IE Business School Masters in Finance

What do the fields of Psychology and Finance have in common? If you were thinking “besides the fact that they are spelled without using any of the other word’s letters” than here is an opportunity to come up with a better answer to this question. Take out your agenda and block Wednesday, May 30^th, 15:00hrs (Local Time Madrid) to join our virtual master class:

The Psychology of Finance  

Psychology plays a pivotal role in the pricing of assets. On average, during rainy days the stock market underperforms in comparison with sunny days. How human psychology affects these variables will be briefly viewed in this master class:

• Define behavioral finance and review the role of human behaviors in decision making
• Explain key behavioral biases
• Identify how biases may result in less than rational investment and corporate decisions 

The session will be spearheaded by DR. KEVIN SPELLMAN who describes himself as a pracademic – he has academic and professional experiences. He is a Professor and Director of the Investment Game at IE Business School, and the Director of the Investment Management Certificate Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He earned his PhD in behavioral finance from Durham University (UK), and has an MS in finance from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BS in finance from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. He is a member of the Financial Management Association, the CFA Institute, and has been a member of various CFA societies and a board member of the CFA Society of Madison. Dr. Spellman is a CFA charter holder.

Spellman’s academic pursuits (since 2000) have been in investments, including security analysis through portfolio management. His research focuses on issues related to behavioral finance, investment strategy, and asset pricing. He has taught various courses in financial management, investments, CFA review, and forensic accounting and has worked at various firms on the buy-side and sell-side of Wall Street. His experience crosses most asset classes (private equity, international equity, domestic equity, real estate, etc.), investment styles (contrarian, value, growth, momentum), and types of analysis (quantitative, fundamental, economic/strategic, behavioral).

This post was written by Samuel Harrison, current MIF student.

Following the excellent and thoroughly enjoyable IE arranged trip to New York in January this year, the next trip in the calendar is Ghana. Students from the 2011 Master in Finance that opted to go, will provide intellectual capital and a spare pair of hands, so to speak, to two Microfinance Institutions or MFI’s in the up and coming African nation.

The MIF programme administration arranged this trip in liaison with some 3^rd parties and deemed it worthy of final project status. As a result, students who decided to go to Ghana can use it as their final project for the master and in lieu of a dissertation of something similar.  Along with nine others, I have been selected to go on the trip, and subsequently we have been broken down into two teams and begun analyzing our respective MFI’s in anticipation of some tough and difficult working conditions in Ghana. We will spend ~10 days in the country formally known as the Gold Coast, working and hopefully, seeing some of the sights as well!

The task we have been assigned is to audit, conduct stress tests and broadly analyse these lending institutions and then return to Madrid where we will present our findings and pitch the institutions to leading venture capitalists. The pitch will be conducted, not only as a way to judge our final grade but also in the hope of securing funding for the MFI’s, to help improve their chances of future expansion.

Those who are going get the benefit of a fantastic learning experience, life experience and indeed, perhaps the chance to make a real difference. Getting the final project completed at the same time is simply the icing on the cake. We touch-down in Accra, Ghana in less than a weeks time!

Desde IE Business School, una de las mejores escuelas de negocios del mundo, queremos hacerte una invitación especial a una conferencia enfocada en el mercado de empleo en el sector financiero.

Loreto González, Partner de Financial Services de Norman Broadbent, nos mostrará durante la conferencia las tendencias de empleo en el Sector Financiero y sus oportunidades dentro y fuera de España, así como recomendaciones clave a seguir para gestionar la carrera profesional y los procesos de selección.

Sobre el ponente:

Loreto es desde 2007 Socio responsable de la Práctica de Servicios Financieros de Norman Broadbent , firma de búsqueda y desarrollo directivo de origen británico y con presencia a nivel global. Desde esta responsabilidad, ha liderado procesos de búsqueda para entidades financieras líderes de mercado, tanto en el ámbito de la Banca Mayorista (Corporate Banking, Corporate Finance y Mercados de Capitales) como en Gestión de Activos y Banca Privada. Adicionalmente ha asesorado a entidades financieras de banca minorista en la composición de sus Comités de Dirección y principales líneas ejecutivas. Anteriormente Loreto desarrolló su carrera profesional entre Londres y Madrid en entidades como Royal Bank of Scotland y Deutsche Bank y comenzó en su actividad de búsqueda de directivos en Heidrick and Struggles.

Esperamos que la conferencia sea de tu interés y quedamos a tu disposición para cualquier consulta (patricia.lozano@ie.edu)

…and listen to why she chose IE and about the network that her experience has provided her with.

