Program Curriculum

The MScFOFB program offers a meticulously designed curriculum that provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to family office management and family business practices. Students will explore a series of core courses that cover essential topics, laying the groundwork for understanding the unique challenges and opportunities inherent in managing family-owned enterprises.

The curriculum integrates theoretical frameworks with real-world case studies, industry projects, and experiential learning opportunities. Through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, and practical assignments, students will gain a solid theoretical foundation while developing the practical skills necessary to navigate the nuances of family office management effectively.

A carefully crafted array of elective courses ensures relevance for each intake, with options shared prior to the course registration period. This flexibility allows students to tailor their learning experience according to their interests and career aspirations.

To graduate, MScFOFB students must complete a minimum of 30 credits (15 courses) of coursework, including 10 credits from core courses and 20 credits from elective courses. Most elective courses carry two credits, and students are eligible to take up to 34 credits at no extra cost, enhancing their educational journey.

Core Courses

  • FINA 5190 Family Business

    This course is tailored for individuals currently working in or contemplating working in a family business, either as a family member or a non-family executive. The material covered also gives a greater understanding of the dynamics of family business for current or future private and investment bankers, family office professionals, accountants, lawyers, and other service professionals working closely with families of wealth in the region.

  • FINA 5670 Wealth Management

    With an introduction to the principles of wealth management and the financial planning process, this course progresses to cover various wealth management topics, including consumption planning, investment planning, and retirement planning. In particular, this course emphasizes the provision of investment advisory services. It discusses client expectations and concerns, including risk and other cognitive issues, before applying the concepts and techniques to construct and manage investment portfolios for individual clients.

  • FINA 5690 Family Office

    This course provides students with a comprehensive and most up-to-date understanding of family office and insiders’ view and practical aspects of family offices, especially Asian family offices. The course will address questions based on extensive research and the latest case studies on family offices in Asia and around the world by the instructor.

  • FOFB 5100 Family Governance

    The course equips students with the specialized knowledge and skills needed to address the increasing complexity faced by family businesses and family offices in managing wealth, family relationships and family legacy across generations. Students will learn the key elements of effective family governance, analyze influencing factors, and develop competencies to establish robust governance frameworks. The course prepares graduates to serve as trusted advisors/family professionals and support/drive the smooth generational transitions for wealthy families.

  • FOFB 5200 Impact Investment and Family Philanthropy

    This course describes the wide spectrum of investment strategies, ranging from those focusing on financial returns and others focusing on social returns. It provides students with knowledge of the current trend in impact investing and philanthropy, how it influences firms and the society, and the challenges faced by firms and the financial industry, with a focus on family office.

Sample Elective Courses

  • ACCT 5650 Corporate Governance and Compliance

    The course covers corporate governance at two levels. At the practice level, it builds on students' prior knowledge of company law, and introduces them to the various requirements of compliance by company boards as stipulated in the Hong Kong regulatory framework. At the company policies level, this course introduces students to broader aspects of corporate governance, focusing on the multitude and interaction of stakeholders and how their interests may be protected.

  • ACCT 5801 Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and Their Business Applications

    This course discusses cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others), blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology (DLT), and their multidimensional business applications. The course provides a basic set of skills to understand cryptocurrencies and blockchain/DLT. We will also discuss the latest development in the field.

  • ECON 5200 Global Macroeconomics

    This course covers the basic theory of short run macroeconomics, as it has developed since Keynes. The basic framework will be the "IS-LM" equilibrium method, in which we analyze the major markets which affect the macroeconomy - labor, output, money and foreign exchange markets by studying positions of general equilibrium in them. This framework will be used to analyze fiscal and monetary policies.

  • FINA 5120 Corporate Finance

    This course aims to introduce students to key financial concepts and theories, and show students how to apply them in real life. Valuation of cash flow streams (PV of cash flow streams, annuities, and perpetuities); valuation of bonds; valuation of stocks using dividend discount model; capital budgeting decisions (NPV, IRR, payback); capital structure; limits to the use of debt (trade-off models); estimation of cost of debt and equity; WACC; terminal value.

  • FINA 5200 Asset Management

    The course will analyze asset management through the lens of risk --- including defining risk, diversification, hedge, leverage, and risk premium --- in the context of bonds, stocks, derivatives, and alternative investments. The course introduces capital markets, discusses basic concepts in these markets that anyone who wants to work in asset management should know (though these concepts are not easy, and technical tools are sometimes required), and lays the foundation for taking more advanced courses.

  • FINA 5270 Portfolio Management with Fintech Applications

    This course will focus on the key dimensions of Portfolio Management with FinTech Applications, and will give a predominant place to Artificial Intelligence, as a way to process and leverage the “Big Data” and automate the Portfolio and Wealth Management processes.

