Dr Jean-Pierre Zigrand

This course is available on the MSc in Finance (full-time), MSc in Finance (full-time) (Work Placement Pathway), MSc in Finance and Economics, MSc in Finance and Economics (Work Placement Pathway), MSc in Finance and Private Equity and MSc in Finance and Private Equity (Work Placement Pathway). This course is not available as an outside option.

Students must have completed either Asset Markets (FM423) and Corporate Finance (FM422) or Financial Economics (FM436)

Students will be expected to show some familiarity with calculus (including stochastic calculus) and statistics

This course provides a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of financial engineering. The emphasis is on the application of derivatives pricing and hedging methodology to equity and volatility derivatives and to structured products.

The course aims to cover the basics in derivatives theory, and to apply them to a multitude of financial securities and structured products, with a special emphasis on recent products in the equity and volatility derivative worlds. We review selected case studies in order to gain a better understanding of their practical usage. We also implement the models numerically in R and VBA.

30 hours of lectures in the LT.

This course is taught in the interactive lecturing format. There is no distinction between lectures and classes/seminars; there are “sessions” only, and the pedagogical approach in each session is interactive.

Based on a set of extensive lecture notes. No one book covers the material of the entire course. Books recommended include The Volatility Surface: A Practitioner's Guide, 2nd Edition, by Jim Gatheral, and The Volatility Smile by Derman, Miller and Parlk. Background reading can be found in Volatility: Practical Options Theory by Adam Iqbal, Derivatives Markets by Robert McDonald or Options, Futures and Other Derivatives by John Hull.

Exam (70%, duration: 2 hours) in the summer exam period.
Project (30%) in the LT.