Finance (MFin)

Our full-time Master of Finance (MFin) program is offered in Waterloo, Ontario – Canada's best technology ecosystem – and takes 12 months to complete.

Benefits

• Earn your MFin degree in one year.
• Launch your career in finance by learning finance theories and their application to current issues affecting financial markets and institutions.
• Gain hands-on experience in investment and asset management through the Laurier Graduate Student Investment Fund.
• Earn your MFin degree while preparing for your CFA exams (Level I, II or III).
• Receive dedicated career training through Laurier’s Career Development Office.
• Located in Canada’s best technology ecosystem, Waterloo has a strong financial services sector and is home to several leading-edge research institutions.
• Benefit from a supportive alumni network.

Schedule

Three terms of study (12 months), with a total of 10 required courses.

Term 1 (Fall):

• MF673: Investment Management
• MF701: Financial Statement Analysis
• MF773: Financial Modeling
• MF753: Financial Econometrics
• Mandatory non-credit Excel, VBA, Python and Bloomberg training and career development.

Term 2 (Winter):

• MF623: Derivatives and Financial Risk Management
• MF766: Advanced Investment Management
• MF763: Economics for Financial Analysis

Term 3 (Spring):

• MF663: Advanced Corporate Finance
• MF743: Fixed Income Analysis
• One of the following:
  • BU643: International Financial Management
  • MF791: Machine Learning in Finance

Recommended Optional Elective Courses

• BU613: Entrepreneurial Finance
• BU633: Management of Financial Institutions
• BU643: International Financial Management
• BU660: Laurier Start-up Fund
• BU693: Behavioural Finance
• EC665: Forecasting, Time Series Analysis and Survey
• EC623: Financial Economics
• MF683: Advanced Security Analysis
• MF733: CFA Level I Review
• MF783: Research Paper
• MF791: Machine Learning in Finance

You can choose to pursue our full-time degree while being part of Canada's largest co-op program. This option takes 20 months to complete, including two four-month co-op work terms. MFin students typically work in the financial sector, with 80% of our co-op work terms in companies within the Greater Toronto Area.

Note: The co-op option is available to applicants with less than three years of full-time work experience.

Benefits

• Attain your MFin degree in 12 months of study plus eight months of co-op. Offset the cost of tuition while earning your degree, gaining valuable work experience in multiple industries of your choice.
• Laurier has the largest business degree co-op program in Canada with 65% of co-op jobs in the Greater Toronto Area.
• Learn finance theories and apply to practical issues for a career in finance in areas such as investment banking and financial risk analysis.
• Gain hands-on experience in investment and asset management through the Laurier Graduate Student Investment Fund.
• Earn your MFin degree while preparing for your CFA exams (Level I, II or III).
• Receive dedicated career training through the Career Development Office.
• Located in Canada’s best technology ecosystem, the city of Waterloo has a strong financial services sector and is home to several leading-edge research institutions.
• Benefit from supportive alumni network.

Our co-op program helps students gain relevant work experience in large corporations and financial companies, including:

• American International Group (AIG)
• BMO Capital Markets
• TD Canada Trust
• CIBC
• CI Investments
• CPPIB
• Fidelity Investments
• Manulife
• Morgan Stanley
• National Bank
• INFOR Financial
• OMERS
• Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
• Portlan Holdings
• RBC
• Scotiabank

Schedule

Five terms of study (20 months) covering 10 required courses and two four-month paid work terms with firms in the financial services industry.

Recommended Optional Elective Courses

• BU613: Entrepreneurial Finance
• BU633: Management of Financial Institutions
• BU643: International Financial Management
• BU660: Laurier Start-up Fund
• BU693: Behavioural Finance
• EC665: Forecasting, Time Series Analysis and Survey
• EC623: Financial Economics
• MF683: Advanced Security Analysis
• MF733: CFA Level I Review
• MF783: Research Paper
• MF791: Machine Learning in Finance

The Master of Finance (MFin) and MSc in Management in Analytics (MMA) double degree is designed to train students to be interdisciplinary specialists in finance and data analytics.

The integrated interdisciplinary curriculum is combined with experiential learning for students to gain comprehensive knowledge both in finance and data analytics as well as hands-on experience for solving real world finance problems using sophisticated analytical tools and quantitative models.

Benefits

• Earn two master's degrees in 20 months.
• The MFin + MMA double degree provides students with data analytics skills as well as the breadth and depth of the technical 'must haves' for a career in finance.
• Receive dedicated career training through Laurier's Career Development Office.
• Located in Canada's best technology ecosystem, Waterloo has a strong financial services sector and is home to several leading-edge research institutions.
• Benefit from a supportive alumni network.

