The Financial Mathematics MSc programme covers mainstream mathematical finance and its applications. The curriculum includes, for example, derivatives pricing and hedging, asset price dynamics, risk analysis and extreme events, interest rate and foreign exchange processes, credit and inflation linked products, real options, energy derivatives, stochastic optimisation and control, and investment decision making, as well as other mathematical subjects of relevance to practical financial modelling. The programme is run by the Financial Mathematics group in the Department of Mathematics at King's College London, and builds on the group's close links with financial institutions in the City of London and elsewhere throughout the world. Applications are currently being considered for admission in September 2001. The part-time programme is compatible with the needs of those already employed in the financial sector.
Candidates choose eight lecture courses in consultation with their course advisor.
Further course options are available such as Neural Networks, Linear Systems and Control Theory, and the Spectral Theory of Markov Chains. Each candidate also undertakes a project to study an area of finance in greater depth. An entry requirement for the MSc is the equivalent of a first or upper second class degree in a mathematical discipline. A PhD degree in financial mathematics or a related area of applied probability is an asset that is often highly valued by employers in the financial sector. Applications from prospective PhD students are currently being solicited.