6th May 2008

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Coming hard on the heels of the recent Cowen/Robinson announcement on the potential relocation of financial services from the Republic to Northern Ireland, the University of Ulster has developed new postgraduate programmes designed to help Northern Ireland seize the enormous opportunities opening up in the financial services sector.
 
Delivered by Ulster’s School of Business, Retail and Financial Services, the new PgD/MSc Financial Services programme has been designed to meet the needs of the wholesale financial services sector where knowledge of financial regulation, securities and their derivatives, and fund management is crucial to business performance.
 
Course director for the new programmes is Dr Ken Dyson, who said: “Financial services are an increasingly significant economic growth opportunity for Northern Ireland. Financial services make a major contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of both Southern Ireland and the UK (7% and 9.4% in 2006, respectively) and this figure is expected to grow rapidly as both economies become more service- oriented.  Employment opportunities for course graduates are immense.
 
“The launch of the programme is timely, in that it follows in the wake of the recent announcements by both Citi Group and BOISS to locate wholesale financial services operations in NI; and the recent joint announcement by Brian Cowen and Peter Robinson to allow wholesale financial services organisations in the South, to open subsidiary operations in the North.”
 
PriceWaterhouseCoopers estimate that up to 5,000 jobs in the sector could become available,
 
Ulster finance sector expert Professor Philip Hamill said:  “In order to build a significant and sustainable financial services sector in the north, talented graduates from a range of disciplines need to be given the skills to migrate into the sector. The MSc Financial Services meets the needs of employers, the aspirations of graduates and has the potential to significantly contribute to North’s transition to a private sector-dominated economy by developing highly paid career paths in the financial services sector”.
 
Uniquely, the new Ulster programme includes a placement in a financial services environment where students complete a work-based project for the award of MSc, which also makes them eligible to be admitted to the Securities and Investment Institute (SII) at membership level.
 
The Ulster initiative has been welcomed by Derek Mander, Director - Head of Finance and Operations – Bank of Ireland Security Services,  who said:
 
“We support the proposed programme and believe it will prove to be an excellent foundation for a career in financial Services.”
 
Ends

For further information, please contact:

David Young
Telephone: 028 90366074
Email: David Young