ICMA Centre celebrates 30 years by looking to a sustainable future

Current and former students and staff gathered at the Centre at Henley Business School's Whiteknights Campus on Wednesday 27 April to look back on the 30 years since the ICMA Centre was established to provide dedicated financial training for young professionals.

Having been selected from a raft of European and US business schools, the University of Reading worked alongside the ICMA board to develop a specialist MSc in International Securities, Investment and Banking degree, which commenced in 1994.

At this point, the Centre had no physical premises, offices or teaching rooms, but thanks to financial gifts from the ICMA, the ICMA Centre building was completed in 1998, and substantially extended in 2007. Click here to watch a time-lapse of the extension being built.

The Centre continues to grow and innovate, offering a fintech degree in 2020, followed by a sustainable finance pathway through the BSc in 2021, setting the tone for the future of the finance sector.

Professor Brian Scott-Quinn, Founder and Chairman of the ICMA Centre said:

“Our hope is that soon we will no longer teach ‘green’ finance or talk about a ‘green premium’ but that all finance will be for sustainable projects. We hope that our teaching on sustainability, innovation, New Climate Technology, New Climate Finance and Financial Technology (fintech) will enable our graduates to make an exceptional contribution to mitigating the climate crisis.”

Bryan Pascoe, Chief Executive of ICMA said:

“As the new Chief Executive of the ICMA, it has been great to celebrate the first 30 years of the ICMA Centre. Given the alignment of our strategic directions and hearing directly from the Vice Chancellor regarding his focus on defining Reading as the leading university in sustainability, I have no doubt our partnership will only strengthen in the future."