COURSES

    The courses, with ECTS credits, for the part-time programme

    Preparatoty Courses (September - October)

    Mathematics  (ECTS:0)

    The aim of the course is to provide students with the necessary mathematical tools employed in the teaching of main courses of the Programme and used in the related literature, as well as to familiarize them with the application of mathematics in addressing economic problems. The topics covered by the course are: functions and equations; the time value of money (the present and the future value of money); matrices (matrix operations, transposes and inverses, determinants, Cramer’s Rule); differential calculus (derivatives, rules of differentiation; Taylor Series expansion, maxima and minima of functions of one and of more than one variables, optimization with and without constraints); integral calculus (rules of integration, definite and indefinite integrals, improper integrals).

    Statistics  (ECTS:0)

    The main objective of the course is to remind student the basic notions in statistics so that they would be able to follow a course in Quantitative Analysis or Finance.

    Random Variables and their Probability Distributions: Discrete and Continuous Random Variables. Joint Distributions, Conditional Distributions, and Independence. Features of Probability Distributions: Expected Value, Median, Variance, Standardizing a Random Variable. Features of Joint and Conditional Distributions, Covariance, Correlation, Variance of Sum of Random Variables, Conditional Expectation. The Normal and Related Distributions. Population, Parameters, and Random Sampling. Finite Sample Properties of Estimators. Interval Estimation and Confidence Intervals: Confidence Intervals for the Mean from a Normally Distributed Population

    1st Semester (Οctober-January)

    Εconomics of Financial Markets  (ECTS: 7.5)

    The main goal of the course is for students to understand the relationship between the banking system and the financial markets. It focuses on how the liquidity in an economy is shaped, and what is the role of the commercial banking system in this process. The determinants of money supply are presented, whereas the various monetary policy tools as well as the role of a Central Bank are discussed. The money demand process is analyzed as well as the transmission mechanisms of monetary policy. Special attention is given to the presentation of the ECB and the Eurosystem.

                                          

    Financial Reporting and Analysis  (ECTS: 7.5)

    The course introduces students into the key concepts and elements of financial accounting in detail (assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity), and also aims at helping them make decisions as future users of financial statements. The course further covers more specialised topics in accounting, such as topics that relate to the quality of earnings, and the basic elements of financial statements analysis, in addition to the coverage of topics on accounting for depreciation, impairment, uncollectible accounts and provisions, inventory, financial assets and liabilities, and the calculation of cash flows. Financial reporting concepts are presented according to the provisions of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).At the end of the course, students will have a hands-on understanding of the most important elements of a set of financial statements, and should be able to use this information for financial decision-making. They should also be able to perform basic financial statements analysis into the accounts of a company, and understand the fundamental factors that shape and can deteriorate the quality of earnings, and financial reporting quality more generally.

    2nd Semester  (January-July)

    Capital Markets & Portfolio Management  (ECTS: 7.5)

    The aim of this course is to introduce students to the modern tools of investment analysis and appraisal, including investment decision under certainty and under uncertainty, pricing of risk, portfolio management, and asset pricing. It also covers topics on pricing fixed income securities, the term structure of interest rates and bond portfolio management. The course includes demonstrations/applications of the above techniques using computer software to see how they can be used, in practice. At the end of the course, the students would have learned the tools of the modern investment analysis and become familiar with their application, in practice.

    Quantitative Methods  (ECTS: 7.5)
    The lectures target to familiarize the class participants with the basic theoretical principles and the understanding of financial models. The objective of the applications is to familiarize the students with the various estimation techniques, applied on real data, on the areas of Economics and Finance. Random Variables. Covariance-Correlation dependence of random variables. Hypothesis Testing. Linear Regression and hypothesis testing. Economic Applications, with emphasis on CAPM. Transformations of random variables and introduction of dummy variables. Misspecification (autocorrelation, heteroskedasticity). Economic significance of heteroskedasticity with emphasis on portfolios and fund formation. GMM and Maximum Likelihood. Binary dependent variables (Logit, Probit). Introduction to time series with emphasis on GARCH and VAR models
    Corporate Finance  (ECTS:6)

    Corporate Finance is one of the seven core courses of the program. Students taking this course should be able to:

    Identify turning points in economic policy that could have a material impact on funding conditions and corporate decisions to access external financing. Navigate in the new era of extraordinary policy interventions by central banks that have a profound impact on asset valuations and the cost of corporate financing. Value investment projects, conduct capital budgeting exercises, and identify factors that affect corporate decisions to access different forms of financing. Assess alternative ways of accessing capital markets. Identify issues of first-order importance that are relevant to corporate financing, combine them to make informed decisions and negotiate funding terms with financiers.

