Global Central Banking & Financial Regulation qualifications

The next intake for this module is February 2025.

Module overview

During this Postgraduate Award you will learn how to build an ethical leadership capacity in critical areas of banking, and in particular financial conduct. 

You will explore what ethics in business are, and should be, by first taking an economic approach and exploring how incentives and industrial structure may alter the propensity to malpractice.

You will study ethical leadership from all angles; academic, through practice and via peer learning, as well as exploring financial conduct, covering the regulatory rules and the enforcement tools available if ethics are poor.

Who would benefit from this module?

This module would benefit those working in central banks as well as investment banks and rating agencies as well as those working as Asset Managers and Reserves Managers who need to gain an understanding of how it is derived and implemented as well as its effects.

The next intake for this module is February 2025.

The Postgraduate Award in Money, Banks & Macroeconomics provides a rigorous discussion of the role of money, banks and other financial institutions in a modern economy.

You will study the fragilities in fractional reserve banking, the role of the central bank, and the weaknesses caused by the shadow banking sector.

Throughout this module, you will also explore the causes of historic bank failures and systemic crises, and during this module you will learn the analytical tools used in macroeconomics to understand the role of monetary policy in the macroeconomy.

The next intake for this module is February 2025.

Module overview

In the Postgraduate Award for Financial Markets & Financial Risk Management you will cover fundamental concepts of international finance, emphasising the operation of the spot and derivative securities in international markets. 

The module considers the management of foreign exchange risk for multinationals and studies financial instruments as well as regulatory aspects. The module covers international banking and the stability of global financial system. The module also covers financial risk management in banks and insurers. 

For the main risk categories such as market or credit risk the module introduces the necessary tools to manage those risks. The module also highlights important commonalities but also differences in risks and risk management frameworks between the banking and insurance sector. 

Who would benefit from this module?

This module would benefit those working in central banks, as well as investment banks and rating agencies. It would also benefit those working as Asset Managers and Reserves Managers who need to gain an understanding of how it is derived and implemented as well as its effects.

The next intake for this module is June 2025.

Module overview

The Postgraduate Award in Big Data focuses on big data wrangling and machine learning in the context of central banking. You will explore data analytics and visualisation, through machine learning techniques for regression, classification, and clustering.

You will also develop an understanding of the ethical issues surrounding big data and how this is applied in central banking.

The next intake for this module is June 2025.

Module overview

The Postgraduate Award in Monetary Policy & Monetary Analysis allows you to investigate the analytical and empirical tools available from macroeconomics and econometrics to understand the role of monetary policy and how it is implemented. The module emphasises the interaction between the financial system and the macroeconomy; and critiques post Global Financial Crisis policy responses.

You will cover topics including Optimal Inflation targeting; Quantitative Easing; the credit cycle; global financial imbalances; and unconventional monetary policy making in practice. Through these topics, you will learn the use of basic econometric tools for monetary policy such as the linear regression model; basic time series models; vector auto regression and forecasting in monetary policy.

Who would benefit from this module?

This module would benefit those working in central banks as well as investment banks and rating agencies as well as those working as Asset Managers and Reserves Managers who need to gain an understanding of how it is derived and implemented as well as its effects.

The next intake for this module is June 2025.

Module overview

The Postgraduate Award in Financial Regulation & Supervision allows you to study the rationale behind financial regulation and supervision: what are the market failures regulators are addressing, and through the use of which tools.

Structured around critical, policy relevant, questions in financial regulation which have seen scholarly study you will discover the benefits of narrow banking; the threat of competition to financial stability; managing the tension between deposit insurance and moral hazard; too-big-to-fail; remuneration and incentives; and resolution challenges.

Who would benefit from this module?

This module would benefit those working in financial regulation authorities, central banks, as well as investment banks and rating agencies. This module would also benefit those working as Asset Managers and Reserves Managers as well as anyone who is involved in projects requiring due dilligence.

The next intake for this module is October 2025.

Module overview

The Postgraduate Award in Behavioural Finance explores a variety of issues related to behavioural finance in banking.

You will develop an understanding of key deviations from rationality that have been documented in behavioural science, and learn how these deviations can affect the economy, and in particular central banks’ analyses across their macroeconomic, macro-prudential; and micro-prudential responsibilities.

The next intake for this module is October 2025.

In the Comparative Central Banking module, you will explore and discover why central banks have different mandates, objectives, governance and operating procedures and thereby you will gain an understanding of the scope of possible policy choices across the broad range of central bank activities.

You will learn to draw comparisons between the US, Europe, Japan and EMEs (including fixed exchange rate regimes), and explore case studies on how central bank operations – to support both monetary and financial stability – evolved during the Great Financial Crisis. The Module also includes material on how central banks have responded during the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The module will touch on all of a central bank’s typical roles including monetary policy; financial stability; balance sheet and reserves management; market operations; banknotes; lender of last resort, supervision and regulation; and other regulatory issues such as market conduct, payments, resolution and digital currencies.

This module aims to allow you to synthesise, apply and extend the knowledge that you have gained through your previous modules.

You will identify and investigate a chosen research topic using the skills and methods taught in the Research Methods portion of the module. Using this knowledge you will submit a Proposal form via my.wbs which will help provide an early focus and guide to your research. This form will also be used in the allocation of an appropriate supervisor before your start your Dissertation.

The dissertation of 8,000 words will explore a practical business problem or issue and develop proposals for how to tackle it, either through engaging with a 'live' project or through desk-based research. The focus of your project can range from company-specific to a whole industry. 

You will also be required to give a presentation. This should be a short video, presenting a deck of slides which present the dissertation and its results. The slide deck should inform the reader what the dissertation objective was, its methodology, the key results, any intuition and any weaknesses of the analysis.

Examples of topics include:

• What type of an impact (+ve/-ve) would replacing the human element in a credit function with articificial intelligence?
• The impact of fintechs (particularly mobile money) on monetary policy, financial stability and growth in Zambia
• Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – possible implications of cross-border payments systems for trade
• How big data affects the finance industry and why digital transformation is inevitable for traditional banks
• The Effects of Central Bank Interventions on Non-Performing Loans during the Covid-19 pandemic: Case study of Brazil and United Kingdom