    The course will begin by briefly reviewing the fundamentals of Portfolio Management, FinTech and Artificial Intelligence and the advances in technology and data that have led the industry to where it is today. It will then delve into the Asset Management and Wealth Management value chains through a series of applications that enable students the critical skills they need to operate as expert actors in FinTech. The course will also expose students to the existing FinTech landscape and ecosystem within the portfolio management industry and will also touch upon how Artificial Intelligence augments humans to make them better portfolio and wealth managers.

  • FINA 5390 Venture Capital and Private Equity

    Private Equity, including Venture Capital, has become an increasingly important asset class for most institutional investors. This course will focus on the most recent developments in the VCPE industry and also provide an overview for students. This course shall examine how PE and VC work, mitigate risks, and generate returns, and will also discuss the processes ranging from screening to exiting deals, including fund governance.

  • FINA 5600 Real Estate Financing

    This course focuses on how real estate financing is undertaken and the key considerations for the borrower and the lender. This is achieved through a master case study which runs through the duration of the course and evolves as different aspects of real estate financing are discussed. The course will focus on the key steps in a transaction life-cycle and require participants to prepare basic cash-flow models, approval memos and negotiate term-sheets. The course also includes additional case studies around hedging and considerations around cross border real estate financings.

  • FINA 5700 Responsible Finance

    The aim of this course is to develop a deep understanding why the economic doctrine that the only social responsibility of corporations is to maximize profits does no longer work in today’s capital markets. The course provides theoretical and empirical findings that illustrate that financial decisions need to incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors to ensure long-term financial success of firms. The course also covers new trends, such as U.S. political polarization and the important role of China in establishing a global leadership role in green finance, which may impact how corporations are becoming more responsible.

  • FOFB 6110 FOFB Project

    This course is designed to give students a comprehensive understanding of the unique dynamics and challenges faced by family offices and businesses. This course offers a deep dive into the intricacies of managing and operating these specialized entities while emphasizing the importance of effective project management and problem-solving skills. By engaging in real business projects, students will not only apply their knowledge but also develop a comprehensive understanding of family office and family business dynamics.

  • FOFB 6120 FOFB Practicum

    The FOFB Practicum is a unique opportunity for students in the program to gain practical experience and apply their knowledge in a professional setting. By completing the Practicum, students will be equipped with practical experience, enhanced professional skills, and a deeper understanding of the complexities and challenges of family office and family business management.

  • ISOM 5340 FinTech and Big Data Financial Analysis

    Recent technology innovations have reshaped the finance industry, leading to new way of how financial information is disseminated, processed and analyzed. Topics to be covered will include: artificial intelligence in financial analytics, big data alpha models, algorithm trading and high frequency trading, social trading, robo-advisor, P2P lending, cryptocurrency and blockchain.

  • ISOM 5470 Doing Tech in Asia and China

    This course focuses on developing tech businesses in Asia and China, home to two-thirds of the world’s population and rapidly growing markets, through a series of focused case studies and sharing from guest speakers with firsthand experience in such development.

  • ISOM 6000S Blockchain Applications in Decentralized Finance

    This course discusses blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology (DLT), and its business applications in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi). The course not only provide a basic understanding of blockchain/DLT, but students will also learn about different DeFi companies and able to develop their own DeFi business models after the program.

  • MARK 5260 Luxury Strategy

    This course addresses the unique properties, opportunities, and challenges encountered in the luxury industry by studying various related aspects, from production and management to distribution and promotion. Students have the unique opportunity to interact with senior executives from a renowned luxury brand, who give feedback on their research, provide recommendations, and guide them to understand brand strategies and their implementation.

  • MGMT 5510 Applied Strategic Thinking

    This course will explore the immediate ability to contribute to top management's strategic conversations in students' current organization. It teaches how to think strategically and provides the opportunity to apply this thinking in a team environment. Students will be able to immediately apply the thinking and skills learnt to the current job.

  • MGMT 5550 Effective Negotiations

    This course focuses on how people actually negotiate in the real world and what students can do to become a better negotiator. Students will learn how to negotiate by actually negotiating in a wide variety of different situations, ranging from simple buyer-seller bargains to complex, multiple-issue strategic relationships. Every class will involve several experiential negotiations where students will experience in real negotiations with another student or team of students.

  • MGMT 5570 Applied Merger and Acquisition for Corporates

    This course is designed to prepare business managers to succeed as members of a merger and acquisition project team. Students will be able to work out how merger and acquisition can help to achieve the strategy, to know how merger and acquisition transactions work in practice from search to merger integration, to get insight into the particular opportunities and challenges of merger and acquisition, and to apply this thinking in a team environment.

  • MGMT 5590 Responsible Leadership and Ethics

    Great leaders and corporations take greater responsibilities for its customers, employees, shareholders, and society. This class is to learn what it takes to be a responsible leader and how leaders can create responsible corporations. This course also intends to change behavior for future leaders by teaching decision making framework for making responsible and ethical decisions as they face these challenges.

