Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Master of Banking and Finance
Master of Banking and Finance
Joining Forces to Understand the Complex Financial Dynamics 1
Why This Program? 2
Target Group 3
A Unique Combination of Advantages 4
Program Overview 5
Some Practical Information 7
Evaluation: a dynamic approach
Course schedule
Degree
Tuition fee
Admission Procedures
Teaching Staff 8
Further Information 10
Master of Banking and Finance
Table of Contents
During the last few decades the financial world has gone through a complete transformation.
Deregulation of financial markets, spurred by dramatic technological evolutions, tore down the walls
that had existed between domestic and international money and capital markets as well as between
banks, insurance companies and stock brokers. Competition became the buzzword. World-wide finan-
cial service companies began restructuring their business lines and started developing new products
and markets. In Europe, the introduction of a single currency further encouraged these developments.
Finally, the recent financial crisis showed the importance of understanding financial markets in detail
and highlighted the necessity of a solid risk management.
Undoubtedly, the entire economy benefits from these evolutions. Unfortunately, for the financial inter-
mediaries life becomes ever more complex. It is therefore no wonder that they are constantly in need
of specialised people: economists who understand the mechanics of financial markets will always be
scarce.
To accommodate this shortage the Department of Financial Economics of Ghent University introduced

number of transactions on financial markets. Investors
have never before been confronted with such a broad
range of investment opportunities, whereas corporate
and government borrowers have flexible access to money,
being able to choose the maturity, the currency and even
the risk-profile of their financing. At the same time,
government agencies in general and central banks more
specifically can not only actively use financial markets to
steer the economy, but also learn about the expectations
of economic agents, to the extent that these expectati-
ons are reflected in the prices of financial assets.
Master of Banking and Finance
Why This Program?
2
Herman Verwilst
Former Chairman of the management committee
of Fortis Bank.
“The financial sector needs economists with a
thorough micro- and macro-financial training
and who have mastered quantitative manage-
ment techniques for modern financial service
companies. They should also be able to develop
a critical vision towards the important tenden-
cies and strategic choices in the financial indus-
try. Young people with such a profile will be the
leading executives of the future.
In my opinion, the Master of Banking and
Finance at Ghent University is the ideal program
to acqui re this knowledge and these skills.”
Of course, no benefits without any dangers – financial markets never present free lunches. Although financial interme-

Target Group
3
A specialised program
All courses are specialised and advanced within the broad
field of finance and banking.
Financial insights are combined with macroeconomics and
monetary policy
Finance is not an isolated world. The interrelationships
between on the one hand finance and banking and macro-
economic policy on the other hand are studied extensi-
vely. Advanced courses in macroeconomics, monetary
economics, corporate finance and organisation of financial
markets describe the larger setting in which finance should
be situated.
You will become familiar with the most recent techniques
used in finance
All courses are strongly founded in academic research.
Students will be guided through recent academic papers
and encouraged to use the tools and models proposed to
analyse and solve real-world problems.
Thorough quantitative basis
Because of the availability of abundant data, solving finance
and banking problems often involves extensive number
crunching. Although most courses will discuss appropriate
methods to perform such analyses, an advanced course in
financial econometrics will provide the students with the
necessary background.
Enjoy interactive education and train your presentation
skills
In the Master program a lot of time will be devoted to class-

made available on the website of the Master program.
Getting international exposure
In finance and banking it is important to have an interna-
tional dimension and obviously international problems will
be discussed in most courses. In addition we will frequently
invite internationally renowned guest speakers and guest
professors. For instance, we are glad that Frank Smets, who
is head of the Monetary Policy Research unit of the Euro-
pean Central Bank, has agreed to teach Monetary Econo-
mics in the Master program. Of course, also by choosing
English as the common language in this program, we expli-
citly want to attract an international student population.
Extensive professional support
Many courses are taught by members of the Department
of Financial Economics. This department hosts a young
team of professors and researchers. Their research covers
most subfields in the domain of finance and banking. More
details can be found on the Department’s website. All
teachers and researchers will be available to help students
finding their way in the world of finance. In addition, the
program co-ordinator assists students with more practical
problems.
Opportunity to spread courses over 2 years: the possibility
exists to spread the Master program over two years.
An attractive study environment
The city of Ghent hosts the largest student population of
the country; the University alone accounts for over 30,000
students, enrolled in 9 faculties. The Faculty of Economics
and Business Administration is situated close to the Medie-
val city centre. Theatres, musea and sporting facilities are

Financial Risk Management
Frank De Jonghe (Deloitte)
In this course, the pricing and the use of derivative
products is discussed. Especially the quantitative techni-
ques used for pricing and risk management will be exten-
sively covered. Next to that, in three separate sessions,
the key ingredients for the measurement of market risk,
credit risk and operational risk are introduced.
Economics of Financial Markets
William De Vijlder (BNP Paribas Investment Partners)
This course analyzes the interaction between financial
markets and the macroeconomic environment. Relation-
ships are established between various financial markets
(stocks, bonds, corporate bonds, exchange rates, commo-
dities) and economic indicators (growth, inflation, inte-
rest rates, balance of payments, central bank policies).
The objective is to investigate the consequences of these
interactions for investment decisions, both asset alloca-
tion and market timing, as well as the risk of financial
assets. Students also have to manage an asset portfolio to
translate theory into practice.
International Banking
and Financial Markets
Koen Schoors
The aim of this course is to study a widely neglected
issue: How do commercial banking systems behave under
distress? We analyse the causes of banking crises around
the world and propose methods to prevent these crises
or, if need be, to solve them. Various institutional arran-
gements are compared, ranging from deposit insurance

sed. The observed weakness and proposed improvements
will be discussed. Students write and defend a paper on
one of the topics.
The aim of the course is to understand the behaviour
of individual banks versus regulation, supervision and
governance, to understand the function and rationale of
public intervention in financial markets and enable the
students to solve independently and on an academic level
problems that are related to bank behaviour and bank
supervision
Monetary Economics
Gert Peersman
This course wants to give the students a thorough under-
standing of the way monetary policy is conducted and the
transmission of monetary policy signals to the rest of the
economy.
Strategy and Organisation of
Financial Institutions
Herman Verwilst
The aim of the course is to make students understand
the complex interactions in the organisation of financial
services firms, their strategy formulation and the imple-
mentation of strategic plans.
Topics in Advanced Corporate Finance
Dries Heyman
This course wants to give the students a thorough under-
standing of various important corporate finance deci-
sions; In order to achieve that, both theory and recent
empirical evidence will be reviewed. We focus on a
number of important topics: capital structure, payout

Master of Banking and Finance
Program Overview
Admission procedures
Students with a Belgian university degree (2nd cycle) or a Belgian
HOLT degree (higher education of minimum 4 years of study):
People meeting this requirement are invited to take an admission test,
the purpose of which is to determine the prior knowledge of bank-
ing and finance research, of quantitative skills, and English. (Partial)
exemption of this admission test can be offered if, on the basis of the
curriculum, the individual seems to be familiar with these basics. More
information about these tests can be found on our website: http://
www.feb.ugent.be/fineco/mbf/
To apply for exemption, you should fill out the information form
(see website: and mail it to

Students with a non-Belgian degree having a second cycle acade-
mic degree:
There are 2 compulsory procedures for admission, we advise you to start
both procedures at the same time. The first procedure allows us to ascer-
tain whether the applicant has the necessary background to be able to
successfully participate to the Master program. The second procedure is
the general acceptance procedure set up by Ghent University.
Procedure 1: First of all we ask you to complete the information form
(see website: and mail it to

In order to speed up the process of application, you should also send:
1. a letter of motivation (why you would like to study advanced
courses in Banking and Finance at Ghent University)
2. your Curriculum Vitae (with copies of your diplomas and degrees)
3. two letters of reference 4. your GMAT score

