NUS Risk Management Institute

This is a well-designed program which addresses the needs of Singapore's financial community. It may also attract students from other countries. Furthermore, it allows financial professionals to upgrade their derivatives skills without interrupting work or traveling overseas. The faculty at NUS are well-qualified to implement this program successfully.

On your program at NUS, I was impressed by the rankings, and by the broad emphasis on all major areas of financial economics in your program. Some other such programs are focused narrowly on derivatives pricing and riskmeasurement. Your coverage of other areas, such as empirical modelling, corporate finance, and banking practice, will serve well the needs of future financial engineers.

The program looks terrific! I am sure this will be one of most innovative MSc programs in Singapore. I particularly admire its inter-disciplinary nature, the curriculum and lecturers are first class. The success of the program will be crucial to the development of Singapore's financial industry.

My first impression is that this is a rigorous degree program at a high level, comparable to programs offered at Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, the London Business School, and Michigan. We hope to have a similar program at Berkeley by the year 2000. The range of topics offered is quite broad and covers all the key areas of financial engineering. In sum, this look like a first-class program.

I must say that your program in Financial Engineering looks very impressive. It includes all the up to date issues in this growing and exciting area of Finance. The multidisciplinary nature of the program, bring together faculty from Finance, Computing, Mathematics, Physics and Engineering, seems to be a particular strength of the program.

From Graduates and Current On-Campus Students

RMI has a difficult job to bridge the knowledge gap between the science/engineering expertise and the financial know-hows, and it has been performing a good job. Graduates from the two extreme backgrounds benefited from the course and are finding for ourselves quite a large number of opportunities in the region due to the growing sophistication of financial products and the recent growth of the market. Being in a hard core engineering research background for so many years, I would not have imagined myself doing what I am today without the experience gained through the course.

For busy finance professionals, the MSc Financial Engineering program is an ideal way to pursue post-graduate studies. Staffed by high calibre professors, you'll learn both the theory and practical applications of key topics in finance, from exotic options pricing and non-linear time series modelling to risk measurement and portfolio construction. Its part-time and flexible nature allowed me to deepen and broaden my understanding of quantitative finance and, at the same time, apply it in the work place.

As someone new in the financial industry then, I have been very privileged to be part of the very first MFE program in NUS. In my two years in the program, I built a strong foundation for my understanding of the financial markets and corporate finance complemented by the insights of my amazing classmates with vast experiences from the different sectors of the financial industry. My biggest takeaway from the program is the knowledge that all the most complex ideas and solutions can be broken down to its basic building blocks and this has helped me a great deal as I progress through my career in the industry.

I studied the MFE whilst I was working as a foreign exchange dealer at Shell Treasury Centre East in Singapore. I choose the NUS program as the course covered all the subjects I required in order to deepen my knowledge and understanding of the financial markets and to develop my understanding of complex structured financial products and risk management. The programs mix of coursework and open book examinations led to an intellectually stimulating and challenging program that fitted well around a full time career. The knowledge I gained from the program was immediately relevant to my role in Singapore, allowing me to enhance the value of my work. It has also been beneficial in my new role, as an oil trader based in London.

Ms Victoria Helen Louise Goodwin
Low Sulphur Crude Trader/Analyst
Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited

The MFE program is a well-structured program which provides opportunities for people with or without finance background to learn, enhance and apply their skills and knowledge in quantitative finance. It has helped me to switch my career and I am sure that the knowledge and network I acquired from the course will help me to sail further in financial industry.

I enjoyed the CFE program and had learnt much from it. The CFE program was a great one. The syllabus was well organized and relevant to the changing times. It involved finance, mathematics and computer science, the 3 bedrocks to any Financial Engineering program. A wide variety of subjects and electives were available to choose from. Everything we learnt was not only theories found in books, but real subjects that were useful and applicable in the market place. There was a good balance between theory and the real world of work. I was highly impressed with the calibre of the CFE teaching staff, both the NUS professors and the overseas professors from top universities. They were willing to work with students even outside of the classroom, to answer questions, give direction on papers, and offer comments and feed-back on project work. The composition of students was varied. There were lots of interaction and collaboration amongst us, and we shared a good wealth of information and experiences. It greatly enhanced all of our learning experiences.

