Finance Courses
Introduction to Finance
This is a compulsory course for Second-year students Majoring in Economics and Finance.
The aim of this course is to introduce students to a broad range of financial markets operating in a modern economy and to provide you with a basic understanding of these markets. At the end of the module, students should develop a basic awareness of the day-to-day workings of such markets and an informed understanding of key events, such as the recent financial crisis. The topics covered include the role and types of various financial markets; the role and function of financial institutions and their regulation; and the conduct of monetary policy. Various financial markets such as the bond markets, government as well as corporate bonds; the money markets; the stock markets; and the markets for financial futures and options will be covered. The role of central banks and other regulatory institutions in ensuing the smooth functioning of these markets will be explored.
Financial Markets and Asset Pricing
This is an elective course in Finance offered to the third years.
This course focuses on international financial markets and exchange rates. Topics include pricing in the foreign currency and Eurocurrency markets, use of forward exchange for hedging, short-term returns and market efficiency in the international money markets, foreign currency options, international capital asset pricing, pricing of foreign currency bonds, currency swaps, Eurocurrency syndicated loans, foreign currency financing and exposure management.
Managing Financial Institutions
This is an elective course in Finance offered to the third years.
What are financial institutions and why are they special? This course will introduce you to a range of different financial institutions (FIs) – banks, insurance companies and asset management companies – and the services they provide. Common to all FIs is the need to manage financial risk. In this course, we will analyse the different types of financial risk faced by FIs, understand the methods used to measure them, as well as the instruments and processes used to mitigate them. Finally, this course will cover the need for and the extent of regulation of FIs. In particular, we will focus on the financial crisis of 2008 and the changes to the global financial regulatory regime that have taken place as a result of it.
Advanced Financial Management
This is an elective course in Finance offered to the third years.
This is an applied finance course that tackles some of the common problems faced by corporate managers in business settings. Topics covered include project evaluation, capital structure theory, equity valuation, dividend policy, mergers and acquisitions, and equity issuance (IPOs and SEOs).
International Finance
This is an elective course in Finance offered to the third years.
This course will survey a variety of topics in international finance and open-economy macroeconomics. The stress will be on an understanding of the intuition behind the theories, not on mathematical proofs or on replicating empirical results from the literature. The course will not shy away from complex ideas but will try to make the ideas as accessible as possible. The course will address the following main topics: balance of payments, exchange rate determination in open economy models, parity relationships between spot and future exchange rates, risks in global finance (foreign exchange risk and country risk), the management of foreign exchange risk with forwards and options, term structure of interest rates, basic characteristics of trade finance and investment instruments and international capital flows.
