FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND CORPORATE FINANCE - 1

The course is one of the core educational activities of the Bachelor's Degree Programme in Business Administration and Management. It is based on two modules: the first one provides the understanding of the functions that financial markets and intermediaries, in particular commercial banks, offer for the management and development of companies; the second one instead provides students with a basic knowledge of the main issues related to the financial management of non financial companies, with a focus on the investment policies, the financial structure choices and the cost of capital estimation.
The aim of the first part of the course is to provide understanding the conditions for companies to raise funds through financial markets and intermediaries. The aim of the second part is to provide the basic knowledge of the corporate finance, its principles and operating tools useful for the investing and financing corporate decisions in order to verify their contribution to the value creation.
In the first module, for what concerns financial markets, the course deals with the conditions defining risk and return profile of stocks and bonds; for what concerns financial institutions, the course deals with the main services and constraints to which the management of commercial banks is subject.
In the second module, after the presentation of the typical problems that the financial managers face and their objectives, the course will focus specifically on the financial planning process, the company financial decisions, within the financial markets, with a particular interest on the investment decisions, the financial structure choices and the cost of capital estimation.

Knowledge and understanding:
- knowledge and understanding how markets and financial intermediaries determine the economics of funds raised by companies;
- knowledge and understanding the risk and return profiles of financial instruments issued by companies;
- knowledge and understanding banking activities and the financing tools provided for companies.

Applying knowledge and understanding:
- ability to apply sound investment principles when selecting financial instruments;
- ability to apply through an investment game the investment principles learned;
- ability to select funding channels available to companies.

Students must know the contents of Principles of management and international accounting, in particular for what concerns financial accounting, the annual report and main financial statements.

Financial markets and financial institutions
Assessment of financial instrument risk
Trade-off between risk and return
Capital asset pricing model
Determinants of interest rates
Commercial banking: industry overview
Commercial banks' analysis through the annual report and the financial statements

Financial Institutions & Corporate Finance - McGraw-Hill
2019 edition

CUSTOM PUBLISHING
Universita' Ca' Foscari Venezia
Department of Management

The assessment is based on a written exam, closed-notes/closed book, composed by three sections.
The first section is a set of 5 multiple choice questions: for each question the right answer scores 5 points, a wrong one scores - 0.5, no answer scores 0. This section assesses the general knowledge of course topics.
The second section is an open question which assesses the knowledge of a specific topic of the course and the ability to expose it clearly. This section scores 0 - 10 points.
The third section is an exercise which assesses the capability to apply the notions learned in the course to specific problems. This section scores 0 - 10 points.
The overall grade of the module will be summation of the three sections.
The grade of this module of the course will be averaged with what received in the second module.

During the course students will be also invited to join a “Stock Market Game”. The participation is optional, but its assessment will add up to three points to the final written exam grade. Groups of students (2 - 4 students) are required to manage a virtual portfolio of stocks using the stock simulator of Investopedia. The groups, working under the supervision of a tutor, will prepare periodic reports describing their investment decisions. The aim of the Game is to apply fundamental analysis to stock selection.
The assessment will be based both on the quality of the reports and interaction with the tutor.

Upfront lectures and teaching material (slides and simulations of exam exercises) available on the e-learning platform moodle.unive.it
The participation to the Stock Market Game adds to the course also aspects of active learning.

English

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion
Accommodation and support services for students with disabilities and students with specific learning impairments

Ca’ Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding support services and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with
mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). If you have a disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development