  • MGMT 5890 Principles for Global Leaders

    Through ample case studies, group work and reflection time, the course aims at helping students to enhance their self-awareness, improve their communication skills, build stronger connections and trust with classmates and provide deeper knowledge in the principles of global leadership. This learning has the potential to propel students faster in their leadership career development.

  • MIMT 5410 Business and Climate Change in Asia Pacific

    Climate change is the biggest challenge of today and tomorrow. Businesses contribute to climate change but also suffer from its consequences, while for selected industries it poses great opportunities. This course provides a comprehensive, interactive, and multi-disciplinary understanding of the threats, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. The students could gain the competitive insights and tools required to be at the forefront of change.

  • SBMT6011L Mystery of Art Markets & Opportunities for Investors

    Art is a big market of alternative investment, while appreciation and valuation of art sounds to be mysterious to many business professionals. In this course, students will understand the financial perspectives and business opportunities of art markets and the basic concepts of appreciation and valuation of art pieces and alternative investment. This course will be co-taught by renowned practitioners from the Art Auction markets, Galleries, Management Consulting and private museum.

Course Descriptions

Core Courses

This course is tailored for individuals currently working in or contemplating working in a family business, either as a family member or a non-family executive. The material covered also gives a greater understanding of the dynamics of family business for current or future private and investment bankers, family office professionals, accountants, lawyers, and other service professionals working closely with families of wealth in the region.

With an introduction to the principles of wealth management and the financial planning process, this course progresses to cover various wealth management topics, including consumption planning, investment planning, and retirement planning. In particular, this course emphasizes the provision of investment advisory services. It discusses client expectations and concerns, including risk and other cognitive issues, before applying the concepts and techniques to construct and manage investment portfolios for individual clients.

This course provides students with a comprehensive and most up-to-date understanding of family office and insiders’ view and practical aspects of family offices, especially Asian family offices. The course will address questions based on extensive research and the latest case studies on family offices in Asia and around the world by the instructor.

The course equips students with the specialized knowledge and skills needed to address the increasing complexity faced by family businesses and family offices in managing wealth, family relationships and family legacy across generations. Students will learn the key elements of effective family governance, analyze influencing factors, and develop competencies to establish robust governance frameworks. The course prepares graduates to serve as trusted advisors/family professionals and support/drive the smooth generational transitions for wealthy families.

This course describes the wide spectrum of investment strategies, ranging from those focusing on financial returns and others focusing on social returns. It provides students with knowledge of the current trend in impact investing and philanthropy, how it influences firms and the society, and the challenges faced by firms and the financial industry, with a focus on family office.

Sample Elective Courses

The course covers corporate governance at two levels. At the practice level, it builds on students' prior knowledge of company law, and introduces them to the various requirements of compliance by company boards as stipulated in the Hong Kong regulatory framework. At the company policies level, this course introduces students to broader aspects of corporate governance, focusing on the multitude and interaction of stakeholders and how their interests may be protected.

This course discusses cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others), blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology (DLT), and their multidimensional business applications. The course provides a basic set of skills to understand cryptocurrencies and blockchain/DLT. We will also discuss the latest development in the field.

This course covers the basic theory of short run macroeconomics, as it has developed since Keynes. The basic framework will be the "IS-LM" equilibrium method, in which we analyze the major markets which affect the macroeconomy - labor, output, money and foreign exchange markets by studying positions of general equilibrium in them. This framework will be used to analyze fiscal and monetary policies.

This course aims to introduce students to key financial concepts and theories, and show students how to apply them in real life. Valuation of cash flow streams (PV of cash flow streams, annuities, and perpetuities); valuation of bonds; valuation of stocks using dividend discount model; capital budgeting decisions (NPV, IRR, payback); capital structure; limits to the use of debt (trade-off models); estimation of cost of debt and equity; WACC; terminal value.

The course will analyze asset management through the lens of risk --- including defining risk, diversification, hedge, leverage, and risk premium --- in the context of bonds, stocks, derivatives, and alternative investments. The course introduces capital markets, discusses basic concepts in these markets that anyone who wants to work in asset management should know (though these concepts are not easy, and technical tools are sometimes required), and lays the foundation for taking more advanced courses.

This course will focus on the key dimensions of Portfolio Management with FinTech Applications, and will give a predominant place to Artificial Intelligence, as a way to process and leverage the “Big Data” and automate the Portfolio and Wealth Management processes.

The course will begin by briefly reviewing the fundamentals of Portfolio Management, FinTech and Artificial Intelligence and the advances in technology and data that have led the industry to where it is today. It will then delve into the Asset Management and Wealth Management value chains through a series of applications that enable students the critical skills they need to operate as expert actors in FinTech. The course will also expose students to the existing FinTech landscape and ecosystem within the portfolio management industry and will also touch upon how Artificial Intelligence augments humans to make them better portfolio and wealth managers.

