About Us

Academic and Executive Education, Research and Consultancy for the Financial Markets

The ICMA Centre at Henley Business School, University of Reading has an international reputation for undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education for the financial markets.

Established in 1991 with funding provided by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) in Zurich, the Centre is housed in a purpose-built modernist building with state-of-the-art facilities including three dealing rooms running Thomson Reuters , Bloomberg and Datastream products, where students learn how markets really function and apply theory through simulations. The Centre recently celebrated the opening of its new extended facilities funded by a £5m donation from ICMA which includes an additional flagship 40-seat dealing room sponsored by Thomson Reuters. The Centre also boasts two lecture theatres, several seminar rooms, a dedicated research area, informal seating areas, café bars and Bloomberg TV.

Part of Henley Business School at the University of Reading, the ICMA Centre’s success is a combination of factors:

  • The integration of applied finance theory and industry specific education
  • Professional and academic expertise
  • Strong links with banks, trade bodies and other financial institutions
  • The largest and best equipped dealing rooms in any European business school and teaching by former City traders
  • Specialist Career Development Unit providing focused support.

Director's Welcome

John Board Europe’s first active collaboration between the securities industry and academia began eighteen years ago when the International Capital Market Association began its relationship with the University of Reading to create the ICMA Centre as “the business school for financial markets”. Our mission was to deliver teaching and research of the highest standard and to contribute actively to policy debate.

Over the years, we have expanded our faculty numbers so that we are now among the largest in Europe and have introduced a wide range of Masters courses – both mainstream and more specialised – and a new undergraduate
programme . In addition, we offer a suite of executive education programmes , both certified and bespoke, as well as consultancy services.

The University’s recent merger with Henley Business School now makes us part of one of the largest business schools in Europe and this will allow us both to expand further, as well as to use Henley’s resources to enhance our taught programmes.

The Centre’s facilities are among the best in Europe – we have our own award winning building, extended in 2008, which contains the largest simulated dealing room in Europe as well as outstanding teaching and research space.

In all, the ICMA Centre offers an excellent and stimulating environment in which to study and offers plenty of scope to apply theory to practice.
Our reputation, our collaborative links with industry, and, not least, our 2,500 graduates from 86 countries demonstrate our ongoing ability to meet our objectives.

I very much hope that you find the programmes and activities described on our website to be of interest and I look forward to welcoming you to the Centre in due course.

Professor John Board, Director