"I have been teaching in IE for the last 18 years and serving as Academic Director of the Master in Finance programs for the last 14 years" Ignacio De la Torre
Could you describe yourself in a few sentences?
I have balanced my life between Finance and Academia. I have worked 25 years in investment banking in different functions : corporate finance, equity research, and equity sales, and the last years as Chief Economist. I have been teaching in IE for the last 18 years and serving as Academic Director of the Master in Finance programs for the last 14 years. My Ph. D. is in Medieval History, and my dissertation concentrated on the banking activities of the Templar Knights. I spent many hours in the Bibliotheque Nationale researching on the topic, as France still conserves valuable Templar documents.
During the year of this Master in Finance, do students have the opportunity to do an internship ?
In both intakes we offer students the opportunity to participate in internships. As our students from the April intake have a longer summer break, they have a natural tendency to complete internships during this period while carrying on with their studies during fall. In the case of our September intake, the internship opportunity takes place once concluding the master's where students have about a 1.5 years after graduation to participate in an internship under our program. We have seen that this particular route (internship post-program) is especially interesting for those MIF students who use this opportunity as a springboard into investment banking.
What is the profile of your students?
Our students are aged between 22 and 31 years old, taking their first steps in their financial journey. We highly welcome international diversity, this means on average we have candidates from 35 nationalities in our classrooms/intakes. Diving deeper into hard skills, our student profile normally holds (or is examining) for financial certifications like CFA or CAIA. They are quantitative-oriented, finance-focused, and typically have an average GMAT score of 665-720. These are normally the students who will succeed in the program and enrich their financial knowledge and skills.
What are the different opportunities offered to our students during their academic year ?
Throughout the academic year, our students are offered a range of different educational opportunities such as the CFA preparation, university exchanges with the Frankfurt School of Finance or the London Business School, etc.
What are the forms offered for the final exams ?
Yet, the most rewarding projects are those of the final exam options, which are designed to adapt to students' unique set of personal and professional needs. Thus we allow them to choose their preferred mode of examination from a broad variety of options:
- Academic Research Project: that investigates topics related to an aspect of macroeconomics or another financially significant area.
- Valuation Report: where a small group of students perform a valuation analysis of a company owned by a private equity firm.
- Microfinance in Ghana project: involves taking part in a consultatory microfinance project in collaboration with the NGO Financiers without Borders.
- CFA Research Challenge: A competition between university-sponsored teams that research designated publicly-traded company where participants have the opportunity to compete locally to the global level.
- Write a Case: A decision-driven case that focuses on finance, accounting, or macroeconomics based on a trending or interesting topic.
- Portfolio Management Practicum: A full client meeting pitch book that is normally presented to an institutional client by a professional buy-side firm, including a stock pitch to illustrate the investment approach.
What are the master’s starting dates ?
There are two Master in Finance programs as briefly mentioned previously, one that starts at the beginning of April with a strong focus on Fintech and another in September, the program starts late August with a pre course so that students are prepared to face interviews with investment banks during the Autumn.
What are the particularities of the Master in Finance? Apart from the fact that 93% of Faculty are practitioners, our program offers more than 40 electives focused on hot topics such as Investment banking, Fintech, and Corporate Finance & Private Equity. Our academic design is closely knitted to market needs, strong placement with top international Finance houses, and program add ons like:
- Optional international trips: to the financial hubs of New York, London, and Frankfurt.
- Dual Degree with the MIF
- Short & Long Exchange with LBS and Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
- Our IE Trading Room
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