Risk Management
The Risk Management specialization encompasses the development and application of “quantitative” models to operational risks, as well as various market risks: commodity, interest rate, credit, currency and equity. This specialization also encompasses the more “qualitative” risk management approaches which reflect managerial and organizational responses to operational risks, corporate governance, and fraud detection, as well as reputation and strategy risk.
Students must take a minimum of 5 semester equivalent courses (20 credits) over the course of two years to earn the specialization in Risk Management. The requirements are structured to allow students to tailor their coursework in light of the two risk management frameworks.
An option for MA, MBA and MSF students.
Career Paths
Career tracks in risk management historically spanned the financial service sectors, but also today, encompass most non-financial sectors which increasingly engage in managing currency, commodity and interest rate risks as well as a host of operational and business risks.
Requirements
Students must complete 20 credits at Brandeis IBS through the requirements listed below to earn the Specialization in Risk Management. Note that 16 of the required 20 credits are specified below in Groups 1-3 to allow students the flexibility to allocate the final 4 credits of electives to either the more qualitative courses in group 2, or the more quantitative courses in group 3.
Group 1. Required (8 credits)
| FIN 270a | Options and Derivatives (4 credits, in year 1) |
| FIN 279a | Applied Risk Management (4 credits, in year 2) |
Group 2. At least 4 credits from the following
| FIN 242f | Credit Risk Analysis I (2 credits) |
| FIN 244f | Credit Risk Analysis II (2 credits) |
| ECON 232f | Country Risk Analysis (2 credits) |
| BUS 280f | Operational Risk Management (2 credits) |
| BUS 279f | Corporate Fraud: Detection & Prevention (2 credits) |
| BUS 278f | Corporate Governance (2 credits) |
Group 3. At least 4 credits from the following
| FIN 261a | Fixed Income Securities (4 credits) |
| FIN 280a | Financial Risk Management (4 credits) |
| FIN 288a | Corporate Financial Engineering (4 credits) |
| FIN 285a | Computer Simulations and Risk (4 credits) |
| FIN 271a | Options and Derivatives II (4 credits) |
| FIN 258a | Introduction to Quantitative Finance (4 credits) |
Group 4. At least 4 credits from either Group 2 or Group 3