We prefer to assign topics for theses in the following areas:

• Determinants and information content of credit ratings, analyst estimates and similar signals
• Empirical sustainable finance
• Capital market effects of regulatory measures
• Empirical corporate finance (including crowdfunding)
• Empirical issues of bank (risk) management (in particular operational risk)
• Empirical questions in connection with FinTech companies

In principle, all topics supervised by us should have an empirical component . For Bachelor students who wish to write their thesis in the field of Finance and Banking, successful completion of the module "wir082 Corporate Finance" (or an equivalent module from another university) is mandatory. Attending the module "wir390 Financial Management" before starting the thesis is also strongly recommended. Master's students should have successfully completed at least two Master's modules offered by the department as part of their degree programme.

Registration of the thesis at the department (not at the Examinations Office) is generally only possible within the following deadlines set by the Institute of Business Administration and Business Education:

• 15 November to 15 January (for theses to be taken up in the following summer semester)
• 15 May to 15 July (for theses to be accepted in the following winter semester)

To register, it is sufficient to state your preferred topic and outline your initial thoughts on possible questions and how they fit into the specialised literature. If you are accepted as a supervisor, the final topic will be agreed individually with the supervisor at a later date. The application must be submitted by email to the Office of the Department together with the following documents:

• Fully completed thesis questionnaire
• Current Stud.IP grade sheet

Here you will find information on the collection of personal data (Art. 13 GDPR).

Incomplete applications or applications not submitted on time will not be considered. If the number of applications exceeds our supervision capacity, the decision on the supervision of the thesis will be based on the quality of the planned research project and previous credits. The decision on the supervision of the thesis is usually made within two weeks of the application deadline. For B.A. students, the Department of Finance and Banking offers an obligatory accompanying course in accordance with § 22 para. 5 BPO, for M.A. students a research colloquium in accordance with § 11 para. 2 MPO BWL:M&R.

General information on writing academic papers at the Department of Finance and Banking can be found here.