DSF's founders include influential Dutch economist Nout Wellink and Minister of Economic Affairs, Maria van der Hoeven.

The school had an administrative staff of eighteen faculty members supported by a number of partnering institutions, including the Dutch Central Bank, ING and APG.

The board of directors and the executive fellowship at DSF included senior members of large financial institutions in the Netherlands.

[5] DSF was founded as a collaborative effort of academic researchers, financial companies, legal firms and government organizations on September 7, 2008.

The executive management and associated fellowship of DSF were composed of representatives from businesses, government, academia, and legal firms.

Academics from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Vrije Universiteit (VU) often collaborated on various research projects with members of involved financial companies.

[7] Students and faculty mainly worked on research papers aimed at assessing the regulation and efficiency of the financial sector.

It was DSF tradition to open the academic year with one of the students ringing the bell at NYSE Euronext.Members of partnering institutions collaborated with the school and with each other through the Executive Fellows program.