This course will introduce students to Excel functions, VBA, and Python to build financial models for financial analysis, valuation of bond and equity, portfolio optimization, and portfolio performance analysis. Students will also be introduced to various databases for financial research and analysis.

This course focuses on the concepts, methods and uses of financial accounting information primarily from a security valuation perspective. The course is designed to improve your familiarity with and comfort level with financial statements. While our main focus is on understanding and using financial information for valuation purposes, we will be considering how financial statements are prepared and the rules that govern such preparation. It is by understanding the basis for preparation that you can understand how to use and interpret the information and any limitations that may be inherent in the information provided.

The course covers Quantitative Methods and Econometric theories and techniques required for financial analysis, including data management, sampling and estimation, hypothesis testing, Monte Carlo simulations, regression analysis and time series. The course will have a practical orientation and will require the use of computer software as Excel, Stata or Python.

This course provides an overview of the derivatives markets and how these contracts are employed by market participants to control their market risk exposures. Students learn different aspects of derivatives, as well as the know-how to implement hedging strategies using these financial instruments. The course also discusses different option trading strategies and covers different methods for pricing derivatives, including the Black-Scholes option pricing model and the quantification of option’s risk based on the "Greeks."

The course covers the microeconomic and macroeconomic theory and methods required for financial analysis. Topics include consumer and producer theory, market structure, economic growth, monetary and fiscal policy, and international finance.

This course discusses three main decisions (investment, financing, and payout) made by managers at a level deeper than the introductory course. First, you will learn various corporate valuation models and use them to assess investments. Second, all firms must compete in a marketplace for scarce capital, and thus the theories of capital structure are introduced to help us understand corporate financing behavior. Third, you will learn payout policies and the tradeoff between dividends and share repurchases. Finally, this course discusses special topics such as agency costs and asymmetric information.

This course is designed to equip you with deep understandings of financial markets and various financial products. Topics covered include security analysis, portfolio theories, bond pricing, and derivatives.

This course has a three-fold purpose viz.:

• To understand the risks and returns implicit in the fixed income market and its instruments.
• To develop an analytical framework to understand how various fixed income instruments are priced.
• To acquire problem solving skills with applications to fixed income markets.

The course will feature cases in Fixed Income spanning diverse topics such as corporate debt issuances, structured finance, MBS/CDO markets, green bonds, interest rate hedging, credit risk, credit default swaps, and arbitrage trading. Bloomberg training will be part of the course. The students will be required to use data and analytical tools from Bloomberg to conduct regression and statistical analysis using Python.

The course covers advanced topics in investment analysis, portfolio management and alternative assets. It extends (and differs from) the introductory investments course (BU673) by emphasizing:

1. Active as well as passive investment strategies;
2. Modern alternative models to classical asset pricing models;
3. Complexities encountered while managing portfolios on behalf of clients; and
4. Alternative investment vehicles augmented to primary securities (equity and debt).

This covers all aspects of security analysis. Students take on the role of either equity analyst or portfolio manager. Their work will be reviewed and overseen by industry professionals and faculty members. Analysts will learn:

1. How to conduct in-depth research on an equity security;
2. How to develop, defend and present an investment thesis; and
3. How to prepare detailed financial forecasts and valuation models.

The course allows students to manage real money for the Laurier Graduate Students Investment Fund (LGSIF).

The course compares traditional finance to the expanding influence of behavioral finance. It examines both proof and anomalies of efficient markets. The evolution of various behavioral finance theories; types of investor biases; methods for identifying and correcting biases will be studied. Investor psychology relating to age; culture; and other factors will be discussed.

This course helps you prepare for the CFA level I exam in May. All topics covered in the level I exam will be reviewed.

This course focuses on the financial challenges confronting private businesses and in particular, early and mid-stage companies that are growing rapidly or aspire to rapid growth. We will concentrate on:

1. Becoming familiar with the many sources of funds for these firms with particular emphasis on angel investments, venture capital, franchising, bank loans, mezzanine financing and early public sources of equity;
2. Becoming familiar with laws and regulations relevant to such financing; and, most importantly,
3. Learning the key elements that enter into the structuring of the “deal” between private companies and their financiers.

A secondary focus of the course is on the special financing concerns related to management and ownership succession within family firms.

This course discusses several issues in the field of International finance. Five key topics will be discussed:

• Economics of the forex markets;
• International capital (debt and equity) markets;
• International corporate finance;
• Financing International trade; and
• Forex derivatives.

The course will feature several cases in International capital markets and risk management. Bloomberg training will be part of the course. The students will be required to use data and analytical tools from Bloomberg to conduct regression and statistical analysis using Python.

