Master of Family Wealth Management Master of Family Wealth Management

As a leading research and learning institution in Asia, HKU has a clear responsibility to provide education that meets societal needs. The family office and wealth management profession is undergoing fast changes in response to business and technological innovations. This new FWM programme, with emphasis on both hard skills and history knowledge, responds to the current needs for advanced wealth management education and will bring much synergy with existing taught programmes at HKU.”

Professor Dragon Tang
HKU Business School Professor of Finance and Associate Director of the Centre for Financial Innovation and Development

Curriculum

The Master of FWM curriculum emphasizes the intersection across the historical roots and cultural dimensions of the family, family business, and investment markets. The interdisciplinary approach of the programme enables students to understand the multifaceted nature of the family office and wealth management landscape.

Students will be required to complete six core courses, four elective courses, and one capstone project course, with a total of 72 credits.^#

Core courses cover key topics such as history of the family and family business, history of wealth and financial markets, estate planning, asset allocation, investment management, and family office management. Elective courses further students’ knowledge on these key topics. As a capstone to the programme, students will have the opportunity to either conduct research on and propose possible solutions to a practical issue faced by family offices and wealth managers, or to pursue an internship practicum in the industry.^*

Read about Why History Matters in FWM

Core Courses

MFWM7001 History of Wealth and Financial Markets
MFWM7002 History of the Family and Family Business Dynasties
MFWM7003 Asset Allocation and Investment Management
MFWM7004 Corporate Finance and Business Models
MFWM7005 Estate Planning and Legal Issues
MFWM7006 Current Issues in Family Office Management

Elective Courses (Four Courses)

MFWM7011 Economic and Quantitative History
MFWM7012 Business History and Best Practices
MFWM7013 Faith, Religion and Leadership
MFWM7014 Psychology, Group Dynamics and Management
MFWM7015 Cross-cultural Communication and Management
MFWM7016 Introduction to Economics and Finance
MFWM7017 Hedge Funds, Private Equity Funds and Other Alternative Investments
MFWM7018 Emerging Markets and Global Investment Opportunities
MFWM7019 Philanthropy and Social Impact Investing: Integrating CSR and ESG into Family Wealth Management

Capstone Project Course

M8011 Family Wealth Management Capstone Project

Notes:

Not all of the elective courses listed above will necessarily be offered each year, and the above list is subject to further adjustments.

^#Subject to approval by The University of Hong Kong.

^*Subject to approval by the Programme Director/Chair of the two respective programmes, FWM students may take up to two 6-credit elective courses from other HKU Business School Taught Post-graduate programmes or up to one 6-credit elective course from the Master of Social Sciences in the field of Non-profit Management.

Course Details

Faculty

The programme will be taught by a cross-curricular team led by Professor Zhiwu Chen and comprising of leading scholars at HKU and other institutions, and industry practitioners with deep experience in the field.

Institute Director

Professor Zhiwu Chen is Chair and Cheng Yu-Tung Professor in Finance at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Professor Chen currently serves as director of both Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS) and Centre for Quantitative History (CQH). His research covers finance theory, the sociology of finance, economic history, quantitative history, emerging markets, as well as China’s economy and capital markets. Prior to joining HKU, Professor Chen was Professor of Finance at Yale University (1999 – 2017) and a Special-Term Visiting Professor at Peking University (School of Economics) and Tsinghua University (School of Social Sciences).

Programme Director

Ms Bonnie Leung is Programme Director for the Master of Family Wealth Management programme. Her academic focus is on ESG investing in the context of family wealth. Ms Leung brings decades of industry experience to the FWM programme. She held various COO positions at BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset management firms, and was also a founding member of their Asia Pacific sustainable investing team. Prior to BlackRock, Ms Leung served as a consultant and professional development manager at McKinsey & Company, focusing on financial services. She received an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.