    Financial Derivatives  (ECTS:6)

    The course covers the main financial derivatives: futures and futures on various underlying values. Options on shares, indices, currencies and futures. Interest rate swaps and foreign exchange. The focus of the analysis are pricing and hedging derivatives or derivatives positions by financial institutions. Special topics covered include, inter alia, the Black - Scholes model, binomial trees, hedging deltas, as well as various applications such as real rights in finance.The aim of this course is to introduce students to the theoretical and practical aspects of financial derivatives. Specifically, the course examines the pricing and use of financial derivatives including options, forward contracts, futures contracts, swaps and credit derivatives. The course will extensively focus on the theory and applications of derivatives in speculation and risk management. Moreover, the course includes a computational demonstration of the pricing models with excel.

    3rd Semester (September-Μarch)

    Elective Course 1

    Students select 1 course from the below indicative list of elective courses offered.

    Elective Course 2

    Students select 1 course from the below indicative list of elective courses offered.

    Banking and Risk Management  (ECTS:6)

    The course aims to deepen scientific knowledge in areas of Banking. It develops topics on the mediation function of credit institutions, the efficiency and effectiveness of banks, as well as the detection, measurement, and management and of risks, such as credit risk, interest rate risk, exchange rate risk, liquidity risk and the operational risk.Monetary and Credit System, Financial Institutions & Banking Intermediation. Shadow Banks. Banking Risks: Interest Rates, Markets, Credit, Portfolio, Off-Balance-Sheet, Equity, Liquidity. Risk Management: Liabilities and Liquidity, Deposit Insurance, Capital Adequacy, Securitization. Role of Central Bank. Financial crises.

     4th Semester (Μarch - September)

    Master's Dissertation  (ECTS: 30)

    Students in the part-time programme are given the option of attending and taking exams in three courses instead of writing a dissertation.

    The evaluation of the thesis is based on strict scientific criteria based on originality, depth and analysis, synthesis and quality. The diploma is graded by a three-member Examination Committee (consisting of the supervising professor and two examining professors). The student must present the thesis before the examination committee.

    Indicative Bibliography: Depending on the subject of the thesis chosen by each student, his supervisor offers him a helpful indicative bibliography.

    Courses Replacing Master Thesis

    Special Issues in Finance and Investments  (ECTS: 10)

    The aim of this course is to present a number of risk management and investment applications to the students, which are used in practice. It covers topics in international portfolio risk management and currency risk, matual funds and portfolio performance evaluation, Investments strategies and value at risk (VaR) applications.

    At the end of the course, the students will have become familiar with techniques and concepts on international investing risk management procedures and diversification, performance evaluation procedures and security selection, investment strategies accounting for taxes and inflation, investor constrains, investment policies and VaR procedures. VaR procedures for asset portfolios and loans management will be demonstrated through a an econometric package.

    Special Topics in Banking  (ECTS: 10)

    The course aims in further deepening of students’ scientific knowledge and technical training in Modern Banking cognitive areas.

    The course elaborates the Banking System’s Special Issues, as well as topics regarding: Securitization Mechanisms, Procedures and Applications – Bank Valuation Models: Mergers and Acquisitions - Banks and Payments Systems: Settlement Risk & Clearing – Bank System Regulation and Supervision - Standards of Basel Accord I, ΙΙ & ΙΙΙ and Capital Adequacy – Bank Structure and Organization Charts – Bank Strategy and Business Plans - Banking System and Financial Crises. 

    Information Technologies, Trading & Investment Strategies  (ECTS: 10)

    Dealing room operations focus, mainly, on trading financial securities and executing financial transactions, and are directly dictated from risk, liquidity and cash management constrains. The aim of this course is to make the student familiar with the functions, operations and trading strategies in the modern dealing room. It offers an opportunity to learn more about the Reuters Eikon application; the financial information service for professionals.The course attempts to develop an operational knowledge in trading financial securities with a focus on risk management and return enhancement. It deals comprehensively with the increased importance played by risk and uncertainty in today’s financial markets. Students are introduced to theoretical and empirical issues of different financial instruments, their valuation methodology, and their institutional uses in risk management.

    * Elective Courses

    Companies’ and Banks’ Valuations and Mergers  (ECTS: 6)

    The objective of the course are the valuations and the mergers & acquisitions of companies and Banks. Issues such as: corporate finance, capital and alternative investments, financial reporting systems, business groups, capital structure and operations decisions, acquisition methods and strategies, corporate restructuring, stock valuations, terms of m&a’s transactions and shareholders’ agreements.

