Financial Markets and Instruments

This module is substantially based on the content of the Investment Foundations curriculum offered by CFA Institute (a world leading body of investment professionals), and seeks to promote the Investment Foundations certificate program to all eligible students. While this module is currently not affiliated with, sponsored, or approved by CFA Institute, it is intended that accreditation will be sought upon meeting eligibility requirements.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the module

On successful completion of this module a student will be able to:

• Describe the financial services industry; Identify types of financial institutions, including banks and insurance companies; Define the investment industry
• Describe the need for ethics in the investment industry; Identify obligations that individuals in the investment industry have to clients, prospective clients, employers, and co-workers; Identify elements of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics
• Define regulations; Describe objectives of regulation; Describe potential consequences of regulatory failure
• Describe why macroeconomic considerations are important to an investment firm and how macroeconomic information may be used; Define gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP per capita; Identify basic components of GDP
• Define imports and exports and describe the need for and trends in imports and exports; Describe comparative advantages among countries; Describe the balance of payments and explain the relationship between the current account and the capital and financial account;
• Describe systematic risk and specific risk; Describe how diversification affects the risk of a portfolio; Describe how portfolios are constructed to address client investment objectives and constraints

Disclaimer

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules