Dr. Liliana Varela

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

This course is not capped, any eligible student that requests a place will be given one.

Students must have completed either: Asset Markets (FM423 or FM423E) and Corporate Finance (FM422 or FM422E); or Financial Economics (FM436); or Management and Regulation of Risk (FM403).

Following an introduction to the exchange rate market, the course will focus on key elements of international financial management, international risk exposure, hedging via FX derivatives (forwards, futures, options, and swap contracts), managing transaction and economic exposure, international portfolio investment. The course will next focus on exchange rate determination and forecasting, the international monetary system, balance of payments, crises in open economies and current issues of the global economy. Relevant concepts will be illustrated throughout via topical business and country cases.

30 hours of seminars in the WT.

The course will be taught in an interactive Harvard-style three-hour lecture block integrating lectures and classes.

Weekly problem sets covering both theoretical methods and practical applications.

Detailed course readings, cases, and slides will be distributed at the start of the course. Illustrative texts include: International Financial Management by C. S. Eun and B. G. Resnick, McGraw-Hill Education; 8th edition (2018), International Financial Management by G. Bekaert and R. Hodrick, Cambridge University Press; 3rd edition (2017) and Maurice Obstfeld and Kenneth Rogoff, Foundations of International Macroeconomics, The MIT Press (1996).

Continuous assessment (100%) in the WT.