Mr Chiang Heng-Liang
Head of Retail Treasury Sales
Treasury and Capital Markets
HSBC

The MFE course presents two advantages. First, it covers an impressive wide range of financial topics that vary from financial derivatives to exotics options, from portfolio management to corporate finance, from term structure models to computer programming. Second, the teaching method adopts a good balance between a formal-quantitative approach and the use of practical applications. I strongly suggest the course to market participants and bank managers that want to be actively involved in a rapid changing financial environment and that are willing to upgrade their skills and financial background.

MFE program in NUS offers unique coverage of wide range of topics in financial engineering. Various markets and products; investment, trading and risk management; quantitative skills and finance understanding; theory and practice; it opened the door to the world of financial engineering for me and led me into the career in this exciting area. I keep learning and discovering new things everyday and have never been bored or it.

Mr Guo Xiao Qiang
Executive Director
Currency & Commodity Strategies
Goldman Sachs (Singapore)

I have found the CFE course to be enriching both in terms of the subjects coverage and the different diversity of subject matters. It's focus on the integration of mathematics, finance and computing is especially relevant today. The bridge between these 3 cornerstones is pivotal in assisting the learning process about the dynamics of the financial markets today. The course provides a firm grounding for those interested in pursuing a career in finance as well as for those who is interested in a greater understanding of finance.

Mr Kok Yih Bin, Daniel
Senior FX Trader/Vice President Regional Treasury
Asia Citibank

The MFE's muti-disciplinary approach involving finance, mathematics and computer science provide finance professionals with an excellent and well-balanced foundation to pursue their careers in sales and marketing, trading, financial engineering, business and risk management of financial assets/financial derivative products or to further their interest in research and consulting work. I truly enjoyed and learnt a great deal from the painstakingly-structured modules including those conducted by eminent professors from top overseas universities. The advanced quantitative and modelling skills learnt in this program will also be most useful in risk measurement and management given the greater awareness and heightened need among financial institutions and corporations to effectively manage the various risks of modern finance of great complexity and volatility

The global financial markets have always fascinated me since young. While studying for my Computing Science and Mathematical Engineering degrees in The Netherlands, I was doubtful whether I would ever be able to play an active, front-office role in the dynamic world of quantitative finance and derivatives trading - until I read about the Master of Financial Engineering program at NUS. The MFE program introduced me to a world where finance, econometrics, computing science and mathematics go hand in hand, and where I could directly apply my technical knowledge to solve real-life financial derivatives problems. Since I joined the MFE program, I have experienced every single lecture as a guided tour through the universe of quantitative finance, offering a broad spectrum of subjects while enabling me to dig deeper in areas that piqued my interest through self-studies.

I am currently working in a front-office (quantitative) role on the Interest Rate Derivatives desks at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, with future prospects on various derivatives trading positions. Therefore, besides the academic leverage of the MFE program has given me, it has also enabled me to realise part of my professional dreams.

Mr Roel G.H.Vaessen
Interest Rate Derivatives Desk - Global Markets
Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore

Before embarking on this course, I was asked to participate in the implementation of a financial system. Armed with basic degree on computer science, the myriad whirl of financial terminologies and concepts discussed were indeed intimidating and befuddling. The comprehensive MFE program has helped me overcome this handicap and has increased my appreciation of intricate and intriguing workings of financial markets. The program is therefore beneficial for those who are looking for a career switch to the financial industry.

The MFE is a cross-disciplinary program, which offers a host of finance, financial mathematics and computing subjects. Lectures providing good theoretical groundings are interspersed with project assignments and lab work to equip students with practical skills in financial structuring and modeling. The students get to apply the knowledge taught during lectures through analyzing financial data and building financial models using software packages such as Eviews and MATLAB.

