Office hours: To be advised 
Office location: Nexus 10, Level 3, Room 3.34

Each student is expected to attend two one hour lectures each week, and a one hour tutoria. A full timetable of the lectures and tutorials can be found on the Course Planner at: http://access.adelaide.edu.au/courses/search.asp

The lectures will be used to explain the concepts, theories and models relevant to financial institutions and financial markets, whilst the tutorial time will be used to apply the acquired knowledge to practice questions. The tutorial questions will consist of a mix of real world and theoretical, quantitative and analytical, questions which will be posted on MyUni prior to the tutorials.

Students are expected to study the course materials carefully and to actively engage in class discussions. All work discussed in both the lectures and the tutorials and any submitted material will form the basis for the final examination.

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

1	To understand important financial economic principles
2	To apply financial economic principles to solving problems
3	To develop analytical skills
4	To develop both independent learning and group work skills
5	To develop verbal and non-verbal communication skills
6	To understand the broader social consequences of financial economic decisions making

Students are NOT required to purchase a specific text book for this course. Readings will be provided across the course on Myuni.

Students WILL require continuous access to a basic scientific calculator. Students are NOT permitted to use either graphical or financial calculators in the final examination.

A basic and low cost scientific calculator, with a power function (^ or Y^x button), is all students require, and all they will be permitted to use in this course.

The following texts are of value to students requiring a background study text.

Hunt, B, & Terry, C.(2015), Financial Institutions and Markets, 7th Edition, Cengage Learning Australia

Viney C. (2011), Financial Market Essentials, McGraw Hill Australia

Valentine, Ford, O'Hara and Sundmacher (2011), Fundamentals of Financial Markets and Institutions in Australia, Pearson Australia

Bodie Z., Merton R., & Cleeton D. (2009), Financial Economics, 2nd edition, Pearson International Edition (now out of print)

Previous editions of Valentine, Hunt and Terry, or of Viney, are also of use.

All of the material related to the course, e.g. supportive readings, tutorial questions, lecture slides, practice questions, practice examination papers and the full details of each assessment task will be available on MyUni.

To encourage collaborative learning, the course will also make use of discussion boards on the MyUni webpage.

There will be separate forums for each component of the course and students are encouraged to use these forums for questions. The forums will be monitored regularly and managed by the course co-ordinator.

The purpose of the forums is to encourage student’s collaborative learning and provide all students with equal access to information related to the course.

Course Website: www.myuni@adelaide.edu.au

The course is based on the problem solving approach to learning.

Phase 1: Concrete situation

Identification of a real world case study.

Phase 2: Definition

Understanding the problem and defining the question of interest.

Phase 3: Abstract conceptualisation

Explain how the problem can be understood economically. Proposition of economic tools that can be applied to help answer the question.

Phase 4: Implementation

With the help of economic theory, choose an 'optimal' solution. Attention needs to be paid to the fact that tangible solutions are often required as a result of tangible problems.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. Students in this course are expected to attend all lectures throughout the semester plus one tutorial class each week.

It is expected that students will devote 12 hours learning activities per week for this course if they expect to receive a pass mark.

Classes will be held weekly commencing as per study schedule below. Note that tutorials commence in Week 2.

Membership of tutorial classes is to be finalised by the end of the third week of semester. Students wishing to swap between tutorial classes after this time are required to present their case to the lecturer-in-charge, but should be aware that such a request may not be approved.

Tutorials are an important component of your learning in this course. The communication skills developed in tutorials by regularly and actively participating in discussions are considered to be most important by the School and are highly regarded by employers and professional bodies.

Consultation and Communication

Check your student email and MyUni as course-related announcements are communicated via email.

Lecturer’s and tutors’ consultation times and locations are available also on MyUni.

NOTE the following time scheduled is not completely fixed and some deviations from the schedule might occur. This is ONLY the proposed time schedule. You will be informed of any deviations from this proposed schedule by attending the lectures and checking any relevant information and announcements on MyUni.

