Academy

The Certificate in Capital Architecture is not an introductory programme. It is a working methodology course for people who are already in the room.

Twelve weeks. Six modules. The complete Capital Architecture Framework - from mandate diagnosis through lifecycle governance.

Next cohort: Q3 2026.

→ Apply for the CCA

→ Download Programme Overview

WHY THE CCA EXISTS

Most training in structured finance teaches instruments. The CCA teaches architecture.

There are many programmes that teach LBO modelling, DCF valuation, credit analysis, and structured product mechanics. These are instrument-level skills. They are useful. They do not address the prior question: how do you design the capital structure in the first place?

The Capital Architecture Framework addresses that question systematically. The Certificate in Capital Architecture teaches it.

The CCA is for practitioners who find themselves in one of these situations:

• You are structuring a mandate that sits outside the normal parameters of commercial market instruments - a project that is too risky for senior bank debt, too large for venture capital, too structured for a development grant.
• You are an LP or DFI officer evaluating layered capital structures and need a reference framework for assessing design quality at the tranche architecture and governance levels.
• You are advising a government or public institution on financing a long-term infrastructure, technology, or social mandate, and the standard procurement finance toolbox is insufficient.
• You are building the intellectual infrastructure for a new asset class and need a documented, systematic methodology to share with investors, regulators, and deal counterparties.

The CCA provides the methodology, the vocabulary, and the tools.

SIX MODULES

The CAF lifecycle, taught in sequence. Each module builds the next.

Module 1 - Capital Architecture Foundations (Weeks 1–2)

The Architecture Gap and its causes. Structural equivalence - why the blended finance mechanism is geography-agnostic. The six capital architecture failure modes. CAF overview: seven stages, two gate requirements, scoring methodology. The Mandate Readiness Assessment: P-1 through P-5, gate decisions, remediation.

Output: Completed MRA for a live or practice mandate.

Module 2 - Mandate Cartography and Capital Stack Design (Weeks 3–4)

Stage 1: Capital Need Type classification. Risk Topology mapping - eight risk categories. Investor Universe analysis. Replication Potential assessment.

Stage 2: Capital stack construction. The Mobilisation Multiplier Model - calculation methodology, domain benchmarks, structural interpretation. Minimum Concessionality iterations. Intercreditor Architecture - IC-1 through IC-5 decision rules.

Output: Completed Stage 1 + Stage 2 documentation with IC architecture decisions and MMM calculation.

Module 3 - Risk Allocation Engineering (Weeks 5–6)

Stage 3: Risk Attribution Matrix - 12 categories, classification methodology. Mandate, Execution, and Residual Risk. QGR-3 specification: Probability of Default · Expected Loss · Stress Coverage Ratio · MMM confirmation · Correlation coefficients. Quantitative modelling approaches for each output.

Output: Risk Attribution Matrix and QGR-3 pass/fail documentation for practice mandate.

Module 4 - Return Engineering and Waterfall Mechanics (Week 7)

Stage 4: Return architecture per tranche. R-1 through R-7 principles - return floors, priority scheduling, PIK mechanics, management fee conflicts. Waterfall design for simultaneous multi-class return optimisation. Common failure modes in return engineering.

Output: Full return architecture documentation and waterfall mechanics for practice mandate.

Module 5 - Replication Testing and Stress Architecture (Week 8–9)

Stage 5: Replication Readiness Score /20. Template classification criteria. Stress scenario design - S1 credit cycle compression · S2 regulatory change · S3 mandate failure · S4 LP withdrawal. QGR-5 pass/fail thresholds. Redesign protocol for failing structures.

Output: RRS scoring, four stress scenario logs, QGR-5 pass/fail for practice mandate.

Module 6 - Lifecycle Governance and Regulatory Architecture (Weeks 10–12)

Post-Stage: G-1 through G-6 governance mechanisms. ILPA DDQ 2.0 alignment - seven areas. Trigger architecture and escalation protocols. Replication feedback loop design.

