Financial Technology MSc

Program Overview

This 12-month MSc in Financial Technology provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the commercial and technological aspects of the rapidly evolving FinTech industry. The program covers topics such as blockchain, digital banking, cryptocurrencies, programming, and LawTech, equipping graduates for specialized careers in the finance sector, including roles such as data specialist, blockchain developer, and risk and compliance expert.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

Financial Technology or FinTech is here to stay. For those seeking a career in financial services, or already experienced, the challenges and opportunities offered by recent global technological enhancements are profound. This programme is neither exclusively quantitative or qualitative in nature, but rather has been carefully designed to provide you with a robust understanding of the commerciality as well as technological underpinnings of this evolving and multifaceted space. The MSc Financial Technology will provide you with expert knowledge of both the academic and commercial aspects of this new world. We aim to future-proof your learning and employability across fields such as blockchain, digital banking, the future of global payments, cryptocurrencies, digital business strategy, big data, LawTech, programming with Python as well as the future of management. You will receive rigorous training in research methods, ethics, and quantitative methods for managerial accounting and finance. You will have the opportunity to culminate this learning in your final dissertation at the end of the programme which may take the form of an academic empirical piece of work of your choosing, or instead be entrepreneurial and applied in scope through collaboration with companies already operating in the FinTech industry.

Outline:

This 12-month programme consists of six compulsory modules and two optional modules followed by a dissertation over the summer period on completion of Semester two.

Semester One:

It then goes on to discuss the ordinary least squares estimation technique. In particular, students will learn how to develop a well-specified econometric model, test interesting hypotheses, interpret the results and formulate recommendations. The module draws on different areas of accounting and finance to illustrate the use of the quantitative techniques, thus offering students exposure to various fields. Students will also improve their computing skills by using a statistical software to carry out the empirical analysis.

• Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and the Future of Money (ACFI826): This module will establish why cryptocurrencies have evolved over the previous two decades and how they are disrupting the current global financial system.
Students will reflect on the evolution of money and how cryptocurrencies are perhaps the next phase in the evolution of money. Competing forms of blockchain will be evaluated including decentralised, private and hybrid forms of ledger technology as well as different variants such as the tangle through the examination of real-world start-up case studies. Students will distinguish between the relative use cases of competing forms of future money, namely; central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), decentralised currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum and corporate issued currencies such as JP Morgan’s JPM coin. Although technologically oriented this module approaches these innovations through the lens of banking, finance, trading, valuation methodologies, accounting, tax and monetary policy implications. In summary, students will assess the financialisaton of ‘new money’ and how best the banking and finance sector, as well as governments, central banks and tax authorities should respond.
• Managerial Finance (ULMS767): Managing Finance is designed to develop your expertise in problem solving, numeracy and commercial awareness through a lecture and workshop program that helps you understand, apply and competently practice in accounting and finance.
• Introduction to Programming (Python) (ACFI827): This module will establish a working knowledge of Python for finance and its practical application in the context of FinTech.
Python programming is one of the most precious skills in the world of finance. This module rapidly develops programming skills for financial calculations and financial data analysis, with a focus on practical application. Participants will learn the essential skills required to make the most of programming opportunities, and gain a comprehensive understanding of the programming concepts, as well as extensive practical experience in some of the core data analysis libraries used in Python. Note that a Python & Coding Bootcamp will be incorporated into the induction phase of the MSc to ensure that students begin this core module with a working knowledge of coding. This will ensure a more efficient start to the module and will help facilitate overall real-world case based learning to attain level 7 / M-level mastery.

Semester Two:

