Financial Engineering, Risk Track, M.S.

The Risk track presents a comprehensive approach to managing risk in the context of globalized markets, financial compliance, multi-dimensional regulatory environments and industry convergence across the financial spectrum. This specialization will prepare you for a challenging career in risk finance, insurance, credit risk and derivatives or financial risk management.

Challenges faced by practitioners of risk include:

1. Managing financial, extreme and cyber risks in an era of uncertainty and global markets in turmoil and out of equilibrium.
2. Developing financial products that are robust and anti-fragile to value risks and allow the safe transfer and the securitization of risks to better access financial liquidity and financial risk exchanges. Financial products such as credit derivatives and financial insurance products are introduced, priced and managed to prevent financial losses and to hedge trading bets.
3. Risk management embedded in financial risk management of banks and other industrial and financial institutions.
4. Financial regulation to better comprehend the complexity of compliance with regulatory agencies.
5. Financial Analytics: to better measure risks, price and manage trading risks in an environment where stealth trading, high frequency trading, uncertainty and multi-agents finance prevail. Gaining a greater appreciation of out-of- equilibrium (incomplete) finance, statistical tools, big data finance, and financial technology to track, assess and control risks are essential in such environments.
6. Market Risk Analytics and Operational Risk Management in banks, investment management firms and hedge funds.
7. Quantitative Model Risk and model validation including the implementation process, reviewing model standards, assessing risk mitigation policies and monitoring risk events.

The job opportunities open to graduates in the Risk Finance Track are expanding and include jobs in Credit Risk, Derivatives and Management in Loan Firms and Banks, Insurance and their use of financial Instruments, Regulation, within Agencies with responsibilities over Financial Institutions (such as the Treasury-The OCC, The SEC, etc.  As well as Compliance Management, in particular in the Banking sector, in Hedge Funds and in many regulated institutions, investment and hedge funds and corporate financial risk management.