M.Sc. Business Management
in Sustainable Finance

fibaa

FIBAA accredited

Accredited​ by FIBAA, the international association of business schools, standing for the high quality of our internationally recognized, part-time Master degree.

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Future proof skills

During your studies, we strengthen the future skills proclaimed by the World Economic Forum 2023: analytical thinking, creativity, agility and motivation.

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Sustainable Development Goals

The curriculum is based on the global sustainability goals of the 2030 Agenda.

ESG

Leading in
Sustainable Finance

Sustainability is a megatrend impacting all areas of our society and must be a top priority on the action agenda of the financial industry. Integrating sustainability experts across various sectors distinguishes you from competitors and is a crucial success factor for the future prosperity of financial services companies.

To develop a Sustainable Finance strategy for financial institutions, these various aspects of sustainability must be aligned with business policies. This includes offering innovative products that meet high sustainability expectations. Additionally, sustainability will influence many practices and functions in everyday finance, such as data usage, investment decisions, risk management, controlling, reporting, back office, and marketing, alongside new value systems and corporate cultures.

What to expect

In the Master’s in Sustainable Finance, you will learn how sustainability issues are transforming the existing financial industry. What strategies must financial institutions and companies now adopt? How can sustainable financial strategies create long-term value for businesses and society?

You will understand the critical action fields in Sustainable Finance, the challenges in practical implementation and solutions to these challenges.

You will comprehensively build your competencies in sustainability to apply them in practice within your organization.

Start date

Start at any time on your preferred date

Campus

Münster, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Vienna and Zurich or Online

Fees

24 months € 18,900
incl. of all examination fees

18 months € 15,400
(with recognition of 30 CP)

12 months € 11,900
(with recognition of 60 CP)

Duration

24 month, part-time, but it can be extended up to four years without additional costs (and with additional costs beyond that).

ECTS

The 24 month Master comprises 120 CP.
Recognitions of up to 60 CP can shorten the study duration to as little as one year.

Conclusion

Master of Science (M.Sc.)
State acknowledged
FIBAA accredited

Flexible course of studies

You can individually combine the elements of your studies according to your schedule.

For example, if a presence session for a module does not fit into your schedule, you can take it in the following semester.

You can participate via online streaming if you cannot attend in-person events. In compliance with GDPR rules, all presence sessions are transmitted and recorded via video meetings.

 

 

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Curriculum

FOCUS Modules

The Focus Modules correspond to your specialization, giving you the crucial competencies and knowledge advantage in Sustainable Finance.

Additionally, we offer the option to choose and exchange Focus Modules from our other Master’s specializations.

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Sustainable Basics and ESG-Trends in Finance

  • History and key milestones of sustainability in the financial sector
  • Model of sustainable development, international debates on environment and development, Brundtlandt Commission, Rio Summit, Millennium Development Goals, SDGs
  • Attempts to define and basic principles of sustainability (ISO standards, EU attempts, etc., science), interaction with ethics, charity, CSR with relevance for financial science
  • Dimensions of sustainability in business, society and politics with relevance for the financial sector.
  • Fields of action and trends in the financial sector
  • Role of negative externalities
  • Critical discussion: Triple bottom line and circular economy as solutions and the role of selected financial market players

Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Strategy in Financial Services

  • Interface between sustainability and economic activity in financial services companies (economic sustainability, ecological sustainability in a corporate context, social sustainability), triple bottom line, etc.
  • Strategic management and sustainability in the financial industry
  • From the concept of sustainability to CSR – understanding sustainability as an integrative concept (definition according to ISO standards, CSR dimensions, CSR along the value chain, CSR management approaches e.g. green controlling)
  • Sustainable Business Models and Sustainable Business Model Innovation for financial services- what financial service providers can learn from sustainable start-ups
  • Innovation methods Excursus using the example of finance: design thinking & transfer: do-it-yourself

Sustainable Marketing and Society for Financial Services

  • Understanding society in transition: Fridays for Future and setting the political course as an area of tension for the financial sector
  • The financial consumer behavior of Germans – sustainability on the rise using the example of social banking
  • Analysis of consumption decisions for financial products – marketing approaches to explain sustainable consumer behavior for financial products
  • Analysis of sustainable investment decisions – parallels to sustainable financial consumption decisions recognizable?
  • Starting points for sustainability in the marketing of financial products:
    Labels, Green-/Bluewashing, Willingness to pay, Behavioral Fallacies & Nudges
  • Integrating sustainability into the marketing mix – an analysis using the example of leading financial service providers

Sustainable Capital Markets

  • Fundamentals of pricing on capital markets – the fairy tale of homo economicus
  • Current capital market trends: Blackrock and stranded assets – financing the climate transition: EU regulatory intervention in the financial markets and its consequences; Market for sustainable investments FNG study
  • Attempts to define sustainable investments: ESG factors and SRI vs. SII; EU taxonomy vs. heterogeneity of the concept of sustainability
  • Sustainability and the impact on pricing in markets (e.g. multifactor models, Bassen performance studies, etc.)
  • Integration of sustainability into the asset management of institutional investors (approaches to integrating sustainability into asset management, ESG rating, activism, screening approaches, open fields of research: in particular impact measurement)

Corporate University

Unternehmen können ein eigenes Modul entwickeln und dessen Inhalte vorgeben. Das Modul kann einem geschlossenen Teilnehmerkreis oder offen für alle Studierenden angeboten werden.
Außerdem entwickeln wir jedes Jahr ausgehend von aktuellen Megatrends der Branche ein brandaktuelles neues Modul – bleib am Puls der Zeit und besuche die Corporate University als Teil deines Masterstudiums.

Curriculum

CORE Modules

The Core Modules are compulsory. They form the business management foundation for your specialization.

Philosophy of science and research methods

Overview of economic research directions, methods, concepts and ideas for conducting independent research at university level

Economics, Politics and Society

Understand microeconomics and macroeconomics / be able to apply models and instruments / analyze and understand monetary and currency policy decisions

Project management

Project management styles & consulting-innovative methods and key success factors for managing projects

Strategic corporate management

Strategic Management / Entrepreneurship: Development of individual business cases from vision to strategy to foundation. Methods: Scrum, business model canvas, minimum viable product

Leadership and communication

Modern Leadership and CRM: Understanding concepts from leadership theory Success factors for internal and external communication

Mathematics advanced

Statistics & Data Analytics Basics:
Understanding and applying basics in empirical data analysis & interface to AI / scale levels, regression methods, cluster analyses

Advanced statistics

Statistics & Data Analytics advanced:
Understand and apply modern advanced methods of AI-based data analysis from planning to interpretation. Basics for the implementation in R and Python / independent coding

Econometrics

Scientific Modeling & Econometrics:
Insights into the scientific modeling of complex interrelationships and normative knowledge acquisition

Innovation Project

zeb.bs student consultancy: You set up a (student) consultancy in a team and solve real, complex practical problems

Integration module: Introduction, Theories and Developments in Finance, Banking & Controlling

Trends in finance, banking & controlling and the resulting implications for the management of financial service providers, wealth managers, ORG/IT structures and the digital transformation in the financial sector

Coaching

Balancing studies, work, family, and leisure can be challenging for part-time students.

We have given much thought to how we can support, motivate, and nurture you during this challenging phase.