Quick Facts:

• April 26, 2012
• 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
• Deutsche Börse AG, Eschborn
• Event Organizer: Vanessa de Gruyter (IE Representative for Germany at IE Business School)

To register for the event, please click here and look for it among all the events offered.

Professor Ignacio de la Torre – Academic Director, Master in Finance Programs, IE Business School.

Professor Ignacio de la Torre is bullish with optimism in spite of – even because of – the latest financial crises: “This provides us with a world of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities,” he says.

Speaking before a talk entitled Financial History: What Can We Learn from Our Mistakes? – the Director of IE’s Master in Finance Programs outlined the less well-documented ‘glass-half-full’ view of the on-going global financial turbulence.

Financial crises give rise to positive change: “Look at the US – in the 6 years after the banking crisis of the early 1980s the US economy went from being made up of 20% markets and 80% banks – to vice versa.” That was a big, positive change in just six years – brought about by a financial crash. “I’m optimistic about Europe today because countries will finally take on reforms they haven’t looked at in 60 years.”

A big opportunity for positive change for de la Torre is the chance to educate a new generation of socially responsible financiers – something that, in his role at IE Business School, he feels both duty-bound and well-positioned to do. Deciding what and what-not to teach young, soon-to-be influential financiers is a big responsibility and one of the big decisions he has made at IE is to take certain ‘long-term view’ modules – and make them compulsory for every finance student [...].

To read the entire article, click here.

As the headhunting season is a never-ending-story, here are some of the narrators that might help you write your own:

London – for Finance roles:

• Morgan McKinley
• Marks Sattin
• Armstrong International
• Leathwaite Associates

London – General Roles:

• Michael Page Executive Search
• Hays Executive Search
• Hudson
• Korn / Ferry
• Heidrick & Struggles
• Russell Reynolds
• Spencer Stuart
• Egon Zehnder

Spain:

• Norman Broadbent
• Seeliger & Conde
• Signium
• Michael Page Executive Search
• Hays Executive Search
• Hudson
• Korn / Ferry
• Heidrick & Struggles
• Russell Reynolds
• Spencer Stuart
• Egon Zehnder

…and ask yourself this question:

• “What do finance students need to know about accounting?”

Now, if you are thinking “except the spelling, nothing” or “what is accounting” than you definitely want to join the Finance Conference to which we are inviting students and alumni on April 24^th at 19:00hrs in F001 (Maria de Molina 2), as the stated question will be properly answered during this event.

The speaker leading the discussion will be Dennis Jullens, European Head UBS Valuation & Accounting and published author of research on equity analysis issues who advises institutional clients on a range of accounting topics, finance issues and valuation methodologies. Dennis is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh – Business School. Furthermore, he is involved in the accounting standard setting process as a member of the IASB’s Analyst Representative Group (ARG) and EFRAG’s Financial Instruments Working Group (FIWG). 

Like always, due to limited places, please register by sending an email to Liliana Ramirez (Liliana.ramirez@ie.edu).

In sum, come out, be ready to learn, increase your IE network by a few more valuable contacts and most of all, enjoy an evening of great value among likeminded people.

You know the deal – it is time again for one of our monthly sessions that allow students to understand key issues impacting:

• financial markets on a monthly basis 
• key concerns of investors
• money flows
• how these factors interact with the most important macro news appearing during the month

The speaker spearheading this session will be Ignacio de la Torre, the Academic Director of the Masters in Finance. Please keep in mind that due to limited places to please register by sending an email to Liliana Ramirez (Liliana.ramirez@ie.edu).

So get out your calendars and put down that on the 23^rd of April at 18:00hrs the place to be is S001 in Serrano 105.  

See you there!

Although coloring eggs, looking for vacation spots and thinking about sleeping-in are activities that might be on everybody’s minds right now, we would like to remind you about some key dates for the September 2012 intake:

• Opening Day: Tuesday, September 18^th, 2012
• Orientations Days: Tuesday, September 18^th, 2012
• New York OPTIONAL winter trip: January 7^th to the 11^th, 2013
• First class day after Christmas holidays: Monday, January 14^th, 2013
• Final Exam: Friday, June 21^st, 2013
• Graduation: Friday, July 19^th,  2013

Please note that this is a tentative schedule. Also, do not forget that at IE Business School we have a rolling admissions process, which means no deadlines. However, we encourage you to send in your application as soon as you can, since the competition is tough and we are filling places very quickly.

Apply now, and happy Easter.