Curriculum & Courses

Two distinct topics in this course: (1) Traditional ERM frameworks (such as COSO, ISO 31000) and their tools, techniques, and risk vocabulary; and (2) Traditional "silo" risk management grouped into the four risk categories – strategic, operational, financial, and insurance – as well as traditional risk management practices at banks and insurance companies. Provides familiarity with a range of current ERM and risk practices in the market.

Availability

On Campus: Fall and Spring
Online: Fall and Spring

Workshop-like course that addresses a variety of communication skills, including listening skills, presentation skills, leadership communications, conflict resolution, management interactions, and professional communication techniques.

(Students must take this course in the first semester.)

Availability

On Campus: Fall and Spring
Online: Fall and Spring

Introduces students to the fundamental financial issues of the modern corporation. By the end of this course, students will understand the basic concepts of financial planning, growth management, debt financing, equity evaluation, and capital budgeting. 

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

Foundational ERM course. Addresses all major ERM activities: risk framework; risk governance; risk identification; risk quantification; risk decision making; and risk messaging. Introduces an advanced yet practical ERM approach based on the integration of ERM and value-based management that supports integration of ERM into decision making. Provides a context to understand the differences between (a) value-based ERM; (b) traditional ERM; and (c) traditional "silo" risk management.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

Provides a global review of ERM requirements of regulators, rating agencies, and shareholders. Addresses three industry sectors: (1) insurance; (2) banking; and (3) corporate.

(It is recommended but not required that students take Traditional ERM Practices as a prerequisite to this course.)  

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

In this course, students will gain an overview of major concepts of management and organization theory, concentrating on understanding human behavior in organizational contexts, with a heavy emphasis on the application of concepts to solve managerial problems. Students will work in a combination of conceptual and experiential activities, including case studies, discussions, lectures, simulations, videos, and small group exercises.

By the end of this course students will:

• Develop the skills to motivate employees
• Establish professional interpersonal relationships
• Take a leadership role
• Conduct performance appraisals

Availability: 

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term 

Teams will work through a case assignment, demonstrating mastery of key learnings gained throughout the program on an integrated basis. A simulated case study is used: this is a combination of publicly-available information of an actual company and simulated ERM program details, based on a blend of current ERM programs and practices in the marketplace. Each team will assess the case study and recommend enhancements.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

Review of the types of strategic risks, such as a flawed strategy, inability to execute the strategy, competitor risk, supply chain risk, governance risk, regulatory risk, M&A risk, international risk, etc. Includes case studies, research, and common mitigation techniques, such as strategic planning practices, management techniques, governance practices, supply-chain management, etc.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

Review of the types of operational risks, such as technology risk (e.g., cyber-security), human resources risk, disasters, etc. Includes case studies, risk analysis frameworks and metrics, and common mitigation techniques, such as insurance, IT mitigation, business continuing planning, etc.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

A survey of market, credit, liquidity, and systemic risk. Includes case studies, risk quantification methods, and common mitigation techniques using portfolio management, hedging, and derivatives. Also addresses traditional risk management practices at banking institutions.

Availability
On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

Review of types of insurance risk, such as pricing risk, underwriting risk, reserving risk, etc. Includes case studies, risk quantification methods (e.g., market-consistent economic capital models, dynamic financial analysis (DFA) models, catastrophe models, etc.), and common mitigation techniques, such as asset-liability management (ALM), reinsurance, etc. Also addresses traditional risk management at insurance companies and ERM actuarial standards of practice (ASOPs).

Availability
On Campus: Fall and Spring
Online: Not offered

Students without a strong math background will require significant additional time and effort to achieve the learning objectives and work through the course assignments. This course builds a foundation in the mathematics and statistics of risk management. Students are empowered to understand the output of quantitative analysts and to do their own analytics. Concepts are presented in Excel and students will have the opportunity to practice those concepts in Excel, R or Python. This course is a required prerequisite for registering for the following courses: Financial Risk Management, Insurance Risk Management, ERM Modeling.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

Provides the opportunity to learn how business units operate at an investment bank. Several industry practitioners each spend one to two sessions providing a hands-on experience that recreates the operations and decision-making of front, middle, and back offices work at a bank. Students typically learn the common activities, the data inputs, the analytics, and the applications of the insights.

(Students must complete ERMC PS5360: Financial Risk Management prior to registering for this course.)

Availability

On Campus: Summer and Fall 
Online: Not offered

Examination of areas critical to an organization’s success from strategic, operational, financial, and insurance perspectives, and examines why many companies fail in spite of the vast knowledge of factors driving success. Several case studies examined in depth.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

A study of financial, economic, and engineering disasters from a common systems engineering perspective, to better understand and model risk in complex process systems. Course topics will introduce process systems engineering concepts and tools such as digraphs, fault trees, probabilistic risk assessment, HAZOP, FMEA, etc., for modeling enterprise-wide risk. We will develop risk models and analyze them for real-life inspired examples and case studies. Several disaster case studies will also be discussed.