This course provides an overview of the main investment strategies and tools used by hedge funds and proprietary traders. There are three specific objectives in this course:

• To understand the risks and returns associated with different investment strategies.
• To develop an analytical framework to study investment strategies.
• To acquire data analyst skills required in the study and implementation of investment strategies.

The lectures present central concepts of investment strategies with special emphasis on the financial intuition underlying them. These concepts are illustrated in each class with exercises in which students conduct analyses and implement different methodologies.

The Laurier Start-up Fund course is a practicum that gives senior students a hands-on education in early stage investing. The course allows students to work with early stage technology companies that are growing rapidly or aspiring to rapid growth. In particular, students will learn how to assess the company’s:

1. Product development and testing;
2. Commercialization potential including size of addressable market and competitive position;
3. Sales strategy and planned steps to take market share;
4. Founders and key employees and their ability to plan and execute;
5. Financial prospects; and
6. Financing choices.

On the basis of this analysis, students will learn how “funding deals” are screened and structured between early stage companies and angel investors.

This course introduces students to diverse methods of machine learning (ML) and their practical implementation in Finance. The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of how some common problems in the financial industry can be tackled with machine learning tools.

The course is composed of different modules that take the student through the end-to-end process associated with the deployment of ML solutions. By overviewing key concepts in applied mathematics underlying ML and implementing ML solutions for selected financial problems, students will acquire the skills required to conduct financial analyses using machine learning. Throughout the lectures, illustrative exercises are carried out using a programming language like Python.

This course introduces students to the structure and the role of major bank and non-bank financial institutions in Canada and U.S., and the management of their operations and risk. The course is structured into three modules:

1. Introduction to financial institutions, their operations, performance, and regulations;
2. Measurement of various financial and non-financial risks faced by these institutions; and
3. Tools and instruments to manage and hedge of these risks.

Pair up with a faculty member and conduct research on a specific topic. You will learn how to use research techniques and tools to conduct empirical tests of a finance problem using finance databases. The Research Paper is not a thesis but requires more detailed and analytical work than an independent study.

This course provides detailed conceptual and practical knowledge of finance from a corporate perspective. The objective is to understand how corporate structure and corporate value are interrelated, and how they are dependent on two sets of factors:

1. Dynamic relationships between corporate management and stakeholders; and
2. Strategies and decisions undertaken by corporate managers (executives).

Full-Time Waterloo Admission Requirements

• A four-year honours undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in economics, business or a related field with a concentration in finance.
• Minimum B+ average in your last two years of full-time study.
• GMAT Focus score of at least 595 for the full-time with co-op program and at least 575 for the full-time regular program or the GRE equivalent. If you passed the CFA Level I exam the GMAT requirement can be waived. You can use a GMAC conversion table.

• High proficiency in written and spoken English (co-op option applicants are required to attend a face-to-face interview).
  • Applicants whose language of instruction was other than English during their undergraduate degree must supply evidence of proficiency in English prior to admission:
    
    • Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): A minimum score of 100 (with minimum skills scores of 21 in each of the four skills sets); or
    • International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or its equivalent: A minimum score of seven.
• Letters of reference: Normally one academic reference and one professional reference, or two academic references with less than one year of full-time work experience.

After you have submitted your OUAC application, paid the non-refundable application fee, and Laurier has received your application, you'll receive an email from gradadmissions@wlu.ca advising you to upload the additional required documentation to Laurier’s Online Registration and Information System (LORIS).

To apply to our Master of Finance program, you must include:

• The OUAC Application Summary, which is generated after you complete your OUAC application (log back in to OUAC to retrieve it).
• Transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work. Documents must be dated within the past six months.
• A completed statement of intent.
• An official GMAT score or an official letter from the CFA Institute for proof the CFA exam has been passed.
• A resume of your academic and work experience. Include a history of your publication and scholarly paper activity and any other information you feel will interest the admissions committee.
• Completed reference forms. Reference forms are electronically submitted to Laurier by the referee and do not need to be uploaded.
• IELTS or TOEFL scores (if your native language is not English and you did not complete your most recent degree in English).
• For international applicants: A completed Authorization of Information Release (AIR) form is required if you have engaged the services of an education agent/agency. Upload it to your application checklist when you identify your agent in the OUAC application. Visit Step 2 for more information about the AIR.

Proficiency in written and spoken English is essential to graduate studies at Laurier. Applicants whose language of instruction during their previous postsecondary education was not in English must submit evidence of proficiency in English. Normally this evidence is a score of at least 100 in TOEFL or at least 7 in IELTS. Results from accepted testing services must be uploaded to LORIS as part of the application process.