solve case studies, to give presentations and to discuss actual
situations with lecturers and guest speakers. In other words, the
permanent evaluation of participants is indispensable and very
important.
Course schedule
When?
The sessions take place on a daily basis, generally from 9 am till
1 pm. The afternoon will be devoted to case study preparation,
group discussion, exercises, preparation of presentations, guest
lectures, etc.
Language?
The program will be taught in English. All presentations and
reports will be in English. Consequently, a sufficient proficiency
in English is a necessary entry requirement.
Where?
All courses will take place at our campus at Woodrow Wilson-
plein 5D, Ghent — the building where also the Department of
Financial Economics is located. The room is equipped with the
necessary IT-infrastructure and the computer class for the Master
students is also in the building.
Start of the program: end of September
End of the lectures: end of April
Thesis (Graduation project): the thesis starts beginning of May
and the results will be presented to the faculty and the bank/
company by the end of June.
Examination periods: Although in most cases students will be
evaluated during the lecture weeks, for some courses a formal
examination will be organised during two weeks after the Christ-
mas holidays (first semester courses) and one week after the
Easter break (second semester courses). If necessary, a second

is author of two books and various articles inter alia in
Quantitative Finance, the Journal of Comparative Econo-
mics and the Journal of International Money and Finance.
Prof. dr. Rudi Vander Vennet
Rudi Vander Vennet is full professor of financial econo-
mics, program director of the Master of Banking and
Finance and chairman of the Department of Financial
Economics at Ghent University. After obtaining a degree
in economics and a master in finance, he was enrolled
in a Ph.D. program at the University of Rochester, New
York. His Ph.D. dissertation analyzed the performance
effects of European bank mergers and acquisitions. He
is (co-) author of various articles on banking and mone-
tary topics in, e.g., Journal of Money, Credit and Banking
or Journal of Banking and Finance and he has written
several contributions in books dealing with European
bank markets and the EMU. In 1999 he received two
important scientific awards. Next to his academic duties,
he has acquired valuable experience as a member of the
board of directors of a number of holding companies
and financial institutions and as a consultant for various
financial companies.
Prof. dr. Gerdie Everaert
Gerdie Everaert obtained his Ph.D. at Ghent University
in 2000 with a dissertation on public capital, economic
growth and the labour market. He teaches econome-
trics at Ghent University. His current research interests
are panel data econometrics, the macroeconomics and
econometrics of the labour market and the effects of
fiscal policy. He published in a variety of academic jour-

(World Development Institute, University of Michigan).
He widely contributes to the public debate in several
economic fields.
8
Master of Banking and Finance
Teaching Staff
Master of Banking and Finance
Prof. dr. Herman Verwilst
Herman Verwilst obtained his Ph.D. in economics at the
Johns Hopkins University (USA) in 1974 and worked until
1979 at the International Monetary Fund. In 1980 he
joined the Department of Financial Economics at Ghent
University as full-time professor. He is now part-time
professor. After a political career as head of the cabinet
at the Belgian Ministery of Economic Affairs and as a
member of the Belgian Senate, he moved to the financial
sector where he had several executive functions first at
the ASLK-Bank and later in the Fortis Group. Further-
more, he is chairman or member of several advisory coun-
cils. He has written several academic articles on of bank-
ing and monetary economics, which were published in
both international and Belgian journals. In 1994 he held
the distinguished Francqui chair in Economics.
Dr. Dries Heyman
Dries Heyman is a postdoctoral FWO-fellow at the Depart-
ment of Financial Economics. He obtained his PhD in 2008
at Ghent University with a dissertation titled “Topics on
the Portfolio Management of Financial Investments“. His
main research areas are mutual fund behavior en behavi-
oral finance. He published in international peer reviewed

9
Teaching Staff
If you would like to obtain further information
about the Master program in Banking and Finance,
please do not hesitate to contact us:
Michael Frömmel/Rudi Vander Vennet

Program Directors
Phone: +32 (0)9 264 89 79 (Michael Frömmel)
Phone: +32 (0)9 264 35 13 (Rudi Vander Vennet)
Fax: +32 (0)9 264 89 95
E-mail:
E-mail:
Lena De Cock/Nathalie Verhaeghe

Program Co-ordinators
Phone: +32 (0)9 264 34 68 (Lena De Cock)
Phone: +32 (0)9 264 89 84 (Nathalie Verhaeghe)
Email:
Ghent University
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Tweekerkenstraat 2
9000 Ghent
Belgium
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Department of Financial Economics
Woodrow Wilsonplein 5D
9000 Ghent, Belgium
Phone +32 (0)9 264 35 12