Private Equity, including Venture Capital, has become an increasingly important asset class for most institutional investors. This course will focus on the most recent developments in the VCPE industry and also provide an overview for students. This course shall examine how PE and VC work, mitigate risks, and generate returns, and will also discuss the processes ranging from screening to exiting deals, including fund governance.

This course focuses on how real estate financing is undertaken and the key considerations for the borrower and the lender. This is achieved through a master case study which runs through the duration of the course and evolves as different aspects of real estate financing are discussed. The course will focus on the key steps in a transaction life-cycle and require participants to prepare basic cash-flow models, approval memos and negotiate term-sheets. The course also includes additional case studies around hedging and considerations around cross border real estate financings.

The aim of this course is to develop a deep understanding why the economic doctrine that the only social responsibility of corporations is to maximize profits does no longer work in today’s capital markets. The course provides theoretical and empirical findings that illustrate that financial decisions need to incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors to ensure long-term financial success of firms. The course also covers new trends, such as U.S. political polarization and the important role of China in establishing a global leadership role in green finance, which may impact how corporations are becoming more responsible.

This course is designed to give students a comprehensive understanding of the unique dynamics and challenges faced by family offices and businesses. This course offers a deep dive into the intricacies of managing and operating these specialized entities while emphasizing the importance of effective project management and problem-solving skills. By engaging in real business projects, students will not only apply their knowledge but also develop a comprehensive understanding of family office and family business dynamics.

The FOFB Practicum is a unique opportunity for students in the program to gain practical experience and apply their knowledge in a professional setting. By completing the Practicum, students will be equipped with practical experience, enhanced professional skills, and a deeper understanding of the complexities and challenges of family office and family business management.

Recent technology innovations have reshaped the finance industry, leading to new way of how financial information is disseminated, processed and analyzed. Topics to be covered will include: artificial intelligence in financial analytics, big data alpha models, algorithm trading and high frequency trading, social trading, robo-advisor, P2P lending, cryptocurrency and blockchain.

This course focuses on developing tech businesses in Asia and China, home to two-thirds of the world’s population and rapidly growing markets, through a series of focused case studies and sharing from guest speakers with firsthand experience in such development.

This course discusses blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology (DLT), and its business applications in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi). The course not only provide a basic understanding of blockchain/DLT, but students will also learn about different DeFi companies and able to develop their own DeFi business models after the program.

This course addresses the unique properties, opportunities, and challenges encountered in the luxury industry by studying various related aspects, from production and management to distribution and promotion. Students have the unique opportunity to interact with senior executives from a renowned luxury brand, who give feedback on their research, provide recommendations, and guide them to understand brand strategies and their implementation.

This course will explore the immediate ability to contribute to top management's strategic conversations in students' current organization. It teaches how to think strategically and provides the opportunity to apply this thinking in a team environment. Students will be able to immediately apply the thinking and skills learnt to the current job.

This course focuses on how people actually negotiate in the real world and what students can do to become a better negotiator. Students will learn how to negotiate by actually negotiating in a wide variety of different situations, ranging from simple buyer-seller bargains to complex, multiple-issue strategic relationships. Every class will involve several experiential negotiations where students will experience in real negotiations with another student or team of students.

This course is designed to prepare business managers to succeed as members of a merger and acquisition project team. Students will be able to work out how merger and acquisition can help to achieve the strategy, to know how merger and acquisition transactions work in practice from search to merger integration, to get insight into the particular opportunities and challenges of merger and acquisition, and to apply this thinking in a team environment.

Great leaders and corporations take greater responsibilities for its customers, employees, shareholders, and society. This class is to learn what it takes to be a responsible leader and how leaders can create responsible corporations. This course also intends to change behavior for future leaders by teaching decision making framework for making responsible and ethical decisions as they face these challenges.

Through ample case studies, group work and reflection time, the course aims at helping students to enhance their self-awareness, improve their communication skills, build stronger connections and trust with classmates and provide deeper knowledge in the principles of global leadership. This learning has the potential to propel students faster in their leadership career development.

Climate change is the biggest challenge of today and tomorrow. Businesses contribute to climate change but also suffer from its consequences, while for selected industries it poses great opportunities. This course provides a comprehensive, interactive, and multi-disciplinary understanding of the threats, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. The students could gain the competitive insights and tools required to be at the forefront of change.

Art is a big market of alternative investment, while appreciation and valuation of art sounds to be mysterious to many business professionals. In this course, students will understand the financial perspectives and business opportunities of art markets and the basic concepts of appreciation and valuation of art pieces and alternative investment. This course will be co-taught by renowned practitioners from the Art Auction markets, Galleries, Management Consulting and private museum.