Michael graduated top of Wilmott’s Certificate of Quantitative Finance, a six-month part-time course covering many important topics in this field. He believes that there is demand for a shorter course, covering the core and most value-adding topics, which are relevant and of interest to many people from a range of backgrounds, as well as to others who do not wish to immediately pursue or commit to in-depth studies, or who do not wish to have to meet stringent mathematical prerequisites for course participation.

This course teaches key aspects of quantitative finance at an introductory level, and also lays a foundation for some students to work toward more advanced studies where appropriate. It uses practical techniques and examples in order to minimize the use of mathematics, so that the course should be accessible to a wider group of participants than would otherwise be the case. A good knowledge of Excel is assumed and VBA is used in some examples. The course covers the basics of option valuation (with a focus on equity options), including risk-neutral methods, binomial trees, simulation techniques, and Black-Sholes approaches. Core aspects of the required theory are also covered, such as Taylor series, basic stochastic calculus, the random behavior of asset prices, key probability distributions, value-at-risk, put-call parity, calculation of the Greeks. There is introductory coverage and demonstrations of some more advanced applications and techniques, such as finite difference methods, derivatives on instruments other than equities, and stochastic volatility.

Courses can be held over the internet or in-house at any location globally. Contact us to find out more.