Availability

On Campus: Fall and Spring
Online: Fall  

Equips students with the basics of risk measurement and simulation using a hands-on approach to ERM modeling. Using industry-standard simulation software, students build systems of risk drivers for finance and insurance companies. Topics include risk correlations, VaR and TVaR, capital modeling, capital allocation, and parameter, process, and model Risk. Students acquire both quantitative experience building models and qualitative appreciation for model weaknesses.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

Students will learn how to better identify and manage a wide range of IT risks as well as better inform IT investment decisions that support the business strategy. Students will develop an instinct for where to look for technological risks, and how IT risks may be contributing factors toward key business risks. This course includes a review of IT risks, including those related to governance, general controls, compliance, cybersecurity, data privacy, and project management. Students will learn how to use a risk-based approach to identify and mitigate cybersecurity and privacy related risks and vulnerabilities. No prior experience or technical skills required to successfully complete this course.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term

Explores key concepts of behavioral economics and cognitive psychology, how to identify key cognitive biases in ERM activities, and how to apply techniques to address these, enhancing the quality and integrity of an ERM program. The course also includes best practices in leveraging analytic models to improve decision making.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Fall and Summer

This course requires students to experience firsthand an ERM-related job in a real working environment. With six bi-weekly class sessions, this course supplements the on-the job experience with support from the instructor and peers. Students will learn: how to set and achieve professional goals in the ERM field; how to identify and strengthen skills valued in their profession; and how to add value for employers in an ERM-focused role. This course is Pass/Fail. In advance of registration, students must secure their own internship and receive formal approval of its suitability for this course

Availability

On Campus: Not offered
Online: Every term

Equips students with the ability to adopt the programming culture typically present in the ERM/risk areas of most financial organizations. By studying Python, SQL, R, git, and AWS, students gain exposure to different syntaxes. Students apply these skills by coding up market risk and credit risk models. Students also gain familiarity with working in the cloud.

Availability

On Campus: Not offered
Online: Every term

Credit Risk Management requires business acumen, the monitoring of internal and external data, disciplined execution, and organizational intelligence. A solid understanding of this enables a credit risk manager to help organizations achieve their objectives. Through readings, case studies, and modeling projects, students learn how risk managers decide on credit risk management strategy applied throughout the client lifecycle.

Availability

On Campus: Every term
Online: Every term (starting summer 2021)

This course examines post-financial crisis regulations including Basel III, Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB), Dodd-Frank Act, Supervision and Regulation Letter 11-7 (SR 11-7), and others.  Case studies will explore the technical details of these new rules; and guest lectures from industry experts will bring the material to life.  Areas of focus include: model risk management, stress testing, derivatives, and insurance.  By the end of this course students will be able to:

• Evaluate the purpose and limitations of risk regulations in finance.
• Identify and communicate weaknesses in a financial firm.
• Communicate with regulators.
• Understand Recovery and Resolution Plans or “Living Wills” for a financial firm.

Availability

• On Campus: Every term (starting Fall 2021)
• Online: Every term (starting Summer 2022)

Given the ever growing reliance on models, Model risk affects financial institutions at almost every level of their organization including pricing, risk, finance, and marketing. Model risk management (MRM) is now one of the primary focuses of operational risk management at modern financial institutions. In this class, the ERM skill sets of risk identification, risk quantification, and risk decision making are applied to the kinds of models seen in large, complex financial institutions. Through readings, lecture, assignments, and in-class discussions, students learn the principles and concepts that a robust MRM function uses to manage model risk. 

Availability

On Campus: Every term, starting Fall 2021
Online: Not offered

This course explores financial derivatives across different asset classes with in-depth analysis of several popular trades including block trades, program trades, vanilla options, digital options, and variance swaps. Their dynamics and risks are explored through Monte Carlo simulation using Excel and Python. The daily decisions and tasks of a frontline risk manager are recreated and students have the opportunity to see which trades they would approve or reject. Students will gain a working knowledge of financial derivatives and acquire technical skills to answer complex questions on the trading floor.

Availability

On Campus: Every term, starting Fall 2021 
Online: Not offered

In this course, students will examine the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) underlying financial statements and their implementation in practice. The course is taught from the perspective of the stakeholders who make use of these statements, including investors, financial analysts, creditors, and management. Students will work as individuals and in groups for discussions and class exercises. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Construct a cash flow statement, balance sheet and decipher a 10K report
• Identify basic accounting concepts, assumptions, and principles.
• Utilize accounting tools such as general journals and general ledgers throughout the entire accounting cycle.
• Critically analyze ethical issues in accounting practices and discuss critical accounting theory and processes.