Toledo: a city of three cultures

The Other Side | By Felix Validvieso, Director of Communication, IE Business School Operations and finance professor Alber Sabanoglu Segura comes from Turkey, and he is also a Sephardic Jew. Hence we decided that there was no better place to shoot this video than the ancient Jewish quarter in Toledo. When the Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain…

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IE Master in Finance ranks 3rd worldwide

IE Business School holds the No. 3 position worldwide in finance according to the 2013 Ranking of Masters in Finance published by Financial Times. IE achieved this result in the pre-experience category with its full-time English-taught Master in Finance, aimed at young professionals with an international profile. The student body of IE’s Master in Finance…

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Is ethical banking possible?

The Saudi Spanish Center for Economics and Finance recently organized it’s Social Impact Finance Forum, to discuss the future of finance and alternative ways of funding. During that Forum academics, professional and finalists of the ‘What is out there’ competition explored whether a more ethical approach to banking is possible. The Saudi Spanish Center for…

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Microfinance and the fight against poverty

IE Focus | By Maria Luque, Professor at IE Business School

Microfinance has proved to be a prime tool in the fight against poverty, but it is not enough to eradicate it once and for all.

Microfinance, namely the provision of financial services for people on low incomes, has taken giant strides since the 1970s. It provided financial services for some 200 million people in 2011 according to the Microcredit Summit Campaign, and now impacts the lives of around 1 billion.

Microfinance institutions face big challenges. One such challenge is the impact of the world economic crisis which began to show in 2008, and which, according to Deutsche Bank Research, has caused a deceleration in the growth of assets, a drop in profitability, and a greater risk for portfolios. Another is the excessive focus on profit and the accelerated growth of some institutions, without the necessary institutional capacities or control.   Even so, the microfinance industry continues to grow steadily and has demonstrated that in the right conditions it is a key tool in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Until recently we focused on talking about microfinance as a tool that could lift people out of extreme poverty, promote production, and empower women, all of which are development Millennium Development Goals and indispensable factors to strengthen economic and social growth in developing countries. But growth and investment in assets are not the only things that access to financial services brings.

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Reaching out to the top: QS Global 200

IE Business School ranks top 10 worldwide in all categories of this year QS Global 200 Business Schools Report. This report focuses merely on the employability of MBA graduates by region and specialization asking more than 3,300 MBA recruiters. Focusing solely on employers’ views provide a reliable insight as to which business schools produce MBA graduates and alumni that are favored by recruiters.…

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How to find alternative financing?

The Saudi Spanish Center for Economics and Finance recently organized it’s Social Impact Finance Forum, to discuss the future of finance and alternative ways of funding. It also served as the closing event for the What is Out There video competition. The Saudi Spanish Center for Economics and Finance is a joint center formed by…

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IE Business School ranks again #2 worldwide in Finance education

IE Business School has further consolidated its position as No. 2 school worldwide in finance according to the latest ranking of Masters in Finance published by Financial Times.

IE achieved this result for the second year running in the pre-experience category with its full-time English-taught Master in Finance, aimed at young professionals with an international profile. The student body of IE’s Master in Finance comprises 95% international students from 26 countries, with an average GMAT score of 680. They will complete the program at the end of this month to start work in international companies that include Morgan Stanley, Merril Lynch, Jefferies, Barclays Capital and Rothschild. The Master is the first program in Spain to be made a CFA (Chartered Financial Advisor) program partner, the leading international endorsement for financial analysts.

“The financial sector needs specialized profiles with an international focus,” says Ignacio de la Torre, Director of Masters in Finance at IE Business School. “IE’s finance programs equips students with this type of education, and our graduates go on to work in firms like Goldman Sachs, UBS, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Nomura, and in emerging economies that offer enormous potential given the accelerated development of their capital markets”.

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