Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

This module will provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to construct and manage multi asset portfolios and will explain how to evaluate portfolio performance. The asset allocation and risk perceptive will be explained from the perspectives of individual and institutional investors.

The module will discuss the main strategies used by active investors, such as style investing, fixed income investment strategies, including the ones typically performed by hedge fund managers' (long-short, equity market neutral, dedicated short bias, and arbitrage strategies). During the module students will perform practical simulations in portfolio construction, undertake evaluation of portfolios using real data, and will apply “backtesting” for strategy evaluation.

In this module, students will be required to use various IT tools such as Excel to develop investment strategies and integrated software solutions for problem-solving.

Learning objectives

Knowledge

The objective is that the student after the module possesses the necessary knowledge on:

• investment strategies, techniques and emerging trends in asset allocation.
• fundamental and advanced theory and practice needed to manage investment portfolios efficiently and effectively.
• analytical and technical financial skills as well as investment decision-making skills essential to succeed in an increasingly complex finance environment.

Skills

The objective is that the student after the module possesses the necessary skills in:

• applying performance measures and providing a critical evaluation of the results.
• demonstrating familiarity with, and a critical awareness of, techniques for the analysis and management of fixed income and equity portfolios.
• developing investment strategies in excel and using integrated software solutions for problem-solving.

Competences

The objective is that the student after the module possesses the necessary competences in:

• analysing and applying critically the investment strategies adopted by institutional investors.
• defining the objectives while constructing and managing a portfolio and making an investment policy statement.
• providing a detailed discussion of measures of portfolio risk-adjusted performance and analysing the key challenges in the process of portfolio construction.

Type of instruction

For information see § 17.

Exam

Exams