FIN3703A

Financial Markets

Syllabus
Semester 1 AY 2022/23

1 Sem1 AY2022/23
FIN3703A (Sem1 AY22/23)
• Instructor: Dr. YUE Ling (Office: Biz1 07-68)
• Teaching Assistants:
• Mon12, Mon15, Wed12: YAN Yu (yu.yan@u.nus.edu)
• Tue12, Tue15, Wed18: CHENG Longwei (longwei.cheng@u.nus.edu)

• Class Hours:
Mon 1200‐1500 (Mon12) Mon 1500‐1800 (Mon15)
Tue 1200‐1500 (Tue12) Tue 1500‐1800 (Tue15)
Wed 1200‐1500 (Wed12) Wed 1830‐2130 (Wed18)

• LumiNUS Forum and Email:

• For questions directly related to the course materials or class
arrangements, please post them on LumiNUS Forum.
• For any personal questions/requests, please email the Teaching Assistant
(TA) in charge of your section.
• Please start the email subject with the course number [FIN3703] and your
section starting time [Mon12, Mon15, etc. as in the table above], e.g.,
[FIN3703 Tue12] xxx.

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FIN3703A (Sem1 AY22/23)
• Consultation Hours:
• Wed 10:00am – 11:00am
• By appointment only. Please make appointment via LumiNUS
Consultation at least one day in advance.
• If you cannot make the default consultation hour, please email your TA,
with a proper email subject (see previous slide).
• You may come as a group.

• Class Arrangement: 100% face to face; NO hybrid teaching.

• Since there is no distance-learning option, students who are reluctant or
unable to attend classes in person should take LOA if they cannot cope
with class demands,
• Students absent from class because of sickness or some other reason
should *not* expect classes either to be held virtually/hybrid or to be
recorded for later viewing,
• All final tests and exams will be conducted in-person, physically on
campus.
• (quote from Dean's message)

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FIN3703A (Sem1 AY22/23)
• Prerequisites: Finance (FIN2704 or equivalent)

• Course Objective:
• The objective of this course is to give students a general
understanding of the different financial markets and institutions in the
context of both the U.S. and Singapore.
• The financial assets traded in these markets, the financial services
and instruments these institutions offer, and the mechanisms and
characteristics influencing the value of these assets and instruments
will also be discussed.

• What is the course not about?

• Pricing of financial instruments
• Valuation of firms or deals
• Trading techniques

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Textbook
• Recommended: YEO, Wee Yong (2019), “Financial Institutions and
Markets: with a Singapore Perspective” 1st edition, Pearson Education.
• Supplementary: MISHKIN, Frederic S. and Stanley G. EAKINS (2018),
“Financial Markets and Institutions” 9th edition, Pearson Education.

Chapters in  Chapters in Mishkin 
Topic 
Yeo (2019) & Eakins (2018)
Introduction  1 1, 2
Financial Institutions 2 7‐8, 20‐22
Banks and Risk Management 3 9, 17‐19, 23
Interest Rates and the Debt Market 4 3‐5, 11‐12
The Equity Market 5 13
The Foreign Exchange Market 6 15‐16
The Derivatives Market 7 24

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Assessment (100% CA)
• Assessment: This is a 100% continuous-assessment (CA) course
(Subject to change if the pandemic situation changes)
• Individual work: 70%
• Group work: 30% (More info about grouping will be announced when
the enrolled list is more fixed)

Class Participation 10
Term Test I 30
Term Test II 20
Individual Tasks 10
Group Tasks 10
Group Project 20
Total 100

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Assessment Components
• Class Participation (CP)
• Students are expected to participate actively during classes. Marks will be
awarded not based on quantity but how much one contributes to the learning
of the class.
• During class:
• Speaking in class: ad-hoc Q&A or sharing (self score on LumiNUS >
Survey by 11:59pm the next day after your class)
• Poll Everywhere (log in with NUS email is required for participation mark)
• After class:
• LumiNUS Forum (CP category): e.g., Q&A about Lecture Content

• 3/10 marks is the default minimum for contributing to a conducive learning

environment, including complying with instructions given and announcements
made during the semester. Students who fail to do so will be penalized. E.g.,
some basic rules:
• Start your email subject with [FIN3703 Tue12] xxx
• Be friendly and professional when sharing on LumiNUS Forum
• Follow instructions given by Instructor and TAs
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Assessment Components (cont’d)
• Term Test 1
• Date: Week 7 (Friday evening, TBC)
• This term test will cover topics taught up to Week 7. Students are to
make sure that they are available to sit for the test.

• Term Test 2
• Date: Week 12 (Friday evening, TBC)
• This term test will cover topics taught after Test 1. Students are to
make sure that they are available to sit for the test.

• Individual Tasks
• Weekly individual tasks, in the form of either a LumiNUS quiz or a
short individual assignment, will be assigned through the semester.
Students should complete these tasks independently.
• The last individual task is a short critique of another one group project
presentation.

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Assessment Components (cont’d)
• Group Tasks
• The group-based mini tasks are designed to encourage peer learning
and to engage the students through the semester. Every group will be
assigned 3 or 4 mini tasks during the semester.
• Forms: question design (2-3 times every group), news sharing (1 time
every group)

• Group Project
• This project is group based. The objective of the project is to allow
students to research into issues and questions related to the topics
covered in the module and to share the knowledge they have
acquired with the rest of the class.
• The project consists of a written report and a presentation.

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Group Work
• Teamwork is an important soft skill in workplace and thus is highly
encouraged in our module.

• Free rider problem:

• It is the responsibility of the group to notify me as early as possible for
corrective measures to be effective.
• The last resort (persistent non-cooperation despite early intervention)
is non-mandatory peer review at the end of the semester.
• The penalty on non-contribution and non-cooperative member/s
depends, among other considerations, on the effort of the rest of the
group to work with me to resolve the problem.

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Important Points to Note:
• Class Attendance:
• Students must not miss more than TWO classes (not including absence
due to medical (accompanied by medical certificates) or compassionate
reasons). Violators will be heavily penalized.
• CA Attendance:
• Students who miss a CA component will receive zero marks for that
particular component. Exceptions will only be granted according to NUS
policies and will require formal verification of the reason for absence by
the BBA Office. In such exceptional cases, a substitute form of
assessment may be given.
• Submission Policy:
• All pre-scheduled CA components must be submitted by the relevant due
date. Late submission will be penalized by 20 percent per day, additive
(rather than multiplicative. E.g., 2 days late = 40% total penalty, not 36%).
• Any written report must be submitted as a single file. For group
assignment, only one submission is accepted for every group. If multiple
files are submitted, only the latest file will be graded.

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Important Points to Note: (cont’d)
• Students are responsible for all missed work, regardless of the reason for
absence. It is also the absentee’s responsibility to get all missing notes or
materials.
• Students are encouraged to always feedback to the instructor comments and
suggestions that may help the class to learn better.
• Students are to check the LumiNUS and emails regularly for announcements.
• The Forum in LumiNUS is exclusively for students’ discussions in topics
pertaining to investments or this module.
• Please use NUS email for email communications.

• Financial calculators may be needed in the course.

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SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE BBA OFFICE:
ACADEMIC HONESTY & PLAGIARISM
• Academic integrity and honesty is essential for the pursuit and acquisition of 
knowledge. The University and School expect every student to uphold 
academic integrity & honesty at all times. Academic dishonesty is any 
misrepresentation with the intent to deceive, or failure to acknowledge the source, 
or falsification of information, or inaccuracy of statements, or cheating at 
examinations/tests, or inappropriate use of resources.
• Plagiarism is ‘the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them 
off as one's own' (The New Oxford Dictionary of English). The University and School 
will not condone plagiarism. Students should adopt this rule ‐ You have the 
obligation to make clear to the assessor which is your own work, and which is the 
work of others. Otherwise, your assessor is entitled to assume that everything 
being presented for assessment is being presented as entirely your own work. This 
is a minimum standard. In case of any doubts, you should consult your instructor. 

Additional guidance is available at:
http://nus.edu.sg/osa/resources/code‐of‐student‐conduct
Online Module on Plagiarism:
http://emodule.nus.edu.sg/ac/
Lesson Schedule (Tentative)
Chapters
Week Topic and Activity Deliverables
in Yeo
1 Introduction and Financial Institutions I 1 and 2
2 Introduction and Financial Institutions I 1 and 2
3 Financial Institutions II: Banks 3 Grouping
4 Financial Institutions II: Banks 3
5 Interest Rates and the Debt Market 4
6 Interest Rates and the Debt Market 4 and 5
Equity Market
Term Break
7 Term Test 1 (Friday evening, TBC)
8 Equity Market 5
9 The Forex Market 6
10 The Forex Market 6 Project Report
11 The Derivatives Market 7 Presentation
Video (TBC)
12 Term Test 2 (Friday evening, TBC)
13 Project Presentation Critique

14 FIN3703A
Holiday and Makeup
• Week 1: Tue, 9 Aug 2022 (National Day)
• Makeup: Zoom, Sat, 13 Aug, 9:30am-12:30pm (confirmed)

• Week 11: Mon, 24 Oct 2022 (Deepavali)

• Makeup: Zoom, Sat, 29 Oct, 9:30am-12:30pm (tentative)

• About makeup class:

• Zoom link will be posted on LumiNUS > Announcement and sent via
email to the affected students.
• Class attendance is required for the makeup class.
• If you cannot make it, please email the Teaching Assistant (TA) of
your class and provide a valid reason and proof, at least 1 hour
before the makeup starts.
• After the makeup class, the online recording will ONLY be provided to
students who have emailed TA about your absence before the class.

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Other Recommended Readings
• Please read financial news regularly:

• Channel News Asia (CNA)

• The Business Times
• The Straits Times (business section)

• Financial Times (free via NUS Wi-Fi)

• The Wall Street Journal (via ProQuest through NUS e-Newspapers)
• The Economist (via ProQuest through NUS e-Newspapers)
• Bloomberg

• NUS Libraries > Databases > e-Newspapers:

https://nus.edu.sg/nuslibraries/databases-search

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