Name: Foreign Exchange, Money Markets and Derivatives
Start: 2021-11-21
End: 2021-11-25
Location: Dubai

Quick Enquiry Download Brochure Call Me Back

Course Methodology

This course uses a wide range of learning methods, including explanatory slides, case studies, detailed examination of Excel models in an interactive workshop style environment and others.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Develop a deep understanding of the FX market, its mechanics and major participants
Analyze the role and impact of central banks on FX and money markets
Examine the nature of money supply, open market operations and quantitative easing
Demonstrate a thorough understanding of liquidity, capital adequacy and solvency
Apply analytical skills to key financial products within global money markets
Explain the logic and uses of financial derivatives – forwards, swaps and options
Develop an understanding of key strands of financial risk management

Target Audience

This course is suitable for all those working within the banking industry, including wealth managers, auditors, accountants, finance specialists, risk managers, and treasury and product control professionals. It is also suitable for those working with financial services and in corporate finance positions.

Target Competencies

Exchange rate and interest rate risk best practices
Analyzing unorthodox policies
Global money, FX markets, and capital flows
Thought leadership

Interface of money markets and foreign exchange (FX)
- Size of the markets
- Issuance of Treasury instruments, repos, bankers acceptances, commercial paper
- Overview of the Euromarkets
- London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR)
- Treasury bill issuance in different jurisdictions
- The mechanics of the Repo market
- Forward rates for interest rate and FX
- Effective yields when risk adjusted for FX exposures
- Arbitrage and interest rate parity
- Current market conditions
- Risk premia, key money markets spreads and currency outlook

Role of central banks in the financial system
- Overview of central banks
  - Federal Reserve
  - European Central Bank
  - People’s Bank of China
  - Bank of Japan
  - Bank of England
- Structure of a central bank balance sheet
- Characteristics of central bank’s assets and liabilities
- Lender of last resort
- Summary of Open Market Operations
- Unorthodox monetary policy including quantitative easing (QE)
- Independence of central banks
- Financial stability and macro-prudential policy
- Forward guidance and transparency of decision making
- Management of FX reserves and exchange rate policy
- Nature of payments systems – real-tim gross settlement systems (RTGS), net settlement, Fedwire, Target2

Monetary policy and money supply
- Overview of the policy committees
  - Federal Open Market Commmittee (FOMC)
  - Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England (MPC of BOE)
  - European Central Bank (ECB Governing Council)
  - The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) governance
- Overview of money supply
- Monetary tools and how they impact money supply
- How is money created in a modern economy
- Inflation targeting
- Central bank reserves
- Explanation of the Taylor rule
- Term structure of interest rates

Foreign exchange market characteristics
- Size of market, volumes, participants, major currency pairs
- Regional breakdown of where and when most FX trading takes place
- Key role of London market in FX trading
- Historical background to today’s FX market
- Role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Special Drawing Rights (SDR’s)
- Global FX reserves
- Review of several key historical FX rates
- Price of gold and relationship to the US Dollar index

Interest rate (IR) swaps
- Basic structures and terminology of swaps
- Business case for using IR swaps
- Contrast money market rates and IR swap rates
- Notion of swap as an aggregation of forward rate agreements
- Pricing the fixed leg and interpreting the swap markets
- Counter party risk
- Recognition that credit valuation adjustment (CVA) is integral part of trading practices and pricing of derivatives and not just a regulatory (Basel) issue
- Over-The-Counter (OTC) market versus Swap Execution Facilities (SEF’s)
- Collateralized OTC trades versus margin based Central Clearing Party (CCP) platforms
- Netting arrangements

Credit default swaps (CDS)
- Terminology – protection buyer/seller, reference entity,
- Naked CDS positions
- Contrast between a CDS and a financial insurance contract
- Equating actual and contingent payments
- Inputs to model - default probabilities, loss given default (LGD), forward curve
- Sovereign and corporate markets
- Single name CDS versus basket products, nth to default structures
- Determination of a credit event
- Recent amendments to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) protocols on determination of credit events
- ISDA protocols

Using derivatives for general hedging purposes
- Key concepts of hedging equity and fixed income risk with derivatives
- Using index futures and options to hedge equity portfolio
- Hedge ratio calculation for equity futures
- Calculating portfolio beta
- Options strategies
- Using forwards to hedge forex risk
- Using swaps to hedge credit risk
- Using variance swaps to hedge volatility risk

Asset/liability management and the treasury function
- Interest rate risks
- Market risk i.e. re-valuation of bank holdings from changes in interest rates
- Accounting issues related to fair value accounting
- Duration gap analysis
- Interest rate forecasting
- Review of inflation protected securities
- Estimating the Term Liquidity Premium in money markets
- Funds Transfer Pricing (FTP) mechanics
- Contingency buffers for liquidity risk management
- Funding Value Adjustment (FVA)
- Bank funding curves
- Applying the correct FTP charges for strategic balance sheet management

The global regulatory framework
- Overview of the Basel III framework
- Key provisions of Basel III related to market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk and operational risk
- Pillars 2 and 3 of Basel accords and role of central banks as supervisors
- Contrast macro-prudential policy initiatives with traditional micro-prudential
- Pro-cyclical and counter-cyclical risk management
- Dodd Frank Act and Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), Volcker rule
- Regulatory investigations into market abuse
- USA - the Federal Reserve, Treasury, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
- UK - Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), Financial Conduct Authority
- European Union – ECB, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
- Trans national – Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Global Financial Stability Board etc.
- Sarbanes-Oxley – risk disclosure, stringent accounting requirements, impact on IT policies
- Volcker Rule – restrictions on activities/structure of banks

Meirc Professional Certificate (MPC)

MPC certified courses by Meirc Training and Consulting are designed for those willing to challenge themselves and go the extra distance. Participants who fully attend an MPC course and successfully complete the test on the last day, will receive a Meirc Professional Certificate (MPC), in addition to the one they receive for attendance. MPC certificates are regionally recognized and can be quite valuable when applying for more senior roles within the organization or outside.