Tanaka Business School and Standard & Poor’s offer new MSc Risk Management

Imperial College’s Tanaka Business School, in association with Standard & Poor’s Risk Solutions, will offer a new MSc degree in Risk Management from September 2005.

Existing risk management degrees have not kept pace with the latest industry tools and methodologies, or are too theoretical in their content. The new degree has been developed with input from senior risk managers at major banks, bond credit rating agencies and financial regulators to deliver highly relevant tuition on the implementation and use of leading edge risk management techniques.

Programme Director, Professor William Perraudin from Imperial College's Tanaka Business School, will teach modules in Securities Valuation and Principles of Risk Management. Perraudin is a leading international expert on the Basel proposals on bank capital, and has acted as a consultant to a wide range of major financial institutions. Arnaud de Servigny, Managing Director, Quantitative Analytics and Products at Standard & Poor's will lead the Applied Risk Management module. Servigny has worked in senior risk management positions at a number of major banks, and is co-author of the recent benchmark publication Measuring and Managing Credit Risk.

The new MSc is expected to attract people with a good quantitative degree currently working, or planning to work, in risk management or market analysis in the corporate or public sector.

Perraudin said students would profit from the combined power of the academic and consultancy experience of Tanaka's Finance section: "Working with Standard & Poor's, we are able to offer research excellence together with extensive practical expertise of practical risk management. This combination will enable our students to understand this exciting and vibrant area in depth.

"The new Basel proposals, plus new possibilities for firms to transfer risk, have transformed the way banks think about risk," said Perraudin. "Other financial firms, such as hedge funds, insurance companies and investment funds, are now adopting the new techniques and ways of thinking as well.

"This has created a role for a new type of risk manager, one who is conversant with modern risk models and capable of understanding and designing risk mitigation strategies. Our MSc Risk Management, offered in association with one of the world's leading rating agencies, Standard and Poor's, is the first rigorous graduate level qualification specifically designed to equip risk managers for the exciting new role they face."

Servigny said it was an important time for risk management: "Risk engagement is becoming a key element of competitiveness for financial institutions, with the range of tools and market instruments available to risk managers evolving rapidly. I am delighted to be able to contribute to the achievement of risk management best practice by teaching the applied elements of the course."

Notes to editors

Places on the MSc Risk Management degree are limited, with the closing date for applications being September 2005. The course will run for 16 months over four terms, with lectures and workshops run two evenings per week to fit students' working lives. It is open to graduates with at least a 2:1 or equivalent in their first quantitative degrees.

About Tanaka Business School

At the heart of the Imperial College London campus, Tanaka Business School supplies advanced business education that is "the business of science, the science of business". It offers full time, executive and residential executive MBAs, MSc Finance, MSc Health, MSc Management and a doctoral programme. The Tanaka Executive MBA is ranked 10th in the world, 3rd in Europe and 2nd in the UK, and Tanaka EMBA student, Kevin Baughan, won the Association of MBAs Student of the Year 2004 Award

Imperial College London

Consistently rated in the top three UK university institutions, Imperial College London is a world leading science-based university whose reputation for excellence in teaching and research attracts students (11,000) and staff (6,000) of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions that enhance the quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

"Standard & Poor's (www.standardandpoors.com) is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research, data and valuations. Standard & Poor's Risk Solutions (www.risksolutions.standardandpoors.com) provides a variety of tools and services to help clients develop, enhance and validate their credit assessment processes, collect and analyze data, model credit risk and train staff."

More information

Susie Haywood, PR Manager, Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London +44 (0)20 7594 9154, 07739 851 881
Philipa Watts, Standard & Poor's Risk Solutions, +44 (0)20 7176 3600, 07780 991 996