Finance research and professional training

The Institute of Finance and the Swiss Finance Institute

Research in finance at USI is concentrated in the Institute of Finance (Istituto di finanza, IFin) of the Faculty of Economics, which is affiliated with the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI).¹ The SFI was established in 2006 as a public-private partnership of the Swiss banking industry, the Swiss Confederation and the leading Swiss universities.² Its purpose, as the institute itself describes it, is to overcome a structural disadvantage: Swiss universities are publicly funded and "subject to constraints that make it hard for them to compete in the international academic market for world-class researchers in banking and finance".³ The SFI therefore finances professorships, doctoral training and research projects at eight partner institutions, namely the two Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne and the Universities of Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, St. Gallen and Zurich, together with USI.⁴ Professors who hold an SFI chair remain employees of their university but receive additional research funding and carry the SFI title.

The presence of the SFI in Lugano has given the small institute an influence beyond its size. François Degeorge, professor of finance at USI and holder of an SFI chair since 2006, was dean of the Faculty of Economics from 2013 to 2015 and director of the Institute of Finance. On 15 November 2016 he became managing director of the Swiss Finance Institute as a whole, succeeding Claudio Loderer.⁵ Under the SFI umbrella the Lugano researchers participate in the national doctoral programme in finance, in the institute's research paper series and in its knowledge transfer activities for the banking industry. The research fields of the Institute of Finance have included asset pricing, corporate finance, financial econometrics, derivatives, risk management and, more recently, the economics of financial technology and of data.⁶

The Master in Finance and its digital track

The Master in Finance of USI is the faculty's flagship programme for the financial sector. It is taught entirely in English, lasts eighteen months or, with an internship or extended thesis, twenty-four months, and is accredited by the Swiss Finance Institute.⁷ Students choose among three specializations: Quantitative Finance, Banking and Finance, and Digital Finance. The third track reflects the change in the demand of banks and asset managers since the late 2010s, when data science, programming and an understanding of distributed ledger technology became part of the skills expected from young finance professionals. The faculty presents the programme as offering small classes, a diverse student body and strong links with industry, including a master's thesis award sponsored by an audit firm.⁸

Teaching in English has a double effect for Lugano. It allows USI to recruit students from Italy, the rest of Europe and beyond, many of whom would not study in Italian, while preparing graduates for an international career that may lead them to Zurich, Geneva, London or Milan. For the Lugano banks, whose business is conducted to a large extent in Italian, the graduates' command of Italian remains a decisive criterion. The programme presents its "diverse student body" as an advantage but publishes no figures on the nationality of its students. The combination of an English-language programme with an Italian-speaking environment is one of the distinctive features of Lugano among the Swiss finance faculties. It corresponds to the linguistic profile of the financial centre described in Part J.⁹

Notes

1. USI, "The Swiss Finance Institute realises lifelong learning at USI and Centro Studi Villa Negroni" (3 December 2019), https://www.usi.ch/en/feeds/11559 ("USI Institute of Finance (IFin), affiliated to SFI"). ↩
2. USI, "Il Prof. François Degeorge nominato al timone dello Swiss Finance Institute", https://www.usi.ch/it/feeds/21360 (SFI established in 2006 as a public-private partnership); Swiss Finance Institute, "About us", https://www.sfi.ch/en/about-us (founded by "the Swiss banking industry, the Swiss Confederation, and leading Swiss universities"). ↩
3. Swiss Finance Institute, "About us" (above). ↩
4. Swiss Finance Institute, "About us" (above). ↩
5. USI, "Il Prof. François Degeorge nominato al timone dello Swiss Finance Institute" (above) (effective 15 November 2016; successor to Claudio Loderer; dean 2013–2015; SFI chair since 2006). ↩
6. Research areas as presented on the website of the USI Institute of Finance. ↩
7. USI, "Master in Finance", https://www.usi.ch/en/education/master/finance. ↩
8. USI, "Master in Finance" (above) ("Small class size and diverse student body", "Strong links with industry", "Master thesis award by PwC"). ↩
9. USI, "Master in Finance" (above) ("Small class size and diverse student body"; no breakdown by nationality). ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.