Bachelor 2021/2022

International Financial Markets

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Elective course

Area of studies: Public Policy and Social Sciences

Delivered by: Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs

Where: Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs

When: 2 year, 3, 4 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Ella Khromova (Fokina), Darya Litvinova

Language: English

ECTS credits: 4

Contact hours: 36

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course International Financial Markets is an introductory two-module course for second-year undergraduate students. The course is taught in English. Russian is used as supplemental language to explain basic concepts and introduce some Russian terminology. The course provides principles and details of financial markets: capital and money markets. It covers the essentials of capital budgeting and assets valuation (stocks, bonds, futures and options), as well as instruments for construction of a well-diversified portfolio.

Learning Objectives

• To acquaint students with the principles of the financial theory
• To highlight the main differences between financial systems across countries and the reasons and consequences of the financial crises
• To study the concept of time value of money by recognizing the principles of present value and discounting
• To evaluate different investment projects and obtain asset pricing skills such as valuation of bonds, stocks and derivatives and the risks they carry

Expected Learning Outcomes

• The main learning outcome of the course is the ability to construct a well-diversified investment portfolio that will have some forecasted risk and return. The portfolio can contain such financial instruments like bonds, stocks and derivatives like options and futures.

Course Contents

• Cross-country comparison of financial systems
• Capital Budgeting and Project Valuation
• Financial instruments
• Valuation of Bonds
• Valuation of Stocks
• Construction of a diversified portfolio

Assessment Elements

• Home assignments
  The course contains 2 obligatory home assignments after the Banking section and after the Capital markets section of the course. Both Home assignments have equal weights and are evaluated out of 10-point scale. If a student wants to increase her grade she can do an additional (optional) home assignment that may cover up to 10% of the course.
• Participation during lectures and classes
  Students are expected to attend every lecture and class and participate by contributing to the in-class discussions and problem solving. Students may prepare to their in-class problems by reading the materials provided at the end of each lecture.
• Group project
• Final written exam
  Final written exam is held during an exam week. The exam is obligatory and cannot be covered by the cumulative grade. The exam lasts 120 minutes and contains 8 problems that includes some essays and problem- solving tasks similar to home assignments and class problems.

Interim Assessment

• 2021/2022 4th module
  0.15 * Home assignments + 0.4 * Group project + 0.3 * Final written exam + 0.15 * Participation during lectures and classes

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Financial institutions management : a risk management approach, Saunders, A., 2018
• Financial markets and institutions, Mishkin, F. S., 2018
• Principles of corporate finance, Brealey, R. A., 2017

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Comparing financial systems, Allen, F., 2001