The Faculty of Finance and Banking has a long history dating back to 1913, when the Academy of High Commercial and Industrial Studies (AISCI) in Bucharest was established by Royal Decree No. 2978 of April 6, 1913.
Although the faculty was formally defined only in 1948, courses in the financial and banking fields had been providing fundamental and specialized training to AISCI students since the 1913–1914 academic year. These courses (e.g., Money, Credit, Exchange and the Study of Banks; Banking Techniques; Financial Science and Legislation; Theory and Technique of Insurance; Applied Financial Mathematics, etc.) contributed to the formation of future professionals in the Romanian financial and banking sector, which experienced extensive development both institutionally and functionally.
The economic progress and development of the financial sector and the Romanian banking system at the beginning of the 20th century established the need for Romanian economic education, whose mission of training high-quality specialists competitive on the national and international labor market was continuously fulfilled through the professionalism, dedication and commitment of the academic staff.
The financial, banking and insurance fields constituted some of the priorities of the educational process promoted within AISCI.
From 1919 onwards, the specialization of future financial economists deepened — a group for which there was excessive demand from commercial, banking and insurance institutions and enterprises — through the formation of Section I – Commerce, Banking, Insurance, alongside two other sections (Section II – Industrial and Section III – Economic and Consular Administration). The conferral of degrees in the field of FINANCE thus acquired a legitimate status, and this period can be considered as a preamble to the establishment in 1948 of the Faculty of Finance and Credit, which provided university-level training through two sections: Finance and Credit.
The restructuring and regrouping of courses during 1932–1935 aimed at the operation of only two sections — Commercial-Industrial and Administrative — but the disciplines related to training in finance, banking and insurance retained their position within the compulsory, common and specialization courses. As early as 1938, a derivation of Finance appeared at the level of AISCI through Section I – Economic, Financial and Social Sciences (alongside Section II – Administrative and Consular, and Section III – Commercial and Industrial).
Starting with 1948, the Faculty of Finance and Credit was clearly established, operating alongside two other faculties: the Faculty of General Economics and the Faculty of Economic Planning and Administration. In 1949, an Accounting section was also introduced at the Faculty of Finance and Credit. These three sections eventually gave their name to the faculty, which from the 1958–1959 academic year bore the title Faculty of Finance, Credit and Accounting.
The Faculty of Finance underwent a new form of organization in the 1967–1968 academic year, when it had a unified profile and seven specializations, including Finance-Accounting.
The merger of the Faculty of Finance with the Faculty of Accounting in 1974 was motivated by the need for unified training of economists in the financial-accounting field. Our faculty, subsequently named Finance, Banking and Accounting, managed to preserve its 1974 structure through and beyond 1989.
In the early 1990s, the large number of students and the growing demand reflected by enrollment figures generated the need to clearly separate the two specializations into two distinct faculties. Thus, in 1993, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Education and Research No. 4685/1993, the Faculty of Finance and Banking was established. Concurrently, by decision of the Faculty Council of November 16, 1993, the name Faculty of Finance and Banking was approved, subsequently confirmed by the ASE Senate. This was the result of the initiative of a group of distinguished financial academics from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, consisting of Prof. Gabriela Anghelache, Prof. Tatiana Moșteanu, Prof. Nicolae Dardac, Prof. Florin Georgescu and Prof. Ion Stancu, who acted at the right moment to reclaim the “independence” of the Finance field. Regardless of the faculty’s organizational structure and the specializations it has offered over time, graduates have received theoretical and practical training aligned with the dynamic demands of finance, banking, insurance and capital markets — both nationally and internationally — and it can be stated with confidence that the Faculty of Finance, Insurance, Banking and Stock Exchanges is one of the principal training institutions for financial economists in Romania.
At present, as part of ASE Bucharest — a prestigious university of advanced research and education — the FABBV Faculty organizes undergraduate study programs in the Finance field across all three cycles established by the Bologna process (bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral), as well as professional development programs dedicated to lifelong learning. It also conducts high-quality scientific research in the economic field, with a primary focus on finance and banking, and is considered the most important finance faculty in the country and one of the most recognized and credible faculties of its kind in South-Eastern Europe. The faculty has embraced the university’s internationalization process, contributing through its activities to the university’s positioning in national and international rankings (Times Higher Education; QS WUR; World’s Universities with Real Impact – WURI; Ranking Web of Universities; and World Rankings for Best Universities for International Students), pursuing increased international visibility and recognition of its study programs (including through international accreditation of programs and the delivery of programs in partnership with renowned international universities), as well as of its scientific research (through membership in European and international research networks and centers), by improving the quality of the teaching process, the level of student preparation and the openness of scientific research to the international academic and socio-economic environment. The ultimate goal of this ongoing internationalization process is to maintain the status of national leader in the Finance field, while consolidating a strong competitive position in the market of specialized faculties in South-Eastern Europe.
