Studying Financial Risk Management

All investments come with risks. Risk often correlates with return on investment; higher the risk, greater are the returns and the chance of losing your initial investment.

But how do you decide which risk is worth taking? Which investment makes for a sound investment? These are the kind of questions you will learn to solve by studying financial risk management. In addition to a strong grounding in finance, economics and accounts, you will learn to use specialist financial management software and databases.

In addition to investment risks, companies have to take into account other types of risks like foreign exchange risk, credit risk, volatility risk, operational risks and legal risks. Risk management professionals devise plans to best mitigate these risks while maximising returns and minimising costs and errors. Financial risk managers could also work in investment banks and manage individual investment portfolios or collective portfolios (mutual funds).

The UK is at the forefront of international banking and finance, learning and research. There are about 25 universities offering courses in this subject area. You could even choose which type of risk you would like to specialise in.

Couple of universities where you could study international business management are:

• University of Bedfordshire
• University of Liverpool

Salary and Career prospects

Financial risk management professionals find employment in retail banks (HSBC, Barclays, Citi), investment banks (JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and UBS), consultancies (PwC, Accenture), government agencies and accounts and finance departments of large companies.

Some of the potential job roles international banking and finance professionals take up are: Financial Compliance Analyst, Risk Analyst, Country Risk Analyst and Risk Manager.

Salaries vary depending on the role, experience, qualification and location.As a guide,financial risk management professionals earn around £33,000 (31 lakhs INR) a year on average.

Why Study in UK?

The UK is a world-renowned seat of learning, teaching and research with 3 universities in top 10 and 7 in top 50 in THE World Rankings 2018.

London is a major global finance, finance and stock exchange centre. In fact, there are 3 banking and finance districts—The City, Canary Wharf and Mayfair in London; each of multitude of banks and investment companies, including finance and global ones. Several reputed banks (Citi, Barclays, and HSBC) and investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Staley) operate out of London.

Britain is home to many of the world’s most leading companies. These include engineering and technology (Boeing, Jaguar, and Apple), energy and fossil fuels (Shell, BP), law firms (Linklaters, Allen &Overy) and hospitality companies (Hilton, Marriott).

It is possible for students to remain in the UK after finishing their studies, provided they meet prevailing visa requirements.