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Course specification
The current and official versions of the course specifications are available on the web at http://www.usq.edu.au/course/specification/current.
Please consult the web for updates that may occur during the year.

FIN1103 Financial Markets

Semester 2, 2019 Online
Short Description: Financial Markets
Units : 1
Faculty or Section : Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts
School or Department : School of Commerce
Student contribution band : Band 3
ASCED code : 081101 - Banking and Finance
Grading basis : Graded

Staffing

Examiner: Taiji Watanabe

Other requisites

Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at http://www.usq.edu.au/current-students/support/computing/hardware.

Rationale

The structure and operation of financial systems are pivotal in shaping the design and conduct of business and influencing the performance of the real economy. It is essential for students seeking to work in business to understand the nature and operation of financial institutions and markets and to be conversant with the changing range of financial products and their application. Further, they need to appreciate the significance of the global financial system, the operation and performance of the domestic financial system, and the ethical conduct of financial services providers.

Synopsis

This course examines the structure and operation of the Australian financial system using principles of financial and monetary economics. Students are introduced to a selection of financial markets, products and institutions of which operations largely determine key financial variables affecting decisions to allocate funds in the real economy.

Objectives

On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

  1. apply a working knowledge of the current issues in domestic and international financial markets and discuss the importance of ethical conduct in the financial services industry
  2. apply a working knowledge of the payment system, deposit-taking and the operation of domestic debt and equity markets to make decisions in a financial services context
  3. synthesise the operation of Australia's foreign exchange market and its relationship with off-shore capital markets in the global financial system
  4. manage interest rate risk, including the use of forward rate agreements
  5. price various financial products, including futures, options and swaps.

Topics

Description Weighting(%)
1. Introduction to markets and finance professional ethics 10.00
2. The payment system and deposit-taking institutions 10.00
3. Money and debt markets 15.00
4. Equity capital and the share market 15.00
5. Foreign exchange and offshore capital markets 10.00
6. Interest rate risk management 10.00
7. Financial futures 10.00
8. Interest rate swaps 10.00
9. Exchange traded options. 10.00

Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed

ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from USQ's Online Bookshop (unless otherwise stated). (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/textbooks/?year=2019&sem=02&subject1=FIN1103)

Please contact us for alternative purchase options from USQ Bookshop. (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/info/contact/)

Hunt, B & Terry, C 2019, Financial institutions and markets, 8th edn, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne, Victoria.

Reference materials

Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.
Mishkin, FS & Eakins, SG 2018, Financial markets and institutions, 9th edn, Prentice Hall, Boston, Massachusetts.
Valentine, T, Ford, G, Sundmacher, M & Edwards, V 2005, Financial markets and institutions in Australia, 2nd edn, Pearson Education, Sydney, New South Wales.
Viney, C 2015, Financial institutions, instruments and markets, 8th edn, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde, New South Wales.
WEBSITES: The following websites may contain relevant background information for this course: Reserve Bank of Australia, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, Australian Securities and Investment Commission, Australian Stock Exchange, Bank of International Settlement. You can access the current web address for these institutions using an internet search engine and the name of the institution. You will also find your local financial press (i.e. newspapers and periodicals) useful for understanding the current context in financial markets. You may also like to watch financial reports on the television or on the Internet to help you apply the material you learn in this course to current market conditions.

Student workload expectations

Activity Hours
Directed Study 39.00
Independent Study 126.00

Assessment details

Description Marks out of Wtg (%) Due Date Notes
QUIZ 5 5 16 Aug 2019
ASSIGNMENT 35 35 23 Sep 2019
EXAMINATION 60 60 End S2 (see note 1)

Notes
  1. This is a restricted examination. The total working time for the examination is 2 hours. The examination date will be available via UConnect when the official examination timetable has been released.

Important assessment information

  1. Attendance requirements:
    There are no attendance requirements for this course. However, it is the students' responsibility to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.
  2. Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
    To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks. (Depending upon the requirements in Statement 4 below, students may not have to satisfactorily complete each assessment item to receive a passing grade in this course.)
  3. Penalties for late submission of required work:
    Students should refer to the Assessment Procedure http://policy.usq.edu.au/documents.php?id=14749PL (point 4.2.4)
  4. Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
    To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
  5. Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
    The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course.
  6. Examination information:
    This is a restricted examination. The only materials that candidates may use during this examination are:
    1. writing materials (non-electronic and free from material which could give the student an unfair advantage in the examination)
    2. calculators which cannot hold textual information (students must indicate on their examination paper the make and model of any calculator(s) they use during the examination).
  7. Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
    Any Deferred or Supplementary examinations for this course will be held during the next examination period.
  8. University Student Policies:
    Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at http://policy.usq.edu.au.

Assessment notes

  1. Referencing in assignments:
    Harvard (AGPS) is the referencing system required in this course. Students should use Harvard (AGPS) style in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The Harvard (AGPS) style to be used is defined by the USQ Library's referencing guide at http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing.