Regina Shin (MFin ‘22) had a goal for many years: to become the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of an international bank.
Shin received an MBA from the London Business School in 2007, and previously worked as a director of Debt Capital Markets at Standard Chartered Bank in Seoul, South Korea.
But with most of her family in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, Shin realized that — as she phrases it — “life is too short” to live so far away from loved ones.
In 2020, Shin enrolled in Rotman’s Masters of Finance (MFin) program, and shortly thereafter, moved to Canada.
Shin says she chose Rotman for a few reasons: one, she wanted to learn more about the latest technical elements of the financial sector; and two, she wanted to learn the ins and outs of the industry in Canada. “I really wanted to refine my local knowledge and understanding of Canadian regulators,” she says.
Shin also believed that Rotman’s MFin program would bring her closer to her goal of working at the executive — or C-suite — level. “I thought having a local degree from a renowned school like Rotman is really the foundation to establish myself here in Canada, as a senior finance executive.”
Shin worked hard throughout the program and found that her previous experience was an asset. “Professors encouraged us to talk about our real-life experiences in class, that sharing was helpful.”
For Shin, learning about Risk Management from renowned professor John Hull was a highlight. “I felt very honoured to learn from him,” she says. “The textbook he wrote is always on my desk. It's really the one book that I refer to when I need to recall something about risk management.”
Aside from risk management, Rotman’s 20-month Masters in Finance teaches everything from macro-economics to corporate finance to fintech disruption, and more. Students arrive in the program as current working professionals with an already-solid career in finance.
“I was almost ready before, but Rotman gave me that final foundation.”
—Regina Shin (MFin ‘22)
The program maintains prestigious connections to Bay Street and stays up to date on the latest in tech - an asset that was especially useful for Shin, who explains that within the last decade, financial management has been much more driven by coding languages like Python or Panda, which are key to analyzing the immense amount of data required within the industry. “For example, you can program the data in a way where automatically, shares can be sold or can be bought at a certain price, to maximize the profits,” she says.
After working at Deloitte and KPMG for a period, Shin was recruited to work in Toronto for the Shinhan Bank Canada, a subsidiary of Shinhan Financial Group, one of the largest FIs in South Korea. As the Bank’s Chief Financial Officer, Shin oversees everything from accounting, taxation, and the bank treasury to strategic business development.
Shin says she attended Rotman to open new doors and sharpen her skillsets, and after achieving her goal of being hired as a CFO, is pleased with the result.
“I know a lot more about local regulation now, which is what I wanted,” she says.
“I was almost ready before, but Rotman gave me that final foundation.”
Written by Meaghan MacSween | More Student Stories »