Master of Science in Asset & Wealth Management

This course is taught in 2 parts.Part 1 (Compliance and Ethics) covers rules and regulations in wealth management as well as ethical conduct. Students will also learn the tools for investment management, namely Bloomberg. They are required to complete the certification test from this service provider. Part 2 (Leadership) extends from the topics taught on ethical conduct in Part 1 to include effective ethical leadership skills in an increasingly uncertain and challenging environment. This part also seeks to train emerging managers and leaders.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 39

Core FAA CPD: 13.5

Core SFA CPD: 13.5

The digitalization of financial services is transforming asset and wealth management at an unprecedented pace.It is critical that asset and wealth managers are trained to know their impacts and potential developments to be appropriately future-ready. This course will provide you with an understanding of the importance of having a digital mindset in a fast changing technological landscape. It will trace the evolution of financial technology in the global financial market and how institutions and regulators are adjusting to this disruptive force. These new technologies come with new threats, requiring a good understanding of cybersecurity, digital hygiene and integrity, and best practices in digital risk management.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 19.5

Core FAA CPD: 3

Core SFA CPD: 3

Building upon the Data-Science and FinTech I course, Data-Science and Fintech II provides a deeper treatment in digital skills and data science in the asset and wealth management sector. This course aims to provide you with the skills to use digital tools to raise their effectiveness in engaging with clients and understanding market trends. You will learn how to use digital tools (within organization guidelines) to create better customer engagements, as well as leverage data analytics and unconventional data to gain better insights into individual client preference and trends in the market. You will also learn about emerging and evolving technologies such as those in advisory, KYC/AML/CFT and mining for unconventional data.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 19.5

Seeking IBF Accreditation 

This course is taught in 2 parts.

Part 1 (Investment Products) introduces various investment products and their associated risks. It also provides a framework for deploying them over an investment cycle.

Part 2 (Investment Advisory) covers the roles and obligations of an investment advisor and the process for providing investment advisory. The process starts with knowing the roles and obligations of an investment advisor, the client’s risk profile, needs and product suitability. This is followed by designing the investment solution based on the investment policy statement, managing, reviewing and monitoring the portfolios.

This course relies heavily on scenario simulations for a more applied approach to the subject matter.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 39

Core FAA CPD: 9

Core SFA CPD: 9

Wealth Planning is an important element of providing holistic wealth management advice to clients. Each life stage of a client presents unique challenges and opportunities. Understanding this is key to designing wealth planning solutions which incorporate the client’s needs and values. You will learn how to engage clients and their families to help them achieve their long term objectives of wealth preservation, inter-generational wealth transfer and succession planning. You will be taught how to identify your client’s latent wealth planning needs and to develop solutions through an in-depth coverage of topics such as inter-vivos gifts, wills, companies, trusts and foundations. Whatever the wealth planning solution, you will gain relevant and practical insights on how you can be better positioned and differentiated from the competition, by adopting a more holistic approach to your clients’ needs.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 19.5

Core FAA CPD: 4

Core SFA CPD: 4

It is critical for portfolio managers to have a firm understanding of the fundamental underpinnings of portfolio management in order to make sense of the results that are now so often generated by a machine. This course takes you through the fundamental building blocks of portfolio management. It starts with introducing the modern portfolio theory followed by an examination of its shortcomings and the various augmentations that followed.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 19.5

Managing the reserves of different institutions requires the knowledge of institution specific constraints and their impacts on the investment process. While investment analysis and management is a common technique, its application to the management of assets for institutional asset owners can be much more complicated. Each type of asset owner – endowments, insurance companies, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds – has its own constraints, which need to be catered for in managing reserves. In this course, you will learn how to deal with the practical aspects of managing assets for institutional asset owners.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 19.5

