BSc (Hons) Banking and Digital Finance

In your first year, you’ll study six core modules. You’ll build a broad understanding of economics, finance, banking, regulation and data, while developing the professional skills you’ll need for a career in financial services. 

Core modules

• Economic Forces Shaping Financial Markets
  See how inflation, interest rates, economic growth, trade and government decisions affect financial markets and financial institutions. You’ll use micro and macroeconomic principles to understand current financial events and what they could mean for financial markets.

• Financial Reporting & Business Decisions
  Learn the principles of financial accounting and how to read and understand company financial statements, including how profit, cash and financial position connect. You’ll see how investors, lenders and managers use financial statements to make decisions.

• Data Analysis for Finance
  Build data analysis skills using spreadsheets to organise, analyse and present financial data. You’ll explore statistics, probability and simple regression, using quantitative methods to support financial decisions.

• Financial Systems, Regulation & Ethics
  Understand how banks, financial institutions, financial markets and regulators fit together within the financial system. You’ll explore financial regulation, the risks institutions face and why ethical behaviour, good governance and consumer trust matter.

• Finance, Valuation & Investment Decisions
  Learn how businesses make corporate investment and financing decisions, including how to judge whether an investment is worth making and how to fund it. You’ll explore company funding, the cost of finance and techniques used to assess investment opportunities.

• Careers, Communication & Professional Practice in Finance
  Start your personal and professional development from Year 1. You’ll explore financial services career paths, develop your CV and interview skills, and build communication skills through presentations and teamwork – alongside the professional and commercial skills employers expect.

There are no optional modules in Year 1.

In your second year, you’ll move into more specialist banking and finance topics. You’ll study five core modules, building your knowledge of consumer and business banking, corporate finance, financial risk management and data analytics, plus one optional module from a choice of three.

Core modules

• Consumer Banking, Payments & Open Finance
  Explore how banks serve people and small businesses, from lending and customer relationships to digital payments. You’ll also look at open banking, fintech, AI and the new technologies changing how banking services are delivered.

• Corporate Finance, Valuation & Deal Analysis
  Learn how companies make major financial decisions, how businesses are valued and what happens during deals such as mergers, acquisitions and IPOs. You’ll use established valuation methods to judge whether a deal could create or destroy value.

• Derivatives & Risk Analytics
  Explore financial instruments such as forwards, futures, swaps and options, and why investors use them. You’ll learn how they can manage market risk and apply techniques such as Value at Risk and scenario analysis to assess financial exposure. 

• Commercial & Corporate Banking in a Digital Economy
  Learn how banks work with businesses, from assessing whether to lend money to structuring and managing loans. You’ll also explore how technologies such as cloud banking, APIs and Banking-as-a-Service are changing commercial and corporate banking.

• Applied Financial Data Analytics with Python
  This module introduces students to using Python to work with real financial data. You’ll learn how to collect, organise, analyse and visualise data, before using Python for areas such as risk analysis, financial modelling and investment decisions.

Optional modules

You’ll choose one optional module from three, giving you the chance to explore an area of finance that interests you most.

• FinTech, AI & Digital Finance
  Explore some of the biggest technologies changing finance, including AI and generative AI, blockchain, digital assets and embedded finance. You’ll look at how they’re being used in financial services, as well as the risks, regulation and ethical questions they create.

• Financial Reporting & Analysis
  This module aims to take your understanding of company accounts further by learning how to assess financial performance using ratios and other analytical techniques. You’ll also investigate real financial reporting frauds and scandals to understand how accounting manipulation can happen and be detected.

• Emerging Markets, Sustainability & Geopolitics
  Explore how finance and business work in fast-developing economies across regions including South East Asia, Africa and Latin America. You’ll examine how sustainability, global politics, regulation, trade and international investment can affect these markets.

In your final year, you’ll build on everything you’ve learned to tackle decisions across banking and global finance. Across six core modules, including your Applied Finance Project, and one optional module, you’ll study topics covering bank risk and cyber resilience, capital markets, global finance, banking strategy and transformation. 

Core modules

• Bank Risk, Cyber Resilience & Regulation
  Explore financial risk management in banking, including credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, cyber threats and operational disruption. You’ll learn how banks measure and manage these risks, meet regulatory requirements and prepare for challenging scenarios.

• Capital Markets & Advisory
  Discover how businesses raise money through financial markets and how financial professionals advise on major deals. You’ll explore work associated with investment banking, including mergers and acquisitions, buyouts and restructuring, while developing skills in transaction analysis and client pitches.

• Global Finance, Geopolitics & Country Risk
  Explore international finance and how events across the global economy can affect financial decisions. You’ll look at multinational financial management, currency risk, sanctions, global funding and supply-chain disruption, and consider what they mean for businesses, investors and financial institutions.

• Banking Strategy, Treasury & Transformation
  Look at the decisions that shape how banks compete, manage their money and plan for the future. You’ll study commercial and investment banking strategies, treasury, liquidity and funding alongside digital transformation, AI, platform banking and international banking strategy.

• Applied Finance Project
  Bring your degree together by investigating a finance question in depth. You’ll find and evaluate evidence, choose suitable research and data-analysis methods, and turn your findings into a professional report with clear conclusions and recommendations.

Optional modules

You'll choose one optional module to explore another area that interests you.

• Alternatives, Real Assets & Commodities
  Go beyond traditional investments to explore areas including real estate, commodities, private capital and hedge funds. You’ll learn how to assess their performance, risks and liquidity, and consider how they can fit into an investment portfolio.

• Corporate Strategy & Transformation
  Learn how organisations decide where they’re going and how they adapt when markets and technology change. You’ll explore competitive strategy, digital transformation, AI, organisational change and ESG, and learn how businesses put strategy into action.

• Private Capital & Venture Growth
  Explore how investors back private businesses at different stages of growth, from venture capital and growth equity to buyouts. You’ll learn how investment opportunities are assessed, how private equity deals work and how investments and funds are managed.

Across your degree, you’ll complete a mix of written, practical and timed assessments designed to test your knowledge and build skills you can use in banking and finance. You’ll work with financial information, data and real-world scenarios, as well as developing your ability to explain ideas, make recommendations and present your thinking clearly.

Here’s a snapshot of the main types of assessments you’ll complete across your modules.

• Reports and case studies: investigate real financial organisations, markets or problems and use what you’ve learned to analyse what’s happening, weigh up different options and make recommendations.

• Data analysis and financial modelling: work with financial datasets using tools including spreadsheets and Python. You’ll apply quantitative methods and financial modelling, analyse and visualise data, interpret results and use them to support financial decisions.

• Exams and multiple-choice assessments: show your comprehensive understanding of key financial concepts and demonstrate that you can apply them to problems and questions under timed conditions.

• Presentations and group work: communicate your ideas clearly, explain and defend your thinking, and build the teamwork and presentation skills used in professional settings.

• Professional and scenario-based assessments: complete tasks based on the kinds of work used in financial services – from preparing professional career materials to analysing financial decisions and producing recommendations.

• Applied Finance Project: in your final year, you’ll choose a finance question to investigate in depth. You’ll develop a project proposal, review academic and industry evidence, choose appropriate research and data-analysis methods, then bring your findings, conclusions and recommendations together in a professional report.