The Institute for Finance, Banking and Insurance (FBI) is part of the Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistics at WU. FBI is recognized as an international center of excellence both in financial economics research and financial education. The Institute is in charge of two Master’s programs (Quantitative Finance and Finance & Accounting) that are in high demand and a PhD program (the VGSF doctoral program) that is jointly organized with two Viennese partner institutions. In addition to the regular curriculum FBI runs the Portfolio Management Program (PMP). This is a unique initiative in which selected students participate over a two years’ period. In their first year students act as financial analysts and learn how to explore an asset class, a region or a single investment product, while in their second year students manage three real portfolios, each with market capitalization of over a million euros.

The research agenda of FBI is very diverse and members of the institute are specialized in banking, sovereign debt management, endowment management, corporate bonds and corporate finance, default risk, insurance economics, investment management and capital structure modeling. Part of the research activities are focused in three research institutes that are joint ventures with private banks and/or asset managers.

WU Gutmann Centre for Portfolio Management is a research center in the area of portfolio management, established as a cooperation between a leading Austrian private bank Bank Gutmann AG and WU. Since its foundation in 2001, the WU Gutmann Center has set itself the ambitious goal of being a leading academic institution in the field of portfolio management, fostering the exchange of knowledge between academics and practitioners.

Spängler IQAM Research Center is a joint initiative of TU (Vienna University of Technology) and WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) supported by Spängler IQAM Invest to combine the strengths of two leading Universities in Austria. The center aims to be a leading platform for exchange in the field of asset management between academics, practitioners and the public. This is achieved by supporting the generation and implementation of knowledge and experience in the process of value creation for investors.

The Research Institute for Capital Markets (ISK) is a cooperation between WU (Department of Finance, Accounting and Statistic), POK Pühringer Foundation, and ZZ Asset Management. The aim of the Research Institute is to develop strategies and study methods and instruments which contribute to successful asset management for university endowments.