This course covers the theory and practice of financial intermediation, broadly construed to include banks, savings institutions and investment/merchant banks. Topics will include the role of banking firms in a developed capital market, their impact on corporate financial decisions for non-banking firms, and the regulation of banks. The course includes a comprehensive analysis of the role of financial intermediaries in the development of fixed income markets and provides an analysis of fixed income securities. Additional topics include models and techniques used for managing credit risk, interest rate risk and liquidity risk. These are applied to maturity matching, duration and immunization, loan sales, securitization, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs).

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Explain in detail the role of banks in an economy and the global trends in banking and bank regulation
2. Describe in depth how banks’ lending policies can influence corporate decision making
3. Identify and quantify complex banking risks and implement credit risk management
4. Critically analyse debt markets and their role in liquidity management
5. Define in depth interest rate risk and management
6. Thoroughly discuss bank loan sales and securitization
7. Communicate the causes and consequences of bank failure and the global financial crisis
8. Describe the latest developments in banking, including Fintech
9. Work effectively in teams and present the results of this teamwork

Research-Led Teaching

Text book material will be supplemented with the most recent information from research and news from: my own research, research from universities elsewhere, government departments, and international organisations i.e. World Bank, IMF etc., and news outlets.

Examination Material or equipment

Students will be allowed to bring a non-programable/scientific calculator and dictionary into the closed book tests.

Required Resources

Text: Financial Markets and Institutions: A Risk Management Approach, 9th edition, by Anthony Saunders, Marcia Millon Cornett, McGraw Hill, 2013. http://shop.mcgraw-hill.com/mhshop/productDetails?isbn=0078034809

Students are expected to have access to a copy of the prescribed book for the duration of the semester. The book can be purchased from the on campus bookshop, with a small number of copies also available for 2 hour loan in the reserve loan section of the Chifley Library. AN E-book version of the textbook is also available from ANU library website. 

Recommended Resources

Students are recommended to stay abreast with current events by regularly reading the financial news. Online resources such as Bloomberg, Reuters or the Wall Street Journal are the usual suspects.

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

1.   Written feedback

2.   Face-to-face feedback if necessary

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). The feedback given in these surveys is anonymous and provides the Colleges, University Education Committee and Academic Board with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement. The Surveys and Evaluation website provides more information on student surveys at ANU and reports on the feedback provided on ANU courses.

Other Information

Consultation hours will be confirmed at the start of the semester.

Assessment Requirements 

As a further academic integrity control, students may be selected for a 15 minute individual oral examination of their written assessment submissions.

Any student identified, either during the current semester or in retrospect, as having used ghost writing services will be investigated under the University’s Academic Misconduct Rule. 

Scaling

Your final mark for the course will be based on the raw marks allocated for each of your assessment items. However, your final mark may not be the same number as produced by that formula, as marks may be scaled. Any scaling applied will preserve the rank order of raw marks (i.e. if your raw mark exceeds that of another student, then your scaled mark will exceed the scaled mark of that student), and may be either up or down.

 Referencing Requirements

Please use Harvard or Chicago style referencing. See here for more information:  https://academicskills.anu.edu.au/resources/handouts/referencing-style-guides

Support for Students

The University offers a number of support services for students. Information on these is available online from http://students.anu.edu.au/studentlife/

Extensions and Penalties

No submission of assessment tasks without an extension after the due date will be permitted. If an assessment task is not submitted by the due date, a mark of 0 will be awarded.

Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

 

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Roles and operations of banks
2	Bank financial statements and banking risks
3	Interest Rates and Interest Rate Risk
4	Lending Policies And Credit Risk	Take Home Exam 1 released
5	Debt Markets and Liquidity risk
6	Market Risk
7	Regulation: Micro-prudential Policy
8	Regulation: Macro-prudential Policy	Take Home Exam 2 released
9	Securitization
10	Securitization
11	Bank crises and failures: economic consequences
12	Bank crises and failures: the future of banking	Take Home Exam 3 released

Tutorial Registration

Tutorials will be available on campus, live through scheduled Zoom sessions and as pre-recorded videos. Information regarding enrollments for these options will be provided on Wattle no later than O-week.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Take Home Exam 1	25 %	22/03/2022	22/04/2022	1-9
Take Home Final Exam	25 %	03/05/2022	03/06/2022	1-9
Take Home Exam 2	50 %	03/06/2022	03/07/2022	1-9

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Misconduct Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Policy and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website. In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Wattle’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Participation

Course content delivery will take the form of weekly on-campus lectures (recorded and available via echo360 on Wattle), weekly online (Zoom) workshops (recorded) and weekly

tutorials, delivered in hybrid format (on campus, live through scheduled Zoom sessions and as pre-recorded videos).

 

Examination(s)

Centrally scheduled examinations through Examinations, Graduations & Prizes will be timetabled prior to the examination period. Please check ANU Timetabling for further

information.

Assessment Task 1

Take Home Exam 1

Take home exam released on the Friday of Week 4 (2022-03-18) at 5pm and due back the following Tuesday (2022-03-22) at 9am. The exam will cover the material in the first 4 weeks of semester and be worth 25% of your overall grade. Exam questions will be all long problem solving and short essay style questions. Details of the assessment and marking criteria will be provided in the exam. The exam will be submitted via the course Wattle site.

Assessment Task 2

Take Home Final Exam

Take home final exam released on the Friday of Week 12 at 5pm and due back the following Friday at 9am. The exam will be comprehensive and cover all material in the semester (weeks 1-12) and be worth 50% of your overall grade. Exam questions will be all long problem solving and short essay style questions. Details of the assessment and marking criteria will be provided in the exam. The exam will be submitted via the course Wattle site.

Assessment Task 3

Take Home Exam 2

Take home final exam released on the Friday of Week 12 (2022-05-27) at 5pm and due back the following Friday (2022-06-03) at 9am. The exam will be comprehensive and cover all material in the semester (weeks 1-12) and be worth 50% of your overall grade. Exam questions will be all long problem solving and short essay style questions. Details of the assessment and marking criteria will be provided in the exam. The exam will be submitted via the course Wattle site.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. At its heart, academic integrity is about behaving ethically, committing to honest and responsible scholarly practice and upholding these values with respect and fairness.

The ANU commits to assisting all members of our community to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. The ANU expects staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle and Academic Misconduct Rule, uphold high standards of academic integrity and act ethically and honestly, to ensure the quality and value of the qualification that you will graduate with.

The Academic Misconduct Rule is in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. Very minor breaches of the academic integrity principle may result in a reduction of marks of up to 10% of the total marks available for the assessment. The ANU offers a number of online and in person services to assist students with their assignments, examinations, and other learning activities. Visit the Academic Skills website for more information about academic integrity, your responsibilities and for assistance with your assignments, writing skills and study.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

No submission of assessment tasks without an extension after the due date will be permitted. If an assessment task is not submitted by the due date, a mark of 0 will be awarded.

Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

Accepted academic practice for referencing sources that you use in presentations can be found via the links on the Wattle site, under the file named “ANU and College Policies, Program Information, Student Support Services and Assessment”. Alternatively, you can seek help through the Students Learning Development website.

Returning Assignments

 

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Resubmission of Assignments

There are no resubmissions for the assessment tasks.

 

 

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Diversity and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students