Finance and banking

Your undergraduate degree

You'll not only become a skilled practitioner but also a responsible, ethical and sustainable one too. We’ll help you to understand the impact that the financial sector has on the world and its people, and how finance professionals can be a force for positive change.

You'll gain access to:

• One of the largest finance groups in the UK:  The Essex Finance Group conduct international research focused on banking, behavioural and corporate finance and financial econometrics. When studying with us, you'll study alongside experts working with the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve ensuring your teaching is grounded in the finance and business sector.
• Exceptional facilities: Gain a competitive edge with access to our Virtual Trading Floor, powered by Bloomberg Financial Market Labs, providing a real-world experience in financial markets. 
• Industry-aligned courses: Our curriculum is crafted to align with the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) syllabus, the industry's benchmark entry-level qualification.     
• Professional Accreditation: Many of our courses have professional accreditation (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)), providing you with exam exemptions for a quicker path to a professional qualification.
• A truly international business school - Essex Business School is home to students and staff from over 150 countries.

We're also in the top 200 globally for accounting and finance in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024.

Career prospects

A degree in finance and banking from Essex Business School will equip you with industry standard skills and the practical application of knowledge and tools required to succeed in any area of the finance and banking sector. Find out more about where a degree in finance and banking can take you and how our business school can support you.

Postgraduate Masters study

Explore the range of finance Master's degrees at Essex Business School, home to the one of the largest Finance Groups in the UK and also home to the Essex Finance Centre and the Essex Centre for Macro and Financial Econometrics. Led by a a team of experts conducting global research, our degrees cover a broad curriculum, including share price forecasting, investment portfolio management, financial technology, and big data, and are tailored to prepare you for a diverse range of finance specialisations. Our degrees will open doors for your future careers in investment banking, fund management, quantitative analysis, and sustainable finance. With facilities like a virtual trading floor, Essex Business School is dedicated to providing first-class transformational education aligned with the dynamic financial services sector.

Essex offers flagship programs like MSc Finance and MRes Finance, with the latter designed for those aiming for research careers in finance. Specialised Master's degrees, such as MSc Finance and Data Analytics, MSc Financial Technology, MSc Finance and Global Trading, MSc Financial Engineering and Risk Management, MSc Banking and Finance, and MSc Finance and Investment, cater to specific interests, from data analytics to global trading.

Research degrees

We believe in advancing financial research that makes a difference to industry. Work by our researchers is discussed at the most influential financial institutions in the world, such as the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve, but most importantly it is relevant to real people's lives.

By joining our research community, you’ll be at the forefront of thinking in areas such as the financing of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), commodity prices and their relation to food poverty, bank risk and regulation, acquisitions and financial econometrics.

We are very proud that Essex is ranked in the Top 175 for Business and Economics in THE World University Rankings by Subject 2024 and ranked in the top 200 globally for accounting and finance in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024.

We’re pleased to be able to offer a number of integrated PhDs, for students who have a strong research proposal but who do not have previous research or Masters-level study experience.

Our Research Group

• Finance Group
  Our vision is to be at the forefront of the next age of finance and to focus on research that can harness the potential of technological innovation and digital disruption to transform financial services and support sustainable growth.

Our Research Centres

• Essex Centre for Macro and Financial Econometrics (ECMFE)
  The Essex Centre for Macro and Financial Econometrics (ECMFE) brings together academic and industry expertise from both inside and outside the University of Essex to research and help solve important issues in macroeconomics and financial markets.

• Essex Finance Centre (EFiC)
  The Essex Finance Centre (EFiC) provides a world-class and stimulating environment for research activity in banking, finance and financial econometrics.  Our culture is one of integrity, inclusion and respect, with a particular emphasis on encouraging collaboration and synergy between our internal and associate members. 

Start your application with us

Explore our finance research by theme or your area of interest and find a supervisor that can support your through your studies. More information can be found about research degrees on our school pages. Our courses below will help guide you through the various research degree programmes we offer.