Undergraduate Courses 2017-18

For Quantitative Finance students only. The course aims to provide orientation to students to help them prepare for academic studies and understand the finance industry. The course starts with a lecture series to provide student with an overview of financial markets and institutions and raises their awareness about finance issues. It will be followed by company visits whereby students are taken to major financial institutions and corporations and meet with company representatives.

For non-SB&M students. Introductory business finance. Topics include time value of money, stocks and bonds valuation, risk/return analysis, portfolio theory, capital budgeting, capital structure, dividend policy, derivative securities, international finance and mergers.

For SB&M students only. Introductory course in financial management. Topics include the concepts and techniques of valuations of cash flows, capital budgeting, risk and return of assets, capital structure, dividend policy and working capital.

For non-SB&M students. Introduction to money and capital markets; money instruments; financial institutions; and markets for various securities, such as government and corporate bonds, and mortgage securities.

An introduction to the fundamental aspects of investment. Topics include: functions of capital markets; applications of modern portfolio theory for personal and institutional investment; pricing of financial securities; options and futures.

Options and futures; interest rate futures and options; valuation of options using Black Scholes and computational techniques; options and futures strategies; interest rate swaps; currency options, futures and swaps; understanding exotic options.

For Quantitative Finance students only. The course aims to provide students with knowledge of financial markets and Bloomberg functionality. The course starts with five introductory sessions, followed by four sessions on equity. A Bloomberg attendance confirmation letter will be issued to students upon completion of the course.

This course will enable students to learn more about market information and the functionality of Reuters 3000 Xtra. It begins with the first module of basic overview and is followed by four core modules on data, screen design, graphics, analysis tools of various instruments, which includes one module of data retrieval in Excel. Students will be eligible in attending the Thomson Reuters Certification Assessment upon completion of the course.

Advanced topics in corporate finance; project evaluation; cost of capital; capital structure; adjusted present value; valuation by multiples; mergers and acquisitions; real option valuation.

The course is designed for students with career interests in investment banking, security analysis, consulting and corporate finance. It explains investors' decisions by analyzing information. By the end of the course, students should feel competent in writing equity research reports or investment analyses that meet the standard of professionalism.

Organization and functions of money and capital markets; money instruments; financial institutions; and markets for various securities, such as government and corporate bonds, and mortgage securities.

Management of commercial and investment banks, and insurance companies; regulatory issues; management of financial risk.

This course will provide a survey about the major equity structured products, their risks, techniques for pricing, as well as key features of each Exotic Option that can be used to develop such equity structured products.

New sound asset-liability management is critical to the success of institutional portfolio management. Topics include (1) new global movements in ALM; (2) balancing liability needs vs. asset selections; (3) dealing with "long tail liabilities" with asset constraints; (4) legal and market price competition considerations in ALM; (5) credit risks and "pass throughs"; (6) currency risks and options; (7) cash flow characteristics and duration connotation; (8) return on capital - accounting vs. economic; (9) use of derivatives and structured products in ALM; (10) ALM tracking and control.

This course covers the process of financial planning with a focus on the process of investment advisory. It will explore portfolio management topics from the financial advisor's perspective, and discuss client expectations and concerns including risk and other cognitive issues. Ethical practices of financial planning will also be discussed. This course aims to prepare students to be investment professionals in the areas of private banking and asset management.

An introduction to the fundamental principles of international financial management and investment. Topics include: international financial markets and instruments; foreign exchange markets; foreign currency derivatives and currency risk; international capital budgeting; international bond and equity markets.

Pricing of bonds, term structure models, duration analysis and immunization techniques, valuation of interest rate options, convertible bonds, mortgage-backed securities, pricing credit derivatives, bond portfolio construction and management.

The objective of the course is to give students first hand experience in using Reuters terminals and provide them with a firm foundation of analytical skills and practical market knowledge.

Students apply skills and knowledge learned from finance courses to focus on specific projects in a professional setting. Students will work on group projects sponsored by participating companies and supervised by course instructors. For BSc in Quantitative Finance students only.

Continuation of FINA 396. For BSc in Quantitative Finance students only.

Directed study of selected issues in Finance.

Covers current developments in finance. Topics selected by instructors.