    The desired learning outcomes are a full understanding of the concepts, tools, and methods of valuing companies as well as technical mergers & acquisitions, they will also be able to apply the above knowledge, tools, and methods in practice.

    Credit Risk Management  (ECTS:6)
    The first section presents standard interest rates models. These are then used in practice to price option or futures on Treasury Bills and Bonds, as well as interest caps and floors. They can also be used to hedge against risky debt. Having introduced the above tools, the second section the course makes an introduction to the credit risk, credit ratings, estimation of default probabilities, calculates the credit risk on debt instruments, presents credit risky bonds, credit default swaps, futures and options on credit default swap spreads, options on swaps, and finally introduces the mortgage-backed securities. The latter can be found very useful for practitioners in the markets for their every day activities, while students will learn all the necessary tools for credit risk management.
    Game Theory & Strategic Decisions: with applications in Economics  (ECTS: 6)
    Τhis course is designed for people in business, for managers. It is as theoretical as necessary for providing an introduction to the science of game theory; and practical in that it offers many applications and case studies to make it attractive to managers in both the commercial and non-profit sectors, as well as to students in business.The chief purpose of this course is to enable the student to set up, study and solve games, especially games that arise in business and economics. To acquire a taste of the type of situations we would be interested in as well as the type of questions we would be asking, think of the following “real-life” situation.
    Financial Risk Management  (ECTS: 6)

    The educational aim of the course is to provide an integrated overview of the models of asset dynamics for different risk types (Equities, Interest Rates, FX & Credit) and the key techniques of identification, measurement and management of financial risk.

    Part 1: review of basic concepts of securities and derivatives, Part 2: theory of risk (statistics and metrics), Part 3: Value at risk: Historical simulation, parametric evaluation and Monte Carlo simulation

    Market Microstructure with Statistical and Computational Methods  (ECTS: 6)

    In this course we will use statistical and computational tools to study several aspects of trading in modern financial markets;

      ∙ What statistical facts about financial markets are useful for investors.  
      ∙ How quantitative trading models are constructed, implemented and evaluated.

      ∙ How markets are organised and how organisation affects trading costs.

    We will discuss several major asset classes including cryptos. The syllabus covers both theoretical work and empirical work.

    Large Data and Statistical Learning  (ECTS: 6)

    This course is designed to introduce students to the concepts of large data handling and analysis with machine learning techniques. We start with computational analysis and inference and discuss the Monte Carlo, Bootstrap, k-fold cross-validation and recursive and rolling estimation methodologies. We provide a solid basis for time-series forecasting based on predictive linear regressions as well as using the Kalman Smoother. Next, we discuss large data handling techniques and discuss its features (seasonalities, nonstationarities). We discuss how unsupervised machine learning methodologies (k-means clustering, principal component analysis and dynamic factor analysis) could be applied in economics and finance forecasting applications (including the construction of Financial Conditions Indexes and Uncertainty Indicators). Next, we introduce the penalised regression methodologies of ridge, lasso and elastic net. We extend our discussion to unbalanced datasets and use bridge equations, MIDAS and U-MIDAS models as suggested remedies. Finally, our special topics include adaptive learning and modelling and applications of machine learning in portfolio selection.

    On top of our theory discussions, the course has a “hands-on” approach where all these methods applied in real data using the R Project for Statistical Analysis as the main scientific software.

    Sustainable Finance  (ECTS: 6)

    The course will provide all the necessary theoretical and technical knowledge of sustainable finance. First, the ESG (Environmental, Sustainable, Governance) criteria will be presented, what this means for a company, how it must comply with these criteria. The impact of ESG criteria on investor choices, credit risk assessments of companies by rating agencies, and the banking sector will also be analyzed. Green finance will then be analysed, with a particular focus on the Green bond market, which are designed to finance projects related to the climate and the environment, and the perspective of investors in these will be analysed. bonds. The Green loan market will also be presented, which are loans to support environmentally sustainable economic activity. This will be followed by basic concepts and criteria for evaluating sustainable investments, cost of capital analysis in the evaluation of sustainable investment programs, risk and sensitivity analysis, as well as evaluation of sustainable investment programs at the enterprise level. Finally, the challenges and opportunities that sustainable asset and portfolio investments present to investors will be presented.

    It is possible for students to choose courses from other Master’s Programmes in the School or in the University following a decision by Programme’s Committee, and the General Assembly or Special Interdepartmental Committee of the other Department/Programme.The elective courses offered per year are decided by the Program Committee following the proposal of Coordinating Committe of the Program.

    Modification of the curriculum and redistribution of courses between semesters can be made following decisions of the governing bodies, in accordance with the Postgraduate Studies Regulations.