Mr Tay Swee Yuan
Assistant Director
Head, Equities Risk Analysis
Risk & Performance Management Department
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Pte Ltd

With rapid technological advances, globalization and deregulation, the financial markets have become more competitive and increasingly volatile. The regulatory environment is also undergoing a phase of transformation with the introduction of Basel II. This new financial landscape presents exciting career opportunities for financial engineers to apply their skills in the areas of derivatives structuring, exotic trading and risk management. The NUS MFE program provides the necessary talents for establishing the status of Singapore as a global financial hub.

I am proud to be part of the MFE family as I have gained access to a vast network of finance professionals who share the same passion for finance as I do. This is a rigorous and well-designed program which is filled with first-class professors who strike a balance between theory and the real world. Moreover, the students' learning process is enhanced by working on projects that requires multi-disciplinary skills in finance, statistics and programming. This diverse background of the students also leads to refreshing exchanges that allow one to learn from each other. In addition, the wide variety of modules are flexible schedule are designed to cater to the needs of busy working professionals. Besides the regular classes, the CFE also makes extra effort to conduct additional seminars that are relevant to needs of the fast-changing finance industry.

I would strongly recommend this program to people who aspire to pursue a challenging career in quantitative finance. I am confident that the knowledge and the network that I have acquired during the course will put me in good stead for my future career in finance.

Mr Wong Choon Yuan
Assistant Director
Specialist Risk Supervision Department
Monetary Authority of Singapore

I recommend the NUS MFE program to anyone pursuing a career in the financial industry, particularly in roles involving thetrading, marketing, structuring, and risk management of financial instruments.Despite a previous master of applied finance qualification, I decided to embark on the multidisciplinary MFE program for its in- depth coverage of quantitative finance,including the fundamentals of derivatives pricing, financial modeling, programming, and their real world application, all of which have definitely added value to my job. I was also impressed by the flexibility of the MFE program in accommodating students with overseas business travel and with the top- notch teaching faculty.

Mr John Tan
Director, Senior Structurer
Credit Trading and Structuring
Financial Markets
Standard Chartered Bank

The explosive use of derivatives and the imperative need for risk management draws me to a course that offers substance that could stretch my mind. The NUS MFE's remarkable appeal will continue to grow with its strong focus on imparting quantitative, mathematics and programming knowledge. NUS-MFE not only provides students with highly qualified lecturers, students also benefited from the thought processes of visiting professors from other universities as well as the distinctive experiences from the overseas exchange program to Princeton.

Before attending the NUS MFE, I had wanted to switch my career to the financial industry. But only during my study in the MFE did I first see that I could realize my dream. Well-organized, the program covers a broad spectrum of interesting topics in financial engineering. There I really enjoyed every module that I attended and acquired new ideas from every lecture and every discussion with my classmates from different backgrounds. And more importantly, the program efficiently links financial knowledge to quantitative and analytical skills, which makes my previous engineering background still invaluable for me to pursue further success in the financial industry.

Mr Chen Zhen
Assistant Director
Investment Risk Management Division
Finance Department
Monetary Authority of Singapore

Testimonials from Graduates of the Distance Learning Mode

When I enrolled in the program I already had an advanced degree in Computational Physics and several years professional experience in the financial markets. It didn't make it easier. The program is both very demanding and rewarding. It is designed on the basis of sound financial theory, but geared exclusively towards the needs of the practitioner. I found even the assignment problems to be very helpful in my daily work tasks.

Dr Ivan Ourden
Senior Quantitative Analyst, Pension Financial Service, Canada
Research Associate C&E Engineering Dept, Univ of Alberta, Canada

The program offers a wide variety of courses in popular financial engineering topics. It not only allows me to develop robust knowledge in quantitative finance, but also helps me build up programming skill set which is important for being a practitioner in the ever-complicated world of finance.

After my MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania I was looking to further my interest in quantitative finance, for my new role as a derivatives trader with Standard Chartered Bank. I was recommended by many leading Professors in US about the MSc Financial Engineering program at NUS, not just for the academic rigor & research but also for it's benchmarking with global standards and close interaction with industry. I have been very impressed with the course content and IVLE as a communication media, which is truly world-class.

MSc in Financial Engineering

Testimonials

Professors

From Graduates and Current On-Campus Students

Testimonials from Graduates of the Distance Learning Mode