School of Business and Economics

Xfi

Centre for Finance and Investment

BEAM012: Financial Instruments (20 Credits)

for

MA Finance and Investment

MSc Financial Management

MSc Finance and Management

MSc Marketing and Finance

Module Information Handbook

Module Co-ordinator – IAN TONKS

October 2006

The School reserves the right to revise the programme as necessary

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

  1. MODULE AIMS

The general aim of this module is to provide students with a comprehensive overview of competing models and valuation techniques for equity, bond, derivative, venture capital and real estate type instruments. The purpose of the module is toequip students to analyse major issues confronting managers of portfolios of assets and to usetheir analysis in making portfolio decisions. The module takes existing instruments and organised markets as its starting point and aims to develop not only a scholarly knowledge of contracts but a critical ability able to judge the appropriate use of each instrument type.

2. INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

After completing the module students will have developed their skills in three categories:

Subject-Specific Skills

  • Have the ability to use critically company and industry analysis for equity securities
  • Be able to use selectively various approaches to the valuation of traded bond instruments.
  • Critically appraise the operation of derivative markets and the specifications of instruments traded.
  • Ability to employ appropriate methods of valuation and forecasting to major asset classes (equities, bonds, derivatives) and to evaluate the empirical support of each methodology.
  • Have sufficient knowledge of a wide variety of other investment vehicles such as real estate, venture capital funds and professionally managed funds as to evaluate critically and comparatively their usefulness to both suppliers and demanders of financial instruments.
  • Ability to develop and apply portfolio formation techniques.

Core Academic Skills

  • Ability to apply formal models (eg valuation) to complex phenomena (in this case financial and investment instruments) to achieve a stated aim and to appraise the validity of the conclusion in the light of model assumptions and of relevant empirical evidence.
  • Ability to formulate decision problems in a formal, soluble fashion while preserving key aspects of the ‘real world’ processes generating the data facing the decision maker.

Personal and Key Skills

  • Ability to plan and manage his/her own study both individually and within a group;
  • Ability to make appropriate use of learning resources, including sophisticated computer datasets;
  • Ability to analyse critically problems arising in both academic and practical contexts;
  • Ability to present effectively results and achievements of individual and collaborative projects as developed through the mode of instruction using both individual and group assignments
  • Ability to isolate and clarify relevant issues and use resources independently to achieve a solution to a complex problem.
  • Ability to construct work within a group structure to arrive efficiently at a stated goal.
  • Ability to present effectively results and achievements of individual and collaborative projects as developed through the mode of instruction using both individual and group assignments.

3. MODULE LECTURER(S)

Ian Tonks is the module co-ordinator. Anthony Broccardo, previously Chief Investment Officer, Foreign & Colonial Management, Dominic Wallington, Fund Manager, INVESCO, will present practical sessions and assist in the assessment. Stephen Zhang Yi() will take the classes, and can be contacted via Ian Tonks or Shirley Learmonth.

Ian Tonks, Room F01,XfiBuilding

Contact: tel: (+44) (0)1392 263461

email:

Office Contact: Fridays 11.00-12.00, or 16.00-17.00 any other time by appointmentwith the programme administrator Shirley Learmonth, Room 224, Streatham Court,

Contact: tel: (+44) (0)1392 263320

fax: (+44) (0)1392 264426

email:

4. MODULE DELIVERY

Lectures:There is a lecture each Friday9-11am in Xfi Lecture Theatre.At the end of each lecture, students are assigned exercises to be completed during individual study.

Classes: There is a weekly 1 hour class-tutorial on Friday each week, in which the exercises assigned from the previous week’s lecture are covered. There will be no tutorial during the first week of the Semester.

Practicals: Students are required to attend at least two practical sessions arranged, mostly on Saturday and Sunday in November.

5. MODULE READING

The exam for this module is based on the lecture handouts, and associated exercises. The reading provides a check and should help ‘deepen’ your knowledge of the material.

Required Reading

Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management, 7th edition, Frank K. Reilly and Keith C. Brown (Dryden, 2000)

Additional reading

This will be assigned in the lecture handouts. Some of the lectures include material from the following textbooks

Solnik, B. and D. McLeavey (2003), International Investments, 5th ed, Addison Wesley.

Fabozzi, F.J. Fixed Income Analysis for the CFA Program (2nd edn. Fabozzi Associates, 2004)

Chamce, D. Analysis of Derivatives for the CFA Program (AIMR, 2003)

6. SYLLABUS PLAN AND READING

Week / Reading
1 / Portfolio Management Overview; The Investment Management Process; Principles of portfolio construction; Review of available instruments: currency, money markets, equity, bonds, derivatives; alternative investments / Reilly & Brown Ch. 1, 2, 17, 25
2 / Selecting Investments in a Global Market; Organisation and functioning of securities markets;Security market indicators; / Reilly & Brown Ch. 3, 4, 5, 12
3 / Equities:Security valuation; Stock-market analysis; / Reilly & Brown Ch. 11, 13
4 / Equities:Industry analysis; Company analysis and stock selection; Technical analysis, Price Multiples; Discounted cash flow applications; / Reilly & Brown Ch. 14, 15, 16
5 / Debt instruments; features of fixed income securities; bond sectors and instruments; yield spreads; bond fundamentals / Fabozzi Ch. 1, 2, 3, 4
Reilly & Brown Ch. 18
6 / Debt Investments: Risks of bond investments; measurement of interest rate risk; / Fabozzi
Ch . 7
Reilly & Brown Ch. 19
Practitioner Session: Practical Portfolio Construction Exercise. Dominic Wallington, Credit Suisse Asset Management (Required coursework assignment).
7 / Derivatives: Markets & Instruments; forward and futures markets and contracts, options; swaps. / Chance Ch. 1, 2,3,4,5,7
Reilly & Brown Ch. 21,22,23,24
8 / Alternative Investments; Real estate; hedge funds; venture capital; commodities. Professional Asset Management / Solnik & McLeavey Ch. 8
Reilly & Brown Ch. 25
9 / Practice Exams
10 / International Finance: Parity Relations - PPP, International Fisher Effect, (un)covered interest rate parity. / Solnik & McLeavey Ch. 1,2
11 / Portfolio Performance Analysis: Performance measurement, Risk adjustment, Timing and Attribution / Reilly & Brown Ch. 26
12 / Revision
13 / Examinations

7. MODULE ASSESSMENT

The Financial Instruments module is assessed by a group assignment (20%), an individual assignment (20%) and a written examination (60%).

The University’s postgraduate marking criteria can be found at the website and is also reproduced in the programme handbook.

8. EXAMINATION

The Financial Instruments module will have a two hour written examination in January 2007. The exam has six questions and students must answer three. Only silent non-programmable calculators are permitted.

9. REFERRED EXAMINATION

If you fail the examination, you will be advised of this and will be allowed to resit the examination once. The resit examination is in early September 2007.

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