Over the last two years, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEBA) and its Department of Statistics and Econometrics are focused on introducing new master’s programmes and courses in analytics and data science. One of the key areas of analytics which are being intensively offered to both students and alumni is credit risk modelling.

To provide for a training of high quality corresponding to latest developments of the financial sector on international level, FEBA faculty and FEBA Alumni Club have started a collaboration with Exeter Risk Management Corporation Limited (ERMC) - a professional analytics services practice delivering advice and solutions to the retail banking community in London and Dublin.

Participants in the master class in Empirical Methods in Finance in June, 2017

Dr. Christina Atanasova, Associate Professor in Finance, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University delivers a master class in Empirical Methods in Finance in May, 2016

In 2015-2016 academic year, ERMC financed and delivered series of extracurricular classes for FEBA MSc students and Econometrics alumni in Applied Econometrics in Banking, covering the topics of regulatory and risk capital management, bankruptcy prediction and financial distress modelling, analytics in retail banking and consumer finance, IFRS 9 and impact on retail banking. In 2016-2017, the successful partnership in delivering training in risk modelling continued with the establishment of three specialized courses in the English language Master’s Programme in Applied Econometrics and Economic Modelling (which was found in collaboration with Experian), namely Introduction to SAS Programming, Principles of Banking and Regulatory Risk Management and Credit Risk Modelling.

One of the most significant initiatives organized by FEBA, FEBA Alumni Club and ERMC is the annual Master Class in Empirical Methods in Finance with Dr. Christina Atanasova, Associate Professor in Finance, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University. Over 30 students and alumni participated in the master class in 2016 and 2017, and had the opportunity to advance their knowledge and skills in portfolio theory (asset allocation, risk and return in equilibrium, bond pricing and the term structure of interest rates, options valuation), and empirical asset pricing (returns predictability, Fama-French and the cross-section of stock returns, empirical methods).

Rossen Valtchanov, ERMC Director delivers a training in Risk Capital Management in January, 2016

FEBA, FEBA Alumni Club and ERMC will continue their successful cooperation in 2017-2018. All extracurricular and the master class in Empirical Methods in Finance will be open to students and alumni from the Department of Statistics and Econometrics, and other Sofia University graduates interested in career development in the field of risk modelling.