The importance of risk management at the highest levels of organisations is increasingly acknowledged these days, known in its broadest sense as Enterprise-wide Risk Management (ERM). The most important risk types are market, credit and operational risk. Market risk is the risk that changes in the financial market prices and rates will reduce the value of the firm’s positions. Credit risk is the risk that a change in the credit quality of a counterparty will affect the value of the firm's position. Operational risk refers to potential losses resulting from inadequate systems, management failure, faulty controls, fraud, and human errors. Quantitative Risk Management at the NWU covers a full range of topics in mainstream risk management and analysis and its applications. The curriculum includes, for example, market risk, credit risk, operational risk, volatility modelling, default models, Basel II regulations and approaches, time series analysis, statistical models and probability, derivatives pricing and hedging, asset price dynamics, risk analysis and extreme events, interest rate and foreign exchange processes, investment decision making, as well as other statistical subjects of relevance to practical financial modelling. This includes practical analyses with state-of the-art software packages such as SAS Risk Dimensions, SAS Operational Risk, SAS Credit Solutions, BARRA and ALMAN.
To download the academic yearbook, click here
Quantitative Risk Management consists of the following subjects:
- Computer Science & Information Technology
- Economics
- Financial Mathematics
- Mathematics
- Risk Management
- Statistics
Bursaries available, click here.
This programme is available on the Potchefstroom and Vaal Campuses.
Recently the Quantitative Risk Management programme received accreditation status from the Professional Risk Manager International Association (PRMIA) for Level I and II of their Professional Risk Managers (PRM) qualification. NWU is the third university world-wide, and the first in Africa, to receive accreditation status from this internationally recognised professional body.