Topic Areas

The ACF Academy Data Science courses teach essential skills in Excel, financial modeling, and programming in languages including VBA and Python. They are taught by instructors experienced in the application of these techniques in banking, and are packed with practical examples of their use in finance.

Our derivatives training courses aim to demystify derivatives, showing participants the benefits that derivatives can bring. Each seminar starts by reviewing product fundamentals before going on to pricing, quotation conventions, trading, and their use for hedging market risk.

All our courses provide participants with intensive hands-on experience using powerful and intuitive software, so they can benefit from a comprehensive, practical exposure to each topic covered. By the end of each seminar, participants will gain a deep understanding of derivatives and how they can be used in practice.

Energy and Commodities are the mainstays of the 21st century economy and, at the same time, offer many exciting new opportunities for trading. However, prices can be highly volatile. Oil is potentially exposed to geo-political trouble. Gold is constantly in the news, ever vigilant for inflation or for am hedge against falling equity markets. Food, grains, precious and base Metals – these are all part of this dynamic world. These products are widely used by financial professionals, as well as by individual investors, for portfolio protection as well as investment reward.

The ACF Academy seminars on energy and commodities cover the principal sources of energy – oil, natural gas, coal, electricity, nuclear, as well as renewable sources – and the main commodities traded, including metals and agriculturals. During these courses we examine the markets, supply and demand, the role of derivatives in managing price risk in an increasingly volatile market, and how users can manage their exposure to commodities and energy prices, or invest in their view of the future.

Analyst and associate training is one of the essential foundations for financial professionals. ACF has delivered dynamic financial training to tens of thousands of graduates joining the most prestigious investment and commercial banks.

The ACF Academy now offers a comprehensive Graduate Induction Program aimed at those firms who want the best graduate training available, but whose graduate intake numbers may not justify an in-house program. Our graduate program is also ideal for firms wishing to cut administrative costs.

Performance driven, motivating, and highly engaging, the ACF Academy Graduate Program is taught by experienced professionals having exceptional communications skills and sound market knowledge. Content is relevant, up-to-date, and addresses current market conditions.

The ACF Academy programs on investment banking instil in participants a deep and thorough understanding of a wide range of topics including: mastery of Excel, accounting, financial statement analysis, modeling, valuation, M&A, and much more.

One of the unique features of our courses is that we integrate the Global Enterprise simulation throughout, providing participants with intensive hands-on experience of putting investment banking and corporate finance principles into practice, and really bringing the concepts to life.

ACF specialise in providing first-rate training for the financial markets. Our seminars in this category cover the major markets in fixed income, equities, foreign exchange, and commodities.

The seminars explore how each financial market works, the financial instruments that trade, and the role played by each participant. By the end of the seminar, participants will gain a clear and practical understanding of how that market functions, and how it can be used in practice.

Never before has Risk Management been so important for banks, investment institutions, and corporations. The ACF Academy courses in this area focus on market, credit, counterparty, liquidity, and operational risk. We look at the sources of risk, how it can be measured, and what strategies need to be implemented to control these risks.

Value-at-Risk (VaR) methods are important tools, but nowadays banks need to take a more comprehensive approach.

Our risk management programs examine a wider range of methods designed to identify and measure risk more comprehensively, taking into account the possibility of risks combining to create “the perfect storm”.

Never before has it been so important for bankers – at all levels and in all roles – to understand the complexities of banking in the 21st century, to be aware of how their role fits in, to comprehend the big picture, and to identify problems before they become serious.

The ACF Academy seminars in Treasury and ALM do just that. Using ACF’s sophisticated Global Banker simulation within a realistic and detailed scenario, the seminars show delegates how to develop effective solutions to today’s problems and strategies to ensure that their bank maintains profitability.