Financial markets and institutions (FIN105)

This course provides a unified framework for illustrating the financial markets, institutions, and instruments in a contemporary (i.e. post-crisis) context. It focuses on the structure and regulation of various markets in financial instruments, operation of banks and non-bank financial institutions, central bank operations and their effect on financial institutions, risks faced by the managers of financial institutions, and the methods, markets, and instruments for managing these risks. The course adopts a game-theoretical approach in analysing these topics, thereby financial actors are interacting each other with a certain degree of anticipation.

• Illustrate the roles and functions of financial markets, institutions, and instruments in mitigating different types of risk.
• Observe the current market environments and analyse the theoretical rationales behind the investment choices.
• Assess the macro-prudential policies from various investor’s perspectives.
• Illustrate various incentives and motivations for different financial actors (including regulators) and analyse their interactions.
• Critically evaluate the recent financial news articles and relevant research in financial markets as a method to identify the trends in the markets.