Week	Lecture Topic	Tutorial Topic
1	Introduction to Finance & the Financial System	No Tutorial
2	Financial Markets and The Flow of Funds	Introduction to Finance & the Financial System
3	Financial Calculations and Financial Markets	Financial Markets and The Flow of Funds
4	Household Saving and Investment Decisions	Financial Calculations and Financial Markets
5	Debt Securities	Household Saving and Investment Decisions
6	Shares and the Stock Market	Debt Securities
	Mid Semester Break
7	Risk and Return	Shares and the Stock Market
8	Deposit Taking Institutions	Risk and Return
9	Monetary Policy	Deposit Taking Institutions
10	The Foreign Exchange Market	Monetary Policy
11	Financial Derivatives	The Foreign Exchange Market
12	Financial Instability and Financial Crises	Financial Derivatives and a Financial Crisis

HURDLE REQUIREMENT
To gain a pass mark in this course, at least 50 per cent must be obtained overall, and in addition there is a hurdle requirement that you must also obtain at least 35 per cent of the marks available in the final examination.

Best 8 from 10 Weekly on-line assignments (from week 3-12)	25%
Tutorial participation	5%
On-line tests (details will be provided during the first week of the semester)	20%
Final Examination*	50%

* Please note that there is a Hurdle Requirement on this course. In order to secure a Pass grade overall, it is necessary to achieve a mark of at least 35% in the final examination, as well as a mark of at least 50% overall. Should a student's overall marks sum to more than 50%, while they have secured a mark of below 40% in the final examination, they will be awarded a final mark of 49%.

As an example, a student gaining 80% of the available marks for their on-line assignments (20 out of 25), full marks for tutorial participation (5 out of 5), and 90% of the available marks from their on-line tests (18 out of 20), would have secured 43 out of the 50 marks available prior to the final examination. If that student then achieved a mark in the final examination of 30% (15 out of 50), this would generate a total mark of 58 out of 100.

That student would, however, be awarded an overall score of 49%, as the student would not have met the hurdle requirement.

This will be discussed at the beginning of the course, in the first lecture.


* Assessments other than the final examination are redeemable in the final examination. For example, if a student secures a higher percentage grade in the final examination than in the best 8 from 10 weekly on-line assignments, then the final examination mark will replace the assignment mark in the calculation of the overall grade.

• To gain a pass mark in this course, at least 50 per cent must be obtained overall. In addition, students are required to gain at least 35% of the marks available in the final examination.
• Legible hand-writing and the quality of English expression are considered to be an integral part of the assessment process.
• Marks will not be awarded for answers that cannot be read.
• All elements of in-course assessments are redeemable in the final examination. This will be explained during the first week of the semester.

Tutorial Assignments 25% (redeemable in the final exam):

Students will be asked to submit on line to weekly assignments, which will be available to download from MyUni on a weekly basis. These are due for completion by Friday at 5pm from every week starting in week 3. There will be a total of 10 tutorial assignments of which the best 8 will be counted for assessment. The questions for the tutorial assignments will relate to material that was covered in the lectures in the previous weeks.

Due Date: Friday 5pm in week 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

No late submissions will be accepted, so you are advised NOT to leave it to Friday afternoon to submit your assignments.

Tutorial Participation 5% (redeemable in the final exam):

Your attendance in the tutorials is compulsory and will be recorded by your tutor. Based on your attendance and active participation in the tutorial you will be awarded up to 5% of your total grade. Active tutorial participation consists of preparing the answers to the tutorial questions, contributing to class discussion and answering questions posed by your tutor.

Two On-Line Tests 2 x  10% = 20% (each of which is redeemable in the final exam):

The tests will be administered online during weeks 7 and 12. The tests will consist of multiple choice questions. The material for the first test will be based on the first 5 topics of the course. The material for the second test will be based on the first 11 topics

Date: Online in weeks 7 and 12

 

Final Examination 50% (or more):

There will be a two hour final examination for this course which will be held during the examination period. You will be advised of the date, time and venue in due course. Please note the hurdle requirement, which relates to your final examination. You are required to score at least 35% of the marks available in the final examination, if you are to pass overall.

Further information will be published on MyUni and discussed in the lectures.

Due Date: available on Access Adelaide after the course commences.

Tutorial assignments must be submitted on line by Friday at 5pm in weeks 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Late submission of the tutorial assignments will not be accepted, except when authorised by the course co-ordinator.