The School of Finance at Central University of Finance and Economics was restructured in 2003. Its predecessor was the Department of Finance at Central Institute of Finance and Economics which was established in 1951.The major of Finance was the first batch of key disciplines belonging to the Ministry of Finance in 1997. In 2001, the subordinate discipline of Finance (which includes the discipline of Insurance) was designated as a national key discipline by the Ministry of Education. In 2007, this discipline passed the evaluation of National Key Disciplines once again and became an important supporting discipline of Applied Economics which was a national key first-level discipline. In the Discipline Ranking of the Ministry of Education in 2012, the Applied Economics of CUFE ranked second in China. In 2017, the Applied Economics discipline was accredited the national “Double First-Class” discipline. During the fourth round of Discipline Ranking of the Ministry of Education, the Applied Economics discipline ranked A+, tied for the first place.

Since China’s reform and opening-up, the Department of Finance at CUFE has achieved rapid development. With regard to undergraduate education, it has successively held majors in Finance, International Finance, and Insurance etc. In 1986, the major of Insurance was established as an independent department. Based on the major of International Finance, the major of International Economics and Trade was founded in 1999. The Department of Finance at CUFE was the first batch of experimental institutions to set up the major of Financial Engineering in undergraduate education in 2001. In 2004, the School of Finance launched an International Academic Education Program in the major of International Economics and Trade (including International Trade/ Financial Risk Management). In 2010, the major of International Economics and Trade was separated from the School of Finance and reorganized as the School of International Economics and Trade. In 2011, the specialty of International Currency and International Finance was established under the major of Finance. In 2015, the School of Finance set up the specialty of Internet Finance, to become the first institution which trained professionals with an undergraduate major of Internet Finance in China.

With regard to postgraduate education, the Department of Finance set up  postgraduate programs specializing in Banking and Insurance, to become the earliest domestic education base in the field of Finance in 1953. It was authorized to admit master students specializing in Money and Banking in 1983 and it started recruiting students for the Master’s program in International Finance in 1993. It was authorized to confer doctoral degree in Finance in 1998 and approved to run a Professional Master’s Program specializing in Finance in 2010. In 2012, it set up the major of Financial Engineering independently and started recruiting Master and Doctoral students.

With the development and inheritance of several generations of financial talents, the School of Finance has formed an excellent faculty group led by Professors Wang Guangqian, Shi Jianping, Li Jian, Zhang Liqing, and Li Jianjun. Among the team, two professors have become members of the New Century Millions of Talents Project (National Level); seven professors have been awarded the honor of State Council Special Allowance Experts; two professors are ; one professor was named National Renowned Teacher; three professors were named Beijing Renowned Teacher; nine professors are supported by New Century Excellent Talents Support Program of the Ministry of Education. And under the leadership of Professor Li Jian, The Department of Finance became a National Outstanding Teaching Team. The financial experts in preceding generation, Professor Wang Peizhen, Professor Yu Tianyi, and Professor Wu Nianlu (Part-time professor), have been awarded Lifetime Achievement in China's Financial Discipline for making great contributions to the development of Chinese financial education. With internationalization, the School of Finance has employed famous foreign scholars such as Joseph Stiglitz, John Williamson, and Barry Eichengreen as honorary professors or lecture professors. The School of Finance also has hired well-known experts and scholars from the financial field ,such as Wu Xiaoling, Li Yang, Xie Ping, and Zhang Yiqing (who is from National Thousand Talents Project) as graduate advisors and has built a team with nearly 100 industry supervisors having rich experience in the financial field.

The School of Finance consists of five departments (The Department of Finance, The Department of Applied Finance, The Department of Financial Engineering, The Department of International Finance, and The Department of Financial Technology), two teaching centers (the Center for Teaching Research and Case Study for Specialized Master’s Programs and the Center for Innovative Modernization of Teaching Financial Courses) and six research centers (The Securities and Futures Institute, the Center for International Finance Studies, the Center for Chinese Banking Studies, the Mintai Institute of Finance and the Asset Management Academy of China, the Belt & Road Finance Institute of CUFE also known as the Research Center for Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in the records of The Ministry of Education), and one finance post-doctoral research station for the first-level discipline Applied Economics.

Entering into a new century, the School of Finance has made a large number of outstanding teaching and research achievements. Professor Wang Guangqian presided over two financial education reform projects of the Ministry of Education, both of which were awarded first prize in the National Higher Education Teaching Achievements. The course of Finance presided over by Professor Li Jian is of the first batch of National Excellent Courses, Online Courses and MOOC Courses, which have had a wide and profound impact in the society. The course of International Finance presided over by Professor Zhang Liqing is the National Bilingual Teaching Demonstration Course. Professor Wang Guangqian and Professor He Qiang, who are members of the national committee of CPPCC (the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), have provided proposals to the NPC (National People’s Congress) & CPPCC for the reform and development of the country's economy and finance. The major project of the National Social Science Fund presided over by Professor Li Jianjun and the achievements of the major breakthrough research projects of the Ministry of Education presided over by Professor Wang Guangqian and Professor Zhang Liqing have provided essential reference value for the national reform and development. A Financial Intellectual History of China written by Professor Yao Sui was awarded Second prize for Outstanding Research Achievements in Institutions of Higher Education. Professor Wang Hui and Associate Professor Jiang Fuwei have published papers in the top international journals Journal of Econometrics and Review of Financial Studies. With the continuously increasing number of theses published in domestic high-level journals such as Social Sciences in China, Economic Research Journal, Journal of Financial Research, and national academic research projects, teachers of the School of Finance have provided positive intellectual support for the decision-making of government departments, financial institutions, and enterprises.

Adhering to the philosophy of Seeking Truth and Striving for Excellence, the School of Finance at CUFE has been dedicated to cultivating outstanding financial professionals for the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics and has persisted in combining theoretical innovation with practical application. With the attitude of openness, inclusiveness and the spirit of inheritance and innovation, the School of Finance has strived to push all undertakings to a whole new level in the great process of building a world-class financial discipline.