Live, learn, apply – succeed
Supercharge your finance career with our globally recognised Master of Finance (MFin) programme. Gain a deep understanding of key finance elements in our rigorous curriculum, covering theoretical foundations and cutting-edge industry issues.
Apply your new knowledge in real-world projects with international finance clients and develop a comprehensive view of the ever-changing finance industry. Designed in collaboration with industry experts, the MFin provides the resources and support you need to excel and advance in your finance career.
Programme highlights
Learn by doing
Engage in exciting project work, collaborating directly with real-world clients in the international finance sector to apply your theoretical knowledge in practical settings.
Customisable experience
Strengthen your existing knowledge of finance, while tailoring your education through a combination of courses, projects and electives.
Network for success
Designed in consultation with the banking and finance industry, the Master of Finance provides a rigorous, commercially relevant programme and access to a global network.
Academic outline
- Michaelmas Term (September – December)
- Vacation/project time (December – January)
- Lent Term (January – March)
- Vacation/project time (March – April)
- Easter Term (April – June)
- Summer (June – September)
Michaelmas Term (September to December)
Orientation
A two-week period designed to get to know Cambridge, your fellow students, and the MFin team. Students also undertake maths and statistics refresher classes.
Core courses
- Introduction to Derivatives
- Economic Foundations of Finance
- Financial Institutions and Markets
- Financial Reporting and Analysis
- Principles of Finance
- Management Lecture Series
- Management, Leadership and Ethics
- City Speaker Series
City Speaker Series
The City Speaker Series provides a further stream of practical financial expertise throughout the degree. It gives you regular networking opportunities with finance professionals. The speakers are experts in applied finance.
Personal and Professional Development programme
The MFin careers service is designed to help you gain the insights and skills needed to succeed in your career. The careers programme encompasses one-to-one coaching, soft skills job search workshops, interview success and supporting professional development. This culminates in recruitment and networking events, including alumni panels.
Vacation/project time (December to January)
Equity/Research project
In groups, you are assigned a listed company on which you are required to undertake a stock valuation exercise. You produce an equity research report outlining your valuation methodology, investment thesis and a recommendation to buy or sell shares in this company. The project culminates in a presentation followed by a panel Q&A, simulating a real-life morning call.
Lent (January to March)
Core courses
- Econometrics
- Fundamentals of Credit
- Management Lecture Series (continued)
- Management, Leadership and Ethics (continued)
- City Speaker Series
Electives
- Advanced Corporate Finance
- Advanced Financial Accounting
- Advanced Interest Rate Derivatives
- Behavioural Finance (course parented by the MBA programme)
- Fixed Income Analysis
- New Venture Finance (course parented by the MBA programme)
- Private Equity
- Quantitative Asset Allocation
- Risk Management
- The Circular Economy
- Topics in Investment Management
*Please note the running order and specific electives on offer may change from year to year.
City Speaker Series
The City Speaker Series provides a further stream of practical financial expertise throughout the degree. It gives you regular networking opportunities with finance professionals. The speakers are experts in applied finance.
Personal and Professional Development programme
The MFin careers service is designed to help you gain the insights and skills needed to succeed in your career. The careers programme encompasses one-to-one coaching, soft skills job search workshops, interview success and supporting professional development. This culminates in recruitment and networking events, including alumni panels.
Vacation/project time (March to April)
Group Consulting Project
The Group Consulting Project provides a chance for you to work on a real assignment for a host company or organisation. The project offers a great opportunity to put into practice new ideas that you have encountered on the MFin, and to get experience in sectors and roles you are interested in.
Easter Term (April to June)
Core courses
- Management Lecture Series (continued)
- City Speaker Series
Students can choose from a wide range of electives, including:
- Algorithmic Trading
- Advanced Credit
- Asian Capital Markets
- Blockchain and Digital Assets
- Financial Entrepreneurial Acquisitions
- Further Econometrics: Time Series
- Infrastructure Finance
- Liquid Alternatives and Hedge Funds
- Principles of Financial Regulation
- Sustainable Finance
- The Purpose of Finance
- Topics in Investment Management
- Understanding the International Economy and Financial System
- Venture Capital and the Entrepreneurial World (course parented by the MBA Programme)
*Please note the running order and specific electives on offer may change from year to year.
City Speaker Series
The City Speaker Series provides a further stream of practical financial expertise throughout the degree. It gives you regular networking opportunities with finance professionals. The speakers are experts in applied finance.
Personal and Professional Development programme
The MFin careers service is designed to help you gain the insights and skills needed to succeed in your career. The careers programme encompasses one-to-one coaching, soft skills job search workshops, interview success and supporting professional development. This culminates in recruitment and networking events, including alumni panels.
Summer term (June to September)
Individual project
This is an optional project spent working for a financial institution or completing a research dissertation. This project is deliberately flexible to accommodate the varying needs of students.
Summer activities
A number of activities are on offer over the summer period.
Core courses
Reinforce your finance fundamentals. Our core courses provide a solid foundation for your Masters journey.
Electives
Customise your learning with a choice of electives – specialist skills from asset management and corporate finance to algorithmic trading and digital assets.
City Speaker Series
Hear from industry experts on the latest market trends and network with top finance practitioners in the weekly City Speaker Series.
CFA Programme partner
The CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes standards in the investment industry and offers educational and career resources for investment professionals. It has branches around the globe and over 100, 000 members worldwide.
