LLM International Financial Regulation

About LLM International Financial Regulation: Law and Business Intertwined

Course duration: 1 year full-time/2 years part-time     Course starts: October or January

The LLM in International Financial Regulation is unique, in that LLM students can take some core and optional modules at the Law School and ICMA Centre, Henley Business School providing them with an invaluable opportunity to acquire a unique legal and financial perspective of commercial and corporate law issues.

The LLM International Financial Regulation addresses EU financial regulation and supervision: the delimitation of competences between the EU and the member states. It also covers substantial law issues: an overview of the EU regulatory framework applicable to all three sectors of finance with a specific emphasis on banking and securities, and an overview of their contemplated changes again as a result of the financial crisis. The course tackles regulatory and legal control of financial markets and financial intermediaries including banks and banking (Commercial Banks and Investment Banks) as well as Securities Firms, Insurance Undertakings and other more specialist types of service provider and Financial Conglomerates (or complex groups). Financial institutions are essential to the effective operation of any economy, nationally and internationally.

On completion of the LLM International Financial Regulation, students will be expected to be able to:

• Have an advanced knowledge and understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of international financial regulation as this has been evolving especially in the recent years.
• Appreciate the international dimensions and implications of financial regulation.
• Understand the institutional framework of financial regulation.
• Understand the main substantial issues of financial regulation.
• Understand aspects of law and regulation concerning the structure, operation and function of financial markets and financial institutions.

The overarching aim of the LLM International Financial Regulation is to provide a programme which affords a conceptual framework for the study of law. This shall facilitate the recognition and appreciation by students of international financial regulation and permits detailed study of some aspects of law. As well as specific knowledge of international financial regulation, students will acquire the intellectual and practical skills expected of students with a postgraduate qualification.

The programme will also develop your practical transferable skills, including the ability to conduct independent research, both online and offline; time management, verbal and written communication, presenting and planning.  

Programme content

The programme consists of 180 credits; a taught element (140 credits) and a project (40 credits). The project must be written on a topic that has a meaningful relationship to issues of international financial regulation. The project must be written specifically on issues relevant to any of the modules offered on the programme (compulsory and relevant optional modules).

The compulsory modules include ICM106 Financial Markets (20 credits), LWMTFR Legal Aspects of International Financial Regulation (20 credits), LWMTPS Project Skills (10 credits), and LWMTPR Project (40 credits).

Students take all the remaining credits (90) from the lists of relevant optional modules.

Compulsory modules

• Project
• Project Skills
• Financial Markets
• Legal Aspects of International Financial Regulation

Part-time/modular arrangements

The programme can be taken part-time over two years.

Entry requirements

Please see general Entry Requirements but note that applications are particularly welcome from students holding undergraduate degrees in Business, Finance and Economics as well as in Law.

January Entry

LLM students can also commence the LLM in January. Students take modules in the spring term. They write the Project over the summer (May-September) and then take further modules in the following autumn term, graduating the following January.

To apply please see the following application form.  

Staff teaching on this LLM law course

• Professor Mads Andenas
• Dr Ioannis Kokkoris
• Dr Anne Thies
• Professor Christopher J. Hilson
• Dr Jorge Guira
• Professor Charles Chatterjee

Career prospects

Graduates from our programmes have gone on to work in various capacities, in major national and international law firms, as in-house lawyers, in international organizations in UK and abroad. While many law graduates take professional exams in law and go on to practise law either in the UK or abroad, many others pursue alternative careers. A postgraduate law degree will open many doors not only in specialised areas of employment, such as law firms, European and intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, but also in academia (with further postgraduate study), the media (journalism and broadcasting), the civil service, and other branches of public service.