Regulatory mapping: SFDR 2.0 (proposed November 2025 framework) · AIFMD II (April 2026 transposition) · ELTIF 2.0 · AIFMD II LO-AIF requirements. Additionality scoring /9. Valuation and NAV governance VG-1 through VG-4.

Final assessment: Full CAF application to a substantial practice or live mandate. Scored /101 across all lifecycle stages.

Output: Complete CAF documentation package for assessed mandate. CCA certification upon pass.

PARTICIPANTS

The CCA is for people doing the work. Not the work adjacent to it.

Deal team practitioners and fund structurers

You are designing capital structures for mandates at the edge of commercial markets. The CCA gives you a systematic working methodology - not a framework adapted from adjacent practice, but a methodology built for the structural problem you are actually solving.

LP officers and DFI investment staff

You are on the receiving end of capital architecture proposals and need a reference standard. The CCA gives you the vocabulary and the gate-by-gate evaluation tools to assess design quality at the tranche and governance levels.

Government finance officials and policy architects

You are designing financing mechanisms for public policy mandates - housing, energy, defense, infrastructure. The CAF provides the systematic methodology for converting a policy objective into a bankable, institutionally compliant capital structure.

Academic researchers in finance, economics, and policy

You are building the intellectual foundations of a new discipline. The CCA provides the practitioner grounding that contextualises and sharpens research in structured finance, development economics, and capital markets.

Minimum profile: Participants should have at least two years of substantive experience in capital markets, structured finance, investment management, development finance, or related fields. The CCA assumes fluency with financial markets and basic instrument mechanics. It does not teach these foundations.

FORMAT AND LOGISTICS

Twelve weeks. Cohort-based. Practitioner-paced.

Format: Online, cohort-based. Live sessions once per week (90 minutes). Asynchronous module content between sessions. Peer review integrated into module outputs.

Duration: 12 weeks

Cohort size: Maximum 24 participants per cohort. Deliberately limited to maintain working group quality.

Assessment: Six module outputs (practice mandate documentation) · Final assessment: full CAF application scored /101 · CCA certification upon satisfactory completion of final assessment

Language: English

Next cohort: Q3 2026

Programme fee: EUR 4,800 – 6,500 per participant (tiered pricing: NGO/government / practitioner / institutional)

Group enrolment: Organisations enrolling three or more participants receive institutional pricing. Contact for details.

BEYOND THE PROGRAMME

CCA graduates join the CAI practitioner network.

The Certificate in Capital Architecture is the entry point to the CAI practitioner community - not its terminus.

CCA graduates join a network of practitioners active across 14 countries and four continents, engaged in capital architecture across energy transition, defense and dual-use, social infrastructure, deep tech, and emerging market mandates. The network convenes quarterly for roundtables and biannually for research workshops.

This is not a mailing list or an alumni directory. It is a working group of people who are actively designing and deploying capital structures at the frontier of what institutional markets can absorb - and who are using the CAF as a shared reference methodology.

FOR ORGANISATIONS

The CAF gives your institution a documented, systematic methodology for capital structure design.

For firms that deploy capital into layered structures - DFIs, impact asset managers, family offices, specialist credit funds - the CCA creates a shared methodology across the deal team. Structures designed by teams trained in the same framework are auditable, transferable, and replicable. They survive personnel transitions. They are legible to LP due diligence.

For firms that evaluate capital architecture proposals - pension funds, insurance companies, institutional LPs - the CCA creates a shared vocabulary for due diligence. LP officers trained in the CAF can evaluate tranche architecture, risk allocation, and governance quality using a systematic reference standard rather than precedent and intuition.

Institutional partnerships: The CAI works with a small number of institutional partners on tailored in-house delivery of the CCA methodology. Enquiries welcome.

→ Institutional partnership enquiry

Next cohort: Q3 2026. Applications are open.

Apply for the CCA

Twelve weeks. Six modules. Full CAF methodology. Cohort maximum 24.

→ Apply Now

Download Programme Overview

Full module structure, assessment format, participant profile, and programme fee schedule.

→ Download

Institutional Enquiry

Group enrolment and in-house delivery options for organisations deploying or evaluating layered capital structures.

→ Enquire

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