HEC Paris and London Business School have tightened their grip on the top of the Financial Times rankings of pre-experience and post-experience Masters in Finance programmes respectively, having dominated the finance rankings since they were first published in 2011.

The Financial Times Masters in Finance rankings rate the best 50 full-time finance programmes for students with little or no experience of the financial industry, and the top five full-time programmes for experienced participants. The rankings are based on a survey of business schools as well as students who graduated in 2012. The data measure how successful alumni have been in their career in terms of salary, seniority and achievements in the three years since graduating.

HEC Paris is not ranked first in any of the individual criteria but registered a strong performance throughout. Its alumni have the fifth-highest salaries three years after graduation at $93,000 and the programme is ranked third for value for money and the international mobility of its alumni. The school also shares the highest score — 93 per cent — for aims achieved.