The Cambridge MFin degree is an accredited CFA programme partner. This means that the CFA Institute recognises the MFin curriculum incorporates a large part of the CFA level 1 curriculum. It enables students to gain a well-rounded understanding of a broad spectrum of finance disciplines – ranging from Asset Management to Venture Capital.
MFin students also have access to wide range of CFA resources including webinars, the latest financial research publications and access to CFA society events.
To become a member of the CFA Institute, students follow a programme of self-study covering a prescribed curriculum, and take exams, at CFA levels 1, 2 and 3.
CFA scholarships
The partnership provides a small number of scholarships to MFin students each year. This covers the cost of registering with the CFA Institute and entering the CFA level 1-3 exams. Scholarship recipients also benefit from access to study resources.
The MFin Programme provides many project opportunities for students. The Equity Research Project helps students get the taste of how to analyse and value a listed equity, while the Group Consulting Project is a wonderful opportunity for students to get their hands dirty on practical issues in investment, finance, or related fields.
Master of Finance pathways
Tailor your MFin and study the courses that relate most closely to your chosen career pathway. Our electives are designed to allow students to cover specific product areas, techniques, and advanced quantitative skills in line with their career aspirations.
Pursue a career in a corporate finance advisory or similar role that requires a strong understanding of corporate valuation metrics.
Take a career path in a highly analytical finance role, such as in risk management, sales/trading, hedge funds, quantitative asset selection/optimisation, global markets and fintech.
Get to grips with different asset classes, and develop your investment management skills for portfolio construction.
The learning experience
Engage in a practical learning experience while you interact with other students, faculty and speakers in a collaborative environment.
Hear about the latest issues on a wide range of finance subjects from inspirational industry speakers who are specialists in their fields.
Learn financial model building best practice through a series of hands-on exercises.
Build your toolkit for success across broader business areas relevant to your work in finance. Attend workshops to strengthen your interpersonal skills and professional development.
Learn from finance faculty with practised expertise in investment and financial decision-making. Be inspired by their latest research across the finance spectrum – from corporate governance to financial markets.
Tailor your professional development through a programme of workshops and one-to-one coaching sessions to achieve your professional objectives.
Collaborate with class colleagues in seminars and projects – and interact with finance practitioners. Benefit from relevant and practical finance teaching, as well as networking opportunities
Apply your learning to a real workplace setting by completing research through group or individual projects that allow direct contact with industry clients. In your Equity Research project, you’ll write and present an investment plan on a listed company. The Group Consulting Project gives you a chance to work on a real assignment for a host company – sometimes outside the UK. An optional individual project could see you complete valuable work experience or a research dissertation.
Learn from valuable case study examples. Discuss what went right and wrong and how lessons learnt might apply to your finance work.
Most of your fellow students have at least four years of experience as finance professionals. Teaming up in a study group, you’ll be able to exchange ideas and work on finance projects that benefit from a collaborative approach.
The CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes standards in the investment industry and offers educational and career resources for investment professionals. It has branches around the globe and over 100, 000 members worldwide.
The Cambridge MFin degree is an accredited CFA programme partner. This means that the CFA Institute recognises the MFin curriculum incorporates a large part of the CFA level 1 curriculum. It enables students to gain a well-rounded understanding of a broad spectrum of finance disciplines – ranging from Asset Management to Venture Capital.
MFin students also have access to wide range of CFA resources including webinars, the latest financial research publications and access to CFA society events.
To become a member of the CFA Institute, students follow a programme of self-study covering a prescribed curriculum, and take exams, at CFA levels 1, 2 and 3.
CFA scholarships
The partnership provides a small number of scholarships to MFin students each year. This covers the cost of registering with the CFA Institute and entering the CFA level 1-3 exams. Scholarship recipients also benefit from access to study resources.
Be inspired by guest lecturers and visiting professors from the world of international finance. The City Speaker Series delivers insight into the latest hot finance topics.
Gain valuable networking skills through interaction and practice with your fellow course participants – all finance career professionals – plus opportunities to meet industry experts and finance employers. Learn lessons from your fellow MFin alumni.
In the summer, there are a variety of activities you can choose from, such as an internship or work placement based on your own interest area, or taking part in a research or business/consulting project (individual or group, self-sourced or advertised through the programme).
You can also sign up for a number of elective courses, or take part in the summer programme at Tsinghua University, PBC School of Finance, China (TBC for 2023/24).
We also ask you write up a a 1,000 word report reflecting on your MFin experience and learning outcomes.
Any additional costs incurred as part of the summer activities, such as travel (flights, visas, etc.) or related expenses, must be covered by the students.
World-class research and teaching
Director of the Global Executive MBA Programme
Fellow of St Catharine’s College
Director of the Master of Finance (MFin) Programme
BA (IBMEC Business School), MSc (Fundação Getulio Vargas (EPGE)), PhD (London Business School)
Director of the MPhil in Finance Programme
Co-Director of the Centre for Endowment Asset Management (CEAM)
Co-Director of the Centre for Endowment Asset Management (CEAM)
Fellow of Clare College
MBA (IIM Bangalore), MSc, PhD (INSEAD)
The above faculty are subject to change.
Embark on a learning journey that goes beyond the ordinary. Our exceptional faculty comprises around 80 individuals who combine cutting-edge research and transformative teaching to ignite your potential and enable your future of success.
Learn more about the impact of our research
Connect with your Finance faculty – experts in a range of financial fields who have leading roles in 8 Cambridge research centres dedicated to finance. Faculty on the finance subject group have worked with several high-profile organisations. Tap into their knowledge of current research, policy and practice