Financial Markets and Instruments

Source details

Mid-level to senior officials in central banks, ministries of finance, and financial regulatory agencies.
Officials who are interested in more advanced finance topics than those covered in the Financial Markets Analysis course.

Participants are expected to have an advanced degree in economics or finance or equivalent work experience.
The course requires heavy use of Excel spreadsheets; participants should be proficient in Excel.
It is strongly recommended that applicants have completed the online Financial Market Analysis (FMAx) course or be able to demonstrate knowledge of the material in that course.

Designed to give participants a foundation of financial instruments beyond the standard treatment of bonds and equity covered in the FMAx.
After a short review, the course covers forwards, futures, swaps, and options and moves to combining these building block instruments with practical applications.
Some time is devoted to the policy implications, notably related to regulation of financial markets; a separate course devoted to financial sector policies is recommended for those interested in more detail.
Lectures introduce the underlying theory; workshops and case studies allow participants to apply the techniques introduced and test their understanding of how and why some strategies and misuse of financial instruments can lead to large losses and financial instability.
Participants will prepare final presentations on a set of predetermined current financial market issues.

Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to:

Identify and use the building blocks presented to construct financial instruments.
Explain the economic rationale for various financial instruments and markets.
Use basic pricing models to identify possible mispricing and misuse of financial instruments.
Identify threats to financial stability in markets and instruments, based on case studies of previous financial crises.
Extract lessons from previous financial stability threats to try to prevent their recurrence.