Seeking IBF Accreditation 

The course aims to provide participants with the tools to become informed users and skilled preparers of financial statement information. We focus on the key accounting principles with emphasis placed on understanding the economics of business transactions and how financial statement users employ financial accounting information for decision making from a user perspective such as equity investors, creditors, financial analysts and managers. By integrating the perspectives of accounting, corporate finance and economics, students will get a more holistic view on how business transactions get reported and the decision implications of financial statement information. The course examines the impact of different accounting choices on reported earnings, shareholders’ equity, cash flow and various measures of corporate performance. Participants will develop skills in analysing financial statements for investment, credit and other business decisions. Course Learning Objectives The learning objectives of this course are: (a) to understand financial statements (comprising statement of comprehensive income, balance sheet, statement of cash flow, statement of changes in equity and notes to accounts) from a user perspective such an equity investor, lender, financial analyst and management. (b) to analyse the business performance and risk of a company based on its financial statements.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 19.5

The first part of the course deals with fundamental issues in corporate finance, including corporate governance, capital structure and dividend policy. The second part covers valuation issues in capital budgeting, merger and acquisition, initial public offering, corporate restructuring, and the need for risk management. The course relies heavily on case studies.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 19.5

Seeking IBF Accreditation 

Equity and fixed income are the 2 most prevalent securities for investors.  Having a good knowledge of the framework for valuing them is critical for any investment decision. The aim of this course is to provide a framework for equity and fixed income analysis. This course provides a blend of theory and practice to analyze equity and fixed income securities.  Equity analysis includes various models used for absolution valuation and the principles of relative valuation. Fixed income topics include credit analysis models, yield curve analytics, valuation and determinants of bond price volatility.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 39

This course is taught in 2 parts. Part 1 (Macroeconomics) provides a framework for analyzing the global economy and policies that impact global financial markets. Specifically, major growth drivers for an economy and how monetary policies affect spending and investment decisions. It will also analyze the tools used by different central banks when implementing monetary policy. Part 2 (Cycles, Crises and Bubbles) provides an analysis of the major frenzies and crashes in the post-war global financial system: Why they happened, policy responses, and why they happened again. It provides a top level understanding of the rhythm of global financial crises. This is followed by analysing conventional and unconventional indicators to spot warning signs of frenzies and crashes. A top-down understanding of where an economy is in terms of the business cycle and recognition of indicators of bubbles and financial crisis is very important in driving investment decisions to manage client portfolios. This course provides an analysis of the major frenzies and crashes in the post-war global financial system. It analyzes why the crises happened, the policy responses and why they happened again. It provides a top-level understanding of the rhythm of global financial crises. Finally, conventional and unconventional indicators to spot warning signs of bubbles and crashes are analyzed. Course Learning Objectives Part 1 (Macroeconomics): The learning objectives of this course are: 1. Introduction to economic growth a. Growth accounting b. Growth drivers 2. Monetary and Fiscal Policy a. Relative effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy b. Monetary policy under inflation c. Monetary policy under deflation 3. Central Banks a. The impossible trinity of policies b. The Federal Reserve of the United States c. The Monetary Authority of Singapore d. The People’s Bank of China Part 2 (Cycles, Crises and Bubbles): The learning objectives of this course are: a) Introduction to Business and Financial Cycles i. Understand business and financial cycles and the stage of the cycle to assess implications for different asset classes ii. Understand likely policy response during different stages of business and financial cycles b) Analyze Bubbles and Crises in the post second world war global financial system i. Analyze the run up phase of a bubble and its causes including the role of credit financing, foreign capital inflows, changes in policy and financial regulation ii. Analyze the crash phase of the crisis including the trigger (s), the impact on the real economy and the financial sector, including banking, and policy measures to deal with the crisis iii. Analyze the Recovery Phase, including the pace of recovery, the policy measures to deal with the aftermath of the crisis iv. (i), (ii) and (iii) above will be analyzed using post War episodes of bubbles and crisis including the recent sub-prime crisis, the Asian crisis, the Japan Balance Sheet and the Latin American Debt Crisis c) Indicators of Bubbles and Financial Crises i. Examine and understand indicators to spot and assess presence of a bubble and potential crisis in the asset markets as well as indicators of economic and financial vulnerabilities ii. Learn lessons from earlier episodes of bubbles and crisis and identify suitable strategies to manage client portfolios over business and financial cycles, and during periods of bubbles and crisis, including during periods of excessive market volatility. iii. Anticipate and examine policy responses and their impact on financial markets during cycles, bubbles and crisis to formulate relevant strategies for wealth management.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 39

The efