FINANCIAL TOOLS AND ACTUARIAL TECHNIQUES - 1

This is the first part of a compulsory 12-ECTS course. The 12-ECTS course as a whole has common objectives, learning outcomes, contents and teaching methods that are described as follows.
The 12-ECTS course aims to describe and analyze the main financial derivatives, to present the basics of bond pricing and to introduce insurance.
In particular, the first part of this course (first term, which accounts for the first 6-ECTSs) describes the main features of financial derivatives (forwards, futures, options, swaps, credit default swaps, basics on CVA and DVA), the financial markets in which they are traded, and the models used for their evaluation and pricing. In addition, the course presents the main characteristics of fixed-income securities and markets, the valuation of bonds and the term structure of interest rates. With regards to financial options, the models used for their evaluation and, in particular, the Black-Scholes-Merton model are covered.
The second part of the course (second term, which accounts for 6-ECTSs) covers the pricing of options with the binomial model, option hedging and insurance. As to options, this completes the treatment of derivatives. With regard to insurance, it first discusses risks and insurance, with examples drawn from both non-life and life insurance, and their pricing; then portfolio riskiness and risk transfer are dealt with; finally, it presents life insurance (life tables, life insurance products and the premium calculation).

The instructional goal of the 12-ECTS course is acquiring the knowledge and competences to understand, manage and evaluate the financial derivatives and the main insurance products and the quantitative models that allow to evaluate them.
In detail:
a) Knowledge and understanding:
a.1) Ability to understand the main financial derivatives (forwards, futures, swaps and options).
a.2) Ability to understand the functioning of the financial markets in which these derivatives are traded.
a.3) Ability to understand fixed-income securities and measure the yield curve.
a.4) Ability to understand the working of bonds and the formulae for their evaluation.
a.5) Ability to understand the quantitative models for the evaluation and pricing of forwards, futures, swaps and options and for the assessment of the risks involved in their use.
a.6) Ability to understand the risks of bonds, forwards, futures, swaps and options.
a.7) Ability to understand credit default swaps, CVA and DVA.
a.8) Ability to understand the main non-life insurance products and, more in depth, life insurance products.
a.9) Ability to understand the functioning of insurance companies and the markets of insurance products.
a.10) Ability to understand the basic quantitative models for the evaluation of the main insurance products.
a.11) Ability to understand the riskiness of a portfolio of risks and the transfer of risks.
a.12) Knowledge of life tables and basic mortality laws.

b) Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
b.1) Ability to use the main quantitative models for forwards, futures, swaps and options.
b.2) Ability to compute the no arbitrage price of bonds, forwards, futures, swaps and to compute the option price both with a discrete and a continuous model.
b.3) Ability to measure the risks of bonds, forwards, futures, swaps and options.
b.4) Ability to hedge the risks of bonds, forwards, futures, swaps and options with proper strategies.
b.5) Ability to compute the fair value and the premium of life insurance contracts.
b.6) Ability to use a life table and a mortality law.
b.7) Ability to communicate to others the knowledge acquired.

c) Ability to make judgements:
c.1) Ability to evaluate and compare the contracts for bonds, forwards, futures, options, swaps and credit default swaps.
c.2) Ability to determine if the market price of bonds, forwards, futures, options, swaps and credit default swaps is correctly determined and, in case it is not so, to devise a proper arbitrage strategy to take advantage of the mispricing.
c.3) Ability to choose the most suitable financial instruments to hedge the risk for a company or an investor.
c.4) Ability to choose the most suitable insurance products to cover from insurable risks.
c.5) Ability to determine if the market premium for a life insurance product is correctly determined.

Students are expected to know the basic elements of financial mathematics, as they are taught in a course of Financial Mathematics/Matematica Finanziaria/Matematica per l'Economia e la Finanza, at the laurea/bachelor degree:
- basics of interest rates and financial laws;
- separability;
- annuities;
- amortization of a debt;
- discounted cash flows, internal rate of returns.

Students are also expected to know the following elements of calculus:
- real functions of one and several variables;
- derivatives;
- integrals.

In addition, students are expected to be familiar with the following elements of statistics:
- exploratory data analysis (univariate distributions, location and variability summaries, graphical representations);
- probability (interpreting probability, probability rules, univariate random variables, law of large numbers and central limit theorem);
- basic techniques of statistical inference (point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing).

The contents of the 12-ECTS course are:

First part - First term

DERIVATIVES

1. Basic Finance (time value of money, simple financial transactions)
2. Basics on bonds: types of fixed-income securities and their characteristics; fixed-income markets: characteristics and institutions; fixed-income valuation and return analysis: pricing, risks, interest rate structure, yield spreads; negative returns; analysis of duration and convexity.
3. Stocks: dynamics, dividends and pricing.
4. Forwards and futures: mechanics of futures markets; hedging strategies using futures; pricing of forwards and futures on stocks, stock indices, currencies, commodities.
5. Swaps Markets and Valuation of Swaps Contracts on interest rates. Currency Swaps.
6. Credit Derivatives Markets. Credit Default Swaps (an introduction).
7. Credit issues in derivatives markets: basics on CVA and DVA.
8. Financial Options: types of options; markets and mechanics of option contracts; properties of options prices; trading strategies involving options.
9. Continuous time pricing models: Black-Scholes-Merton model.

Second part - Second term

DERIVATIVES

1. Option pricing: the binomial model.
2. Options on stock indices and currencies.
3. The Greeks and option hedging.
4. Bloomberg Lab session: option hedging (optional).

INSURANCE

1. Insurance: basic concepts.
2. Life insurance: products.
3. Life insurance: modeling the lifetime; life tables.
4. Life insurance: pricing.
5. Life insurance: reserving.
6. Non-life insurance.

DERIVATIVES

J. Hull, "Opzioni, futures e altri derivati", Pearson-Prentice Hall, Milano, decima ed. italiana, 2018, chapters: 1-5, 7-8, 9.1, 10-13, 15, 17, 19, 25.1

INSURANCE

E. Pitacco, Elementi di Matematica delle Assicurazioni, Lint, Trieste, 2009: chapters 1, 2 (only Sections 2.1-2.4), 4-6 (with the exception of Sections 6.5 and 6.7), 7 (only Sections 7.1 and 7.2)
Teacher’s slides

SUGGESTED FURTHER READINGS

J. Hull, "Opzioni, futures e altri derivati: Manuale delle soluzioni", Pearson-Prentice Hall, Milano (10th Italian ed.), 2018
M. Rubinstein, "Derivati", Il Sole 24 Ore, Milano, 2005
P. Wilmott, "Introduzione alla finanza quantitativa", Egea, Milano, 2003
S. Benninga, "Modelli finanziari. La finanza con Excel", McGraw-Hill, Milano, 2001
P. Mazzoleni, Matematica attuariale assicurazioni sulla vita, EDUCatt Università Cattolica 2014
Spelta, "Teoria matematica delle assicurazioni sulla vita", Pitagora Editrice Bologna, 2001

Grading is based on a final written exam, taken at the end of the 12-ECTS course.

This consists of 2 exercises to be solved and 2 open-ended questions (duration: 2 hours): two of them concern the first part of the course, the other two regard the second part. Each exercise accounts for 25% of the final grade of the exam and the final grade will be the sum of the scores obtained in all exercises and questions.
The objective of the exercises is to test the student's ability to understand the financial problem given, to choose the most appropriate tools for solving it and to apply the abilities acquired in order to compute the solution. The objective of the open-ended questions is to test the acquisition of the knowledge acquired and the ability to understand the financial products studied.

The exam is closed-notes and closed-book, but students are allowed to use a pocket calculator and two sides of an A4-sheet prepared by themselves at home with the main formulae (only formulae, not written comments or notes), handwritten with "normal" size (not microscopic).
Students need to register for the exam in advance.

For students attending classes, it is possible to pass the exam making:
1. An intermediate test on the first part of the course (duration: 1:30 hours), which accounts for 50% of the overall grade (the score obtained can range from 0 to 15). It is a written mid-term test taken at the end of the first trimester, with 2 exercises to be solved and an open-ended question.
2. A final test on the second part of the course (duration: 1:30 hours), which accounts for 50% of the overall grade (the score obtained can range from 0 to 15). It is a written test taken after the end of the second trimester, with 1 exercise to be solved and two open-ended questions.
This mode can be chosen only by students that have attended (being actually present) at least 65% of the lectures. For the successful completion of the examination you must achieve an overall score not lower than 18 with at least 7 on each of the two written tests (mid-term and final tests). The final grade of the examination is given by the sum of the scores obtained in the two written tests.

A frontal course with lectures. In addition, there will also be practice sessions and tutorials.

The course also uses educational materials available on the university's e-learning platform: moodle.unive.it

Exercises will be assigned weekly to stimulate and test the acquisition of the knowledge and abilities on the topics covered during the week; students are expected to solve them regularly at home.

Italian

Students are required to register in the related course (Tecnica dei Prodotti Finanziari e Assicurativi - Financial Tools and Actuarial Techniques) web page of the university e-learning platform: moodle.unive.it

Additional information, updates and further material on the course will be provided in the web page of the course in moodle.

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