Master Program in IT for Finance

The Master Program in “IT for Finance” is training technology specialist in finance. We are training programmers in banking, traders in investment banking, researchers in computational and quantitative finance, otherwise known as QUANTS, and specialists in FinTech and cryptocurrencies. Our program focusses on high-end technology and their application on financial markets.

The masters program provides in-depth knowledge of IT infrastructure and the organization of modern financial markets, addressing the IT operations of financial market participants. It includes an introduction to computer systems and hardware of investment banks, investment or hedge funds, brokers, financial exchanges and clearing corporations, custodians and regulators. The program privileges the practical construction and implementation of financial market software, from an engineering point of view:

• Learning infrastructure used for investment banking, transaction management and FinTech, study software and hardware solutions used for frontoffice, middle office and back office in banking, and knowing advanced numerical and mathematical methods, including the knowledge on financial market risk, econometrics and statistics, as well as the application of such models in advanced testing and simulation environments (Monte Carlo Simulations, stress testing or portfolio optimization problems, but also execution and order management algorithms).
• Design new relevant software for financial market applications in Front Office, Middle Office, or Back Office, applying algorithms to perform real-time analysis and predictions on data, or piloting new hardware for financial technologies.
• Create new solutions for technical problems in traditional banking, or in the area of FinTech and Digital Assets (NFT), while developing new standards for financial ethics, and sustainability in handling new financial technologies.

While other programs focus on skills in computational finance, developing mathematical, numerical models for trading solutions only, EFREI privileges the practical construction and implementation of financial market software, from an engineering point of view. We are applying modern programming languages and financial protocols in the development of financial market software, while understanding the context of applications and the limits and opportunities in IT infrastructure. The students are trained in secure and autonomous development of applications, as project managers, and/or developers:

• Understanding the functions and mechanisms of financial markets, the terminologies used and their technical infrastructure, including new markets for cryptocurrencies, and digital assets, financial market applications (software- and hardware) used in back office, middle office and front office.
• Analyze problems and technical limits in IT infrastructure, projecting solutions, evaluating with quantitative and
  empirical data in financial markets, from historical empirical data to real-time monitoring, including the application of forecasting algorithms, as well as detecting ethical and legal problems in financial transactions, and financial market operations.
• Develop high-end solutions to problems in investment banking, using programming languages, especially C++, Python, C# and other scientific programming languages.

• Analysis of historical market data, risk profiles, trading statistics, and financial base data.
• Development of algorithmic applications to historical, realtime analysis, and forecasting.
• Analysis of IT operations in investment banking operations, and find new technical solutions especially in trading
• Construction and maintenance of IT infrastructure for backoffice, middle office and front office operations
• Development of concepts, sustainable innovations, and ethical guidelines for FinTechs

• Quantitative Analyst;
• Algorithmic Trader;
• Risk Manager / Asset Management Compliance;
• Software Specialist;
• Crypto Entrepreneur.