Research Guides: MSF Resources: Financial Platform Certifications

Financial Platform Certifications

Bloomberg, Capital IQ, Refinitiv, and FactSet offer certification options for students. See details below on how to access each training.

Bloomberg Certification
Bloomberg offers a Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC) certification and an ESG certification. Both certifications must be done on the terminal. See details below.
Capital IQ
Please email walkermanagementlibrary@vanderbilt.edu to ask to be enrolled in the Capital IQ certification program. Available for Owen & Law communities.
FactSet
FactSet offers a certification course called FactSet Essentials: Core Products. This certification will teach you how to use the FactSet tool in different asset classes, including equities and fixed income. The course is made up of four chapters that end with quizzes to test your knowledge, and there is a final cumulative exam. The course content takes about two hours to complete and learners are allowed a maximum of two attempts at completing the exam. To access the course, you will need to create a FactSet e-learning ID on the FactSet e-learning website.
To access the FactSet research platform, create an account here: https://support.factset.com/academic/#/student
Refinitiv Workspace
Complete a Refinitiv Workspace or Datastream certification remotely. You have 60 minutes to answer 30 multiple choice questions. You can use your product during the exam. Users get 2 attempts at the exam.

Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC)

Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC) is a self-paced, interactive introduction to financial markets.

It utilizes the Bloomberg Professional Terminal and functions, such as LaunchPad. The course is available through the Bloomberg Terminal at BCER <GO>. Upon completion, you will receive a certificate from Bloomberg. The sections are woven together from Bloomberg data, news, analytics, and television and utilize over 70 Bloomberg Terminal FUnctions

Consists of 3 sections; only the 1st section is required to be certified.

Core Concepts: 8 hours (4 modules: Economic Indicators, Currencies, Fixed Income, Equities)
Getting Started on the Terminal: 2 hours (5 modules: Using the Terminal, Analyzing the Market, Exploring the Equity Market, and Building an Equity Portfolio)
Portfolio Management: 2 hours

At any time, all BMC modules are accessible on the Bloomberg Terminal by video; ear buds required. You do not have to do all modules in one sitting. Having a calculator is handy.

Bloomberg ESG Certification

Added in 2022, the Bloomberg ESG course is a self-paced, e-learning course that teaches learners how to implement ESG strategies and prepare ESG reports for regulators from the perspective of a buy-side asset management firm. As of 2023, the new command BCER <GO> accesses both BMC and ESG certification

Bloomberg ESG consists of 7 modules including key topics like:

Intro to ESG and Sustainable Finance
Research and Adopting ESG
Negative and Positive Screening
ESG Integration - Fixed Income
ESG Integration - Equities
Corporate Governance and Shareholder Activism
Reporting Sustainability Activities

What You’ll Learn

Analyze how asset managers integrate ESG considerations into their investment decision-making process.
Explain how shareholder activism influences corporate behavior.
Practice tasks within various stages of the investment process.
How to report on ESG investment activities for EU funds.

Additional details about the Bloomberg ESG certification are available in:

Crack, T. F. (14, June, 2023.) Bloomberg Environmental Social Governance (ESG): Certification for Students (and Their Professors.) Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4422855.