left), Massimo Massa, Prof of Finance and Programme Advisor of Master in Finance, INSEAD (top right), and Members of the Graduating Class.
Further strengthening INSEAD’s continued commitment to education in the finance sector, the MFIN programme addresses a growing need for deeper financial knowledge paired with outstanding leadership skills.
Professor Massimo Massa, the Rothschild Chaired Professor of Banking and Academic Director of the INSEAD MFIN programme, commented: “While the global financial crisis of 2008 highlighted the necessity for competent and principled leaders in this space, today’s rapidly changing economic climate underscores the importance of greater strategic knowledge and in-depth understanding of global finance trends. Financial leaders today are required to navigate their institutions through a constantly changing environment with varying degrees of economic growth and complex regulations. Our MFIN programme aims to equip future leaders with the wide range of skills required to handle these multiple pressures effectively.”
Introduced in April 2013, the MFIN consists of five modules each lasting two or three weeks, spread over 20 months. Four of the modules are taught on INSEAD’s Singapore campus and one on the Fontainebleau campus in France. The Asian weighting is deliberate, and recognises the current and future role that Asian markets play in the global economy.
Eugene Leow, a Rates Strategist at Singapore’s DBS Bank and a scholar from the Finance Scholarship Programme under the MAS Financial Sector Development Fund , commented: “The programme was a great platform to meet other finance professionals covering different areas of the industry from all around the world. It also helped me gain deeper insights into recent industry changes, further develop my leadership capabilities, and improve other useful skills such as communication and negotiation. The opportunity to visit the other campus in Fontainebleau and exchange views with resident professors and students there was also an enriching experience.”
The MFIN programme is designed to go deeper into areas of finance and accounting than would be normal in an MBA course, while also offering leadership and management perspectives not typically found in a traditional finance degree. The first two modules cover a range of finance and accounting topics and the third module delves deeper into the topics of Corporate Finance or Financial Markets. The fourth module is an elective, selected from a series of options designed according to the varying needs of the financial industry. The last ‘Capstone’ module is where participants link management issues covered in the programme to current business practices.
The 28 graduates of this inaugural programme each bring an average of eight years’ work experience across a range of finance-related roles, coming mainly from financial institutions and consulting firms from Singapore, India, China, Korea, Australia, South Africa, US, Canada, Germany and the UK.
Kristen Lynas, Director of INSEAD Executive Degree programmes, shared her views on the accomplishment of this first session: “The experience of this inaugural class confirms our commitment to the format of a post-experience, modular master in finance programme. With this new addition to our finance offering, we are fully utilising our faculty’s depth and breadth of research and teaching competencies, across finance, accounting, economics and decision sciences, to meet the new and changing demands amongst finance professionals today. Delivering on our promise to develop future leaders, more than one third of the first Master in Finance class has already taken on new responsibilities since admission to the programme, including changes in employer and sector.”
INSEAD is currently accepting applications for the third Master in Finance intake, starting in September 2015.
For more information on INSEAD’s Master in Finance please visit: http://specialised-degrees.insead.edu/master-in-finance/.
