Strip away the mystique of the world of markets and investments and gain full insight into the origins of these markets. Learn about the key concepts and the structure of capital markets, the key players, the role of the regulatory institutions, the financial instruments, the risk and derivatives.

Daily we are overwhelmed with news and from a publisher’s perspective, is that they’re addictive. A story which doesn’t unfold, all in one, goes like a novel and fills in, bit by bit over days.
The story of financial markets, as presented in various media, is like that.  Every day we get a few disjointed pieces of information and for some reason, they rarely add up to practical market principles, like diversification or the understanding of markets and efficiency. 

To manage your business, it is vital that strategies and plans can be developed with realistic prospects of success.

You will learn tools and frameworks to help understand and predict the medium- to long-run performance of economies to mitigate risk, develop growth plans, and make decisions, both locally and abroad. Participants will leave the program with a better understanding of the global economic environment, global market strategy, macroeconomics, and how these things impact their company and their business decisions.

The 3 days are designed to remove the confusion that often surrounds the financial markets. It looks at markets from a global perspective and helps you to understand the drivers, companies and products that influence them.

You will gain full insight into the origins of the capital markets, key theory, the key players and the role of the regulatory institutions. We study the main financial products and the uses and abuses of derivatives.

We will explore:

• What makes up a market, where is the market, is the market attractive, where does the market exist and in which form? 
• The fundamentals of financial markets and key theory
• The Issuers and borrowers of funds
• The key players in the financial markets including issuers, investors and intermediaries
• The key features of both equity and debt products
• What we mean by systematic and unsystematic risk 
• The structure of the FX market
• The derivative markets include futures, options and swaps. 
• The role of commercial and investment banks
• Market regulation and monitoring
• Global market risk and instrument risk
• Introduction to qualitative and quantitative measures

Course format

Practice-based learning and critical engagement is a key theme through all our courses allowing delegates to acquire the needed skills and techniques to be applied as soon as they are learned and developed.

• Finance professionals who want a clear understanding of how global financial markets operate.
• Investors and wealth professionals seeking stronger knowledge of market drivers and instruments.
• CFOs, treasurers, and finance managers exposed to interest rates, FX, or capital markets.
• Corporate managers making decisions influenced by market trends and economic conditions.
• Bankers and financial services professionals wanting broader market insight.
• Analysts who need to understand equities, bonds, derivatives, and risk dynamics.
• Entrepreneurs and business owners raising capital or managing market-related risks.
• Consultants advising clients on financing, strategy, or investment decisions.
• Non-financial executives who want to decode financial market news and jargon.
• Professionals who need to connect macroeconomic developments to business strategy.

09:00 – 11:00 | The Fundamentals of markets:

• Investors and Expectations
• The Borrowers, perspective and leverage
• The Time Value of Money
• Discounted Cash flows
• National and Global Economies
• Perfect Markets
• Efficient Markets
• Inefficiency and Market Bubbles
• Portfolio Theory
• Risk Versus Return

11:00 – 11:15 | Morning Break

11:15 – 13:00 | Issuers and Borrowers of Funds: 

• Exploring the role and function of governments, corporate (Domestic and International), municipals, supranational organisations, financial Institutions and agencies.

13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch Break

14:00 – 17:00 | The Investors of Funds: 

• Exploring the role and function as investors of corporate, pension funds, asset managers, insurance companies, hedge funds, money managers, commercial and central banks, governments and private individuals.

09:00 – 11:00 | The core financial instruments: 

• What makes up the market?
• Which financial instruments are available
• What are the characteristics of each financial instrument and associated risk?
• Equity, debt (bonds and notes), convertibles, loans, CD's and CP, currencies, foreign exchange and securitised instruments

11:00 – 11:15 | Morning Break

11:15 – 13:00 | The Derivatives:

• Exploring the use of forwards contracts, future contracts, options, SWAPS and credit default swaps

13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch Break

14:00 – 15:30 | World Exchanges and Financial Markets: 

• What are the main characteristics, size and associated risk of global equity markets, fixed income markets, global money markets, foreign exchange markets, derivatives market, commodities markets and the real estate market?

15:30 – 15:45 | Afternoon Break

15:45 – 17:00 | Role of Commercial and Investment Banks:

• Understanding the key players and their actions.
• The role of commercial banks, spreads commission and fees, credit pricing models, investment banks, market making, trading and broking, custody and operations

09:00 – 10:15 | Global Market Risk and Instrument Risk: 

• What drives the market?
• Which are the global risk factors
• What is market risk, industry risk and instrument risk?

10:15 – 11:15 | Market Regulation and Monitoring:

• Global Regulatory Institutions and their function
• Basel III and banking
• Banking Regulation and the Front, Middle and Back office perspective
• IFRS and the corporate
• The role of the auditors

11:15 – 11:30 | Morning Break

11:30 – 13:00 | The Corporate Life Cycle and Market Interaction:

• The search for value
• The Debt / Equity structure
• Corporate Governance
• Agency Theory
• The Dividend Policy
• IPOs and private placements
• Subscriptions, general cash offers, stock splits and scrip issues

13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch Break

14:00 – 15:30 | Introduction to Qualitative Analysis 

• Exploring qualitative measures determining value.
• Equity and company valuation
• Forecasting earnings
• Equity risk premiums

15:30 – 15:45 | Afternoon Break

15:45 – 17:00 | Introduction to Quantitative Measures 

• Exploring quantitative measures determining value.
• Statistical measures and market returns
• Correlation and Regression
• Time series Analysis
• Portfolio Concepts

• I strongly recommended this training to my colleagues as I found it very useful.

• I think this was one of the best courses I've ever attended. The trainer was extremely pedagogic and the structure of the course was very well planned with just the right mixture of theory versus practical examples and exercises.

• It was a very enjoyable course. The group was small which made it easier to be 100% involved.  The exercises and case study were great and necessary to put the theory into practice. A very knowledgeable teacher.