• Compulsory Modules:
The fragilities in the current banking system will be identified along with the regulatory and technological movement towards open banking and Payment Services Directive PSD2 (&3) type regulation, and similar. The landscape of the current global payments industry including the prevalence of M-commerce will be discussed along with the fusion of financial services with social media giving rise to new opportunities such as hyperpersonalisation and bespoke payment solutions. Unique features of digital and neo banks will be articulated as well as strategies for how incumbent established banks can attempt to ‘close the gap’. The impacts of financial crises including; (1) The Dot Com Crash, (2) The Financial Crisis 2007-09 and (3) COVID-19 upon the banking and payments industries will be interpreted in the context of Black Swan thinking and attempting to pandemic proof new financial services business models. The role of A.I. in banking and payments will be outlined as well as predictions for the next decade plus, including Banking 4.0 thinking. Examples of international cases studies will be used to contextualise the academic theory and research-based teaching provided. Rather, it is commercially focused and will provide students with hands-on experience of a contemporary LegalTech application or process so that they can develop a practical understanding of the opportunities and risks of using technology to deliver or enhance legal services. Successful students will discover the way that technology has transformed other sectors outside of law (e.g. FinTech, media, medicine), and how this can help us to understand, predict or even design new types of legal practice and new types of ‘lawyer’, to better support business more broadly. This module will establish legal concepts and ways of working with legal problems which are being disrupted by machines and ‘artificial intelligence’. The teaching on the module will raise students’ awareness of the commercial significance of artificial intelligence in an increasingly global, competitive and technology-driven legal services marketplace. Students with gain sufficient knowledge and experience of artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand the capacity of those technologies to support legal services, as well as the accompanying risks which regulators are concerned with. We aim to develop a disruptive, innovative mind-set in students that will enhance their future skills and employability to better appreciate and understand how the LawTech services of the future can be integrated within disruptive FinTech businesses. Extensive use will be made of case study material to illustrate real-world applications of digital strategies enhanced by AI. In particular, it familiarises students with existing platforms and software tools used for big data analytics and develops core skills and expertise needed by data scientists for processing and visualising big data. It also establishes the importance of big data science for business intelligence and describes major opportunities and limitations for running or expanding digital business enterprises.
• Technology Innovation and the Future of Management (ULMS503): The contemporary world faces grand challenges such as climate change, the solutions for which are often assumed to lie in the development of new technologies.
Both these challenges and the ways in which organisations respond raise questions about how new technology is developed and deployed. These debates will cover the latest thinking in policy, practice and academic circles. The aim is to equip students with the capability to face the profound changes that are widely expected to affect the world of work during their careers. Successful students will be able to discuss and critically evaluate different theoretical models and practical ideas touching upon the very future of management.

Final Project:

A preparation phase of the module is included to provide the students with the skills necessary in problem analysis and research in order that they can undertake an independent research project. Thereafter, independent, guided study and research are used to develop both theoretical and practical critical-thinking skills, and to present research, analysis and findings. The reflective element of the dissertation gives students an opportunity to critically analyse and evaluate their experience of the learning process.

Assessment:

In semester one and two, you will take modules totalling 120 credits. The dissertation completed during the summer period is worth 60 credits and students will be supported by their academic supervisor. Students are required to complete 180 credits to achieve a full MSc. Subject to meeting specific criteria outlined by the University, students will graduate with a Pass, Merit or Distinction. Assessment tasks are varied and some may be designed specifically to meet the learning outcomes of a particular programme of study, but students can expect to be assessed via coursework, essay, group work, presentations, case studies, negotiation exercises, reports and examinations. The weighting of individual components will vary from one module to another.

Teaching:

The delivery of the programme is one of active applied learning in the field of FinTech. This is comprised of, but not limited to, lectures, seminars, discussions on research papers, case studies, group work, podcasts, Bloomberg, Adobe Connect, Python and tutorials. Access to the Bloomberg suite will provide students with the financial skills and digital literacy to interrogate real-time financial and economic data to support their independent research and original contributions which are expected from their summative assessments on the programme. Unsurprisingly, there will be significant use of technology on the programme including Python, machine learning (LawTech) and blockchain data interrogation. Teaching time will account for an average of 10 hours per week and you should anticipate an additional 25 hours of self-directed study and group work.

Careers:

Graduates of this programme will be equipped to take up positions in Financial Institutions and other career opportunities in government agencies, large corporations, consultancy firms, investment banks and many other branches of the finance industry. Career paths in FinTech include:

• Data specialist
• Quantitative analyst
• Blockchain developer
• Cyber security specialist
• Risk and compliance expert
Graduates from this programme have secured jobs at :
• KPMG
• WSD
• Fidelity International
• Ericcson UK

Other:

The University of Liverpool Management School is one of an elite group of institutions worldwide to hold the gold standard ‘triple-crown’ accreditation from AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. The School has a thriving international master’s community with a comprehensive, interdisciplinary programme of social and extra-curricular events and dedicated careers and employability support.

Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching and assessment, operating facilities such as libraries, IT equipment, and access to academic and personal support. You can pay your tuition fees in installments. All or part of your tuition fees can be funded by external sponsorship. International applicants who accept an offer of a place will need to pay a tuition fee deposit.

UK fees (applies to Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland)

Full-time place, per year £14,750 Part-time place, per year £7,375

International fees

Full-time place, per year £31,000 Part-time place, per year £15,500 Fees stated are for the 2024-25 academic year.