Cabinet d'avocats
Cabinet d'avocats
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is intended for senior undergraduates and masters level students in international business. Its purpose is to familiarize participants with the theories and practices of international finance as well issues of current interest.
The program consists of lectures, case studies, exercises and simulations.
Ample use is made of mathematical approaches.
Case studies will be prepared and presented orally by groups of students.
Opportunities are offered to participate in simulations
of currency trading and of international portfolio management.
OUTLINE
READINGS
Basic text: Alan Shapiro, Multinational Financial
Management (Wiley, 5th ed., 1999)
EXERCISES
Students will frequently be assigned exercises to prepare for the next class. This link is to sample exercises and answers.
PROGRAM
PART I - THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Meetings 1 and 2:
Definition of the subject and identification of
the principal actors and of their roles
Approaches to financial globalization
Electronification of financial markets
Reading:
Shapiro, Chapters 1, 3 and 17
Understanding the balance of payments, extract from Multinational Financial Management by Shapiro
Web reading:
The
liberalisation of financial markets
The
globalisation of financial markets
Electronic
finance: a new perspective and challenges
Electronic
Money and the Future of Central Banks
Droit
communautaire afférant aux Systèmes de Négociation
Alternatifs
Droit communautaire afférant aux
services financiers en ligne
Webliography on internet finance in China
Assignment:
Trace briefly the history of any major international exchange; identify its method of trading and trading capacity and actual trading volumes; identify the number of days of delay between the recording of trades and their settlement.
Meetings 3 and 4:
Introduction to the International Monetary Fund
Introduction to the World Bank and other development banks
Recent history of the international financial system
Web reading:
Allocating
bank regulatory powers:lender of last resort, deposit insurance and supervision
Recent
Bailouts and Reform of the International Monetrary Fund
Sovereign
Debt Restructuring: New Articles, New Contracts - or No Change?
Assignment:
Which country or group of countries has the most voting power within the IMF?
Meeting 5:
Bubbles
Market crashes
Regulatory failures
Operational failures
Web reading:
Tulip Bulb Mania
South Sea Bubble
Stock Market Crash of 1929
Savings
and Loans Crisis 1986-89
Stock
Market Crash of 1987
Long-term
Capital Management
Baring's
Bank
La
crise financière en Corée
The dotcom Bust
US and global financial crisis 2007-9
Greek Financial cirses in 2010, 2012 and 2015
China August 2015 - News reports and Graphs
History and Overview of Securitization
The Implications of the Financial Reform Act for Foreign Banks, Financial Institutions and Financial Regulators
Assignment:
Identify another financial market crash, summarize its causes, its development and its resolution.
Assignment:
Identify the winners and losers from the financial crisis in South Korea in 1997.
PART TWO - THE DETERMINATION OF EXCHANGE RATES
Meetings 6, 7 and 8:
Approaches to the determination of exchange rates
Reading:
Shapiro, Chapters 2, 4, 5 and 7
Web reading:
Measuring
the Costs of Exchange Rate Volatility
Why
currency crises happen
Managing
Exchange Rates: Achievement of Global Re-balancing or Evidence of Global
Co-dependency?
A Theory of Optimum Currency Areas,
Robert A. Mundell
Presentation of case studies
I.1
- II.1/II.2
PART THREE - THE MANAGEMENT OF EXCHANGE RATE RISK
Meetings 9 and 10:
Quantifying and managing exchange rate risk exposure
Shapiro, Chapters 8 - 11
Meeting 11:
Presentation of case studies
I.1/I.2/I.3/I.4
- II.1/II.2/II.3
- III.1/III.2
- IV.1/IV.2
PART FOUR - FOREIGN PORTFOLIO INVESTMENTS
Meeting 12:
Financial instruments on international capital
markets
Futures
Options
Swaps
Reading:
Shapiro, Chapters 5, 6, 15 and 16
Web reading:
Le marché
boursier de l'électricité aux Etats-Unis
Stratégies
et valorisation des options - le cas des options sur l'électricité
La
négociation de contrats à l'ère de l'euro
Meeting 13:
International portfolio diversification
Reading
Shapiro, Chapter 19
Web Reading
Should
U.S. Investors Invest Overseas?
PART FIVE - FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS
Meeting 14:
Evaluation of foreign direct investments
Management of long-term capital within international
groups
Project Finance
Reading
Shapiro, Chapters 18, 20 and 21
Web reading
Essay
on the Value of Ownership
Principles
of Compensation for the Nationalization of Foreign Property
The Canada
Development Corporation
Student contributions:
Rare earth minerals
Case studies:
IV.1 - Plano Cruzado
IV.2 - Multinational Manufacturing Inc.
PART SIX - MANAGEMENT OF THE SHORT TERM
Meeting 15:
Short-term capital management in the international
context
Financing international trade (guarantees, bills,
letters of credit)
Tax planning
Reading
Shapiro, Chapters 12, 13 and 14
Web reading
UCP
500 - Chambre de Commerce Internationale (Paris)
Quelle
fiscalité pour le commerce électronique?
PART SEVEN - EVALUATION
Meeting 16:
Exam
OTHER READINGS
List of books on international finance available at the ISC Library
Webliographies by Daniel Laprès
International
and comparative law
Other courses on international finance by Daniel Laprès
Droit de la finance internationale
Law and
Economics of International Risk Management
Publications on international
finance by Daniel Laprès
EVALUATION
Evaluation will be based on a written open book final exam (2 hours). The exam is oriented toward problem solving.
Bonus points may be earned for class work (exercises,
research, simulations, cases studies) and for participation in discussions. Students who choose to participate in either of the simulations will be given bonus points toward their final grades.
SIMULATIONS
Participation in the simulations is optional. Students who choose to participate should identify themselves to the professor.
Currency trading simulation
The US$/€/RMB exchange rates will be fixed at the start of the simulation. Participants will be asked at the outset to record an estimate of the exchange rates on the final day of the class on May 22, 2010. A question on the final exam will relate to the evolution of these exchange rates. Students will have the option of handing in on a regular basis their trades and recording their gains and losses as well as new sources of information that they may have collected on the exchange rate trends. Evaluation of the students' participation in the project will be based more on the efforts rendered and the lessons drawn than on the hypothetical gains or losses.
Fund simulation
Students may work on a simulation of a fund's hypothetical
investment in China-related business.
Cabinet d'avocats