Concept and Vision

© Uwe Dettmar

Research and teaching in the areas of monetary economics, macroeconomics, and finance in Frankfurt are being revolutionized by the establishment of the House of Finance at Goethe University, Frankfurt. Its establishment is intended to encourage interactions between academic departments, research institutes, and practitioners, as well as the development of innovative teaching programs that combine the strengths of its various constituents. Since August 2008, the Departments of Money and Macroeconomics, and Finance have joined forces with major research centers and institutes, such as the Center for Financial Studies (CFS), the Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability (IMFS) and the newly found research center for Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe (SAFE) to establish the House of Finance at Goethe University. Furthermore, the House of Finance also maintains strong ties to the Goethe Business School and the university’s law faculty to strengthen collaborative interaction between law and finance. 

The Master’s Program in Money and Finance (MMF) is an innovative joint venture of the Department of Money and Macroeconomics and the Department of Finance, located in the House of Finance, and is taught entirely in English, the language of the profession. The Faculty of Economics and Business, within which the Department of Money and Macroeconomics and the Department of Finance operate, is accredited by AACSB in the United States. The inaugural 2008 MMF class had 29 students, 22 of whom are international students from 19 different countries. By 2013, the number of new students that join every year jumped to 45, with more than 30 of these being international students. At present, 40 students are accepted into the MMF program each year.

The House of Finance occupies impressive newly-built premises on the new Westend Campus of Goethe University, right in the heart of Frankfurt. It is situated next to Grüneburgpark and in proximity to the European Central Bank, the German Bundesbank, and a vast array of banking and financial industry firms. MMF students attend lectures in modern, fully-equipped lecture halls at the House of Finance, and at the newly-built Lecture Hall Center directly opposite the Faculty building.

MMF is aimed at high-caliber graduates of Economics, Business, and related undergraduate programs whose goal is to prepare for professional careers in the banking and financial sector. The program is designed to utilize the strengths of Goethe University and their links to the wide array of financial institutions and practitioners based in Frankfurt, in order to provide academically sound and professionally relevant education. Its key objective is to put graduates in the best position to compete for highly rewarding jobs.

Practitioners in today's banking and financial sector are faced with new challenges, as they operate in a policy environment while catering to needs of households and firms that are rapidly changing. In most European countries, the conduct of monetary policy is no longer the task of national central banks, but of the European Central Bank. Monetary policy does not amount to ‘setting the money supply’, and the role of money in monetary policy is being debated on both sides of the Atlantic. Household finances are becoming increasingly complicated. Growing numbers of households participate in a broad array of assets and debts, undertaking considerable risk in their portfolios and having to provide more for their old age to meet shortcomings of ailing social security systems. Firms face the challenges and consequences of the new monetary policy regime and of globalization in product markets, factor markets, and in banking and financial services. The Financial Crisis and changing needs of households and firms have generated new challenges for the financial sector, in product development and marketing; and in the provision and regulation of financial advice.

The MMF program is uniquely designed with such new challenges in mind.

  1. It combines the fields of money, macroeconomics, and finance, providing graduates with a much broader toolkit than that offered by single-field Master’s Programs in either economics or finance.
  2. It is also broader than typical combined Master’s Programs in economics and finance by placing greater emphasis on macroeconomic and monetary policy issues.
  3. MMF is specifically designed to combine academic rigor with a focus on topical issues facing policy makers and financial practitioners, and is therefore best suited for students planning professional careers in the banking and financial sector.
  4. The structure of the program combines regular core and elective courses with seminars and topical courses. Seminars provide hands-on experience, while topical courses are taught by high-level Frankfurt practitioners who share their experiences and insights with students.
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