A86032 Asset Management

At the end of the course the student will be able:

1. to perform the asset allocation of third parties taking into account the different level of risk aversion of each investor;
2. to maximize the performance of a diversified portfolio in a risk-return perspective taking advantage from the extraordinary variety of financial instruments available to investors, ranging from fixed income products to hedge funds.
3. to execute a wise stock picking, being able to fairly weigh the past performance and the growth expectation of each asset;

• The course provides the student with a theoretical & practical background in portfolio investments & risk management, with the principal goal of introducing the principles of asset valuation from an applied perspective.

  The following concepts will be introduced and discussed:

  1. Risk aversion, portfolio theory, risk-control and diversification.
  2. Equilibrium asset pricing versus no-arbitrage pricing; the CAPM and the APT.
  3. Equity valuation
  4. Performance evaluation.

  The course is intended for students who want to become a money manager, an investment professional or who just want to be a wise investor. Within a rigorous analytical framework, the course offers plenty of real world examples.

  Four sessions are given by an industry practitioner with focus on the investment process, the fixed income markets and the asset management industry.

  Students profit from a hands on approach including:

  • An experiential learning laboratory, described in detail below.
  • Training in using Bloomberg, a leading software for trading and data analytics in finance.

The course will run under a workshop format requiring active students’ involvement. Lectures are held throughout the entire semester. Students are responsible for learning the material before coming to class and for providing a meaningful contribution to the discussion led by the instructor. It means to be able to provide accurate and sensible answers and comments whenever personally quizzed by the instructor (it will happen several time during each lecture) and to contribute new and original ideas.

Bloomberg sessions will benefit of the Bloomberg laboratory in the basement of the Library.

In preparing for lectures students are required to know any detail of the required textbook chapters, but are also invited to extend their reading to the academic papers that will be provided by the instructors, and to related paper discovered through personal search.

You are responsible for consulting on a regular basis the website of the course on “my.liuc.it” where updates, additional material and slides about the course are posted. No excuse accepted for any failure during the course you may incur into due to a delayed consultation of the website.  

In your own interest and of your colleagues, please strictly observe the following courtesy rules:

1. Arrive in class on time; do not leave early without prior explicit instructor’s approval
2. Keep your mobiles and laptops off; do not chat with your classmates
3. Do not wandering in and out of the classroom
4. Hand in assignments (if any) on time. No late submissions are allowed.

Required:         “Investments”, any edition, Z. Bodie, A. Kane, A.J. Marcus + posted material

Handouts and other specific readings are handed over during the course.

Recommended:           The handbook of fixed income securities. Frank J. Fabozzi. McGraw-Hill. 2012

The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times (Il Sole24ore, MF)

Additional readings may be posted on the website during the course.

Useful websites:           www.moodys.com; www.standardandpoors.com; www.absnet.net,

                                    www.isda.org; www.ecb.int; www.eurobonds.info;

Students should possess spreadsheet skills, a working knowledge of algebra/statistics and be familiar with the concepts of present-future value.

The course grade for students attending classes will be based on cases, problem sets, Bloomberg certificates, experiential learning laboratory (see below) and final exam.

Cases: There are two case assignments. Cases should be done in groups of at most 3 members. Students are responsible for organizing these groups.  Each case will be distributed at least two weeks in advance and posted by 7pm on the due date on the course Moodle.

Problem sets: There are four problem set.  Problem sets should be done in groups of at most 3 members. Students are responsible for organizing these groups. Each problem set will be distributed at least one week in advance and posted by 7pm on the due date on the course Moodle.

Bloomberg training: Students are required to pass the Bloomberg Essential Training Program and to post on the course Moodle the Training Acknowledgement Certificates by May 31st.

The weights in your course grade are:

Cases 40%

Problem sets 20%

Bloomberg Certificates 10%

Experiential Learning Laboratory 10%

Final Exam 20%

All other students should pass a written exam.