Financial Economics BSc Honours

This highly practical course aims to prepare you to use economic reasoning and mathematical and statistical analysis to analyse and inform management decisions in business, industry, public and voluntary sectors. It is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge to evaluate financial performance and business and public policy issues – skills useful in almost any career.

Upon graduation, you can target a role as a business analyst or specialist economist or choose to pursue a broader career in government departments, banking, risk and insurance, investment and broking firms, retail and manufacturing firms or the voluntary sector.

Past graduates have secured roles as economic consultants, management trainees, investment bankers, professional accountants and within the Government Economic Service.

The University's Careers and Employability Service has built up a network of over 3,000 employers around the world, helping all our students explore and connect with exciting opportunities and careers.

• Develop your innovation & entrepreneurial skills
  Develop your innovation & entrepreneurial skills in The Big Idea competition, sponsored by Santander.
• Kickstart your career
  Learn how to use social media in your job hunt or LinkedIn to kickstart your career.
• Develop your CQ
  Develop your cultural intelligence – or ‘CQ’ – by studying alongside students and staff representing more than 100 nationalities.

Industry links

Westminster Business School is one of London’s leading centres for business education based in the heart of London and its political, media and financial services scene. We have strong links with the Government Economic Service, and Dr Vincent Rich, Head of the School of Organisations, Economy and Society, regularly conducts interviews as part of their graduate recruitment procedure. Connected to a wide range of professional bodies, including the Society of Professional Economists, a growing alumni network and the employer representatives on the Employability Advisory Board, we have excellent links with the industry. Staff who currently teach on this course have extensive professional experience in a range of business sectors, with many staff maintaining links with industry through consultancy and training work.

Job roles

This course will prepare you for roles such as:

• Account manager
• Actuarial analyst
• Assistant economist
• Bank manager
• Business analyst
• Commercial project manager
• Commodities analyst
• Data analyst
• Economic consultant
• Economist
• Financial advisor
• Journalist
• Investment analyst
• Market research analyst
• Management trainee
• Risk analyst
• Sponsorships executive
• Statistician
• Stockbroker

Graduate employers

Graduates from the Business School have found employment at organisations including:

• Boxington Corporate Finance
• Goldman Sachs
• Government Economic Service
• Hamton Environmental Services

Westminster Employability Award

Employers value graduates who have invested in their personal and professional development – and our Westminster Employability Award gives you the chance to formally document and demonstrate these activities and achievements.

The award is flexible and can be completed in your own time, comprising a set of core and optional extracurricular activities.

Activities might include gaining experience through a part-time job or placement, signing up to a University-run scheme – such as mentoring or teaching in a school – or completing online exercises.

This degree aims to provide you with a solid understanding of underlying economic theories, principles and their financial applications in a variety of contexts, such as financial markets, the banking system, or global financial strategy. You’ll learn to interpret financial data and carry out statistical and financial analysis to plan and manage risk, engaging with specialist topics including principles of financial intermediation, bank regulation and supervision, as well as applied portfolio management.

In each year of study, you will be offered a choice of applied financial, and economic modules, as well as more general economic modules which consider the impact of economics on sports industry finances, for example. You also have the opportunity to study a foreign language, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese or Spanish. This is an excellent idea if you want to broaden your horizons and experience another culture, particularly if you see yourself working abroad or for an international company in the future. Recent students have visited partner institutions, including Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and the University of Technology Sydney in Australia.

Year 1

The course begins with a thorough grounding in economics, and you will also develop a basic understanding of financial markets through Introduction to Financial Economics. Topics covered include the time value of money, understanding risk and return, and introduction to the stock market and the foreign exchange market.

Subjects of study include:

• Global Business Environment
• Introduction to Financial Economics
• Macroeconomics 1
• Mathematics for Economists
• Microeconomics 1
• Crises and Controversies in Economics

You will also have the opportunity to take an optional module that broadens your skills or helps you to gain more in-depth knowledge of your specialist area; your option module may be a foreign language.

Credit Level 4

Year 2

You will undertake a more advanced study of macroeconomics and microeconomics and the application of economic analysis, research and appraisal tools. We cover managerial economics, market structures, competition, government objectives and macroeconomic management while exploring world financial markets, regulators and financial instruments. You’ll develop technical data analysis skills using forecasting and modelling packages, as well as research and project appraisal skills. For example, in Financial Policy Analysis, you will cover asymmetric (differential) information, applied portfolio management, value-at-risk and financial stability.

Optional modules allow you to choose subjects of particular interest. For example, in Digital Economy, for instance, we unravel the uniqueness of specific digital products and consider the power of networks such as internet dating and social media platforms. Global Economic Issues examines topical issues such as migration, Brexit and climate change.

Subjects of study include:

• Financial Policy Analysis
• Macroeconomics 2
• Microeconomics 2
• Money Banking and Financial Markets
• Statistics for Economists

Plus, one option from Digital Economy, Global Economic Issues, The Economics and Finance and Sport, or a broader business module, including a foreign language.

Credit Level 5

Placement Year

Between Years 2 and 3, you may choose to study English-taught courses for a year at one of our overseas partner institutions. Currently, you can take a Year Abroad studying (or combining work and study) in Germany, Denmark, Spain, France and other locations, including Australia, Japan, Canada and the USA. There are also many opportunities for those with appropriate language skills to study the local language in France, Germany and Spain, among others. You can also choose to split your year abroad into a first semester exchange and a second semester work placement, both conducted overseas, or undertake a placement year overseas.

Alternatively, between Years 2 and 3, you can undertake a one-year, full-time business placement as a Professional Experience Year within the UK. Past students have completed placements in a variety of prestigious organisations, including AMEC, Barclays Bank, Commerzbank, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, GE Capital, HSBC, IBM and the NHS, as well as in smaller businesses.

Year 3

You will explore contemporary economic policy debates and develop your econometric analysis and forecasting skills. You will learn advanced technical forecasting techniques in Applied Econometrics, equipping you to perform business and government forecasts as well as preparing you for postgraduate study. You have the opportunity to undertake a dissertation where you will research a topic of your choice. Previous students have analysed how supply and demand affect oil prices and explored how game theory can be utilised to analyse the probability of a player missing a penalty in football matches.

You will delve into current research on contemporary issues and develop advanced methods of business and economic analysis, including forecasting techniques gaining a high degree of digital literacy, numeracy and confidence in data handling. This will prepare you to inform business and organisational decision-making and the design and implementation of economic policy by government agencies.

Subjects of study may include:

• Advanced Economics
• Applied Econometrics
• Applied Financial Economics

Plus, three options from Development Economics, Forecasting for Managers, International Trade, Labour Markets and Global Migration, Dissertation or other areas of business, including languages.

Credit Level 6

International Opportunities

Many of our courses offer international study and work experiences, and the University provides other global opportunities that all students can apply for - so whatever you're studying, you'll have the chance to go abroad.

Opportunities could include:

• Taking part in a semester or year-long exchanges at institutions around the world
• Attending an international summer school or field trip
• Developing your CV through volunteering or work placements abroad

International experience broadens horizons, boosts self-confidence, and improves global understanding, alongside being fantastic for your career.