We are extremely proud to have celebrated the graduation of our students on 24 July 2025! The graduating ILF Class of 2025 comprised a total of 53 graduates from both the LL.M. Finance and the LL.M. International Finance programs. The official graduation ceremony took place in the afternoon, at the foyer of the House of Finance with families, friends, ILF board and faculty members as well as ILF personnel.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Cahn, ILF Executive Director, opened the graduation ceremony by warmly welcoming all ILF graduates and guests. He congratulated the 53 graduates who are now friends with one another after having spent the past 10 months studying at the ILF. For the future, he encouraged them to be continuously aware of the need to improve oneself in order to deal with new challenges that may arise in the future. Issues relating to digitalization as well as environmental, social and political awareness are matters which have gained significant importance in recent years.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Kadelbach, Dean of the Law Faculty, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, continued by congratulating the Class of 2025. He thanked the graduates for having chosen to come to the Institute for Law and Finance at Goethe University for the completion of their Master of Laws degree and he could see that many of our graduates came from distant countries. It confirms their openness for something new and their readiness to overcome new challenges and they should be very proud of their achievements.
The commencement speaker, Mr. Fausto Parente, Executive Director of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), addressed the graduates by first describing the start of his career and how he eventually came to join EIOPA. He emphasized the stable development and increasing importance of EIOPA which serves as a regulatory institution to support the stability of the financial system and promote transparency and integrity in the EU insurance and pension sectors, especially in the areas of risk assessment and management. He encouraged the ILF graduates to be open to new job opportunities and not to be afraid to take the first step, even if it may initially involve many unknowns.
Upon the conclusion of the commencement speech, Prof. Dr. Stefan Kadelbach congratulated and presented each graduating student of the Class of 2025 with his/her certificate during the commemorative certificate awards ceremony which was accompanied by enthusiastic and loud applause from family, friends, ILF personnel and lecturers.
This was then followed by the address of Ms. Chiara Sannasardo, Class President, LL.M. Finance. She gave a summary of the activities of the class that took place in the past year at the ILF and reminisced on the wonderful times of special bonding created between classmates during the year of studying and having fun together.
Mr. Chen Hu, Class President, LL.M. International Finance, then spoke to the audience about the need to accept challenges and stepping outside of one’s comfort zone when searching for one’s goal in the future.
Both the Class Vice-Presidents, Ms. Haley Gritz of the LL.M. Finance Class and Ms. Yiran Li of the LL.M. International Finance Class, provided some heartfelt words regarding their own impressions of the year at the ILF before proceeded to announce the lecturers of the year for the LL.M. Finance Awards 2025:
LL.M. Finance:
Winter Semester: Dr. Klaus Albert Bauer
Summer Semester: Dr. Peter Stenz
LL.M. International Finance:
Winter Semester: Dr. Arne Klüwer
Summer Semester: Prof. Dr. Andreas Cahn
The official ceremony ended at the House of Finance and all guests were then invited to join the dinner and dance held at the Festsaal of the Casino Building on Campus Westend. During the evening, our guests also had the opportunity to enjoy an exclusive 20-minute video produced by Dr. Rolf Friedewald, ILF Managing Director, which recapped the many memorable academic and extra-curricular activities of the Class of 2025.
It was indeed a wonderful graduation with friends and families present and we express our heartiest congratulations to the ILF Class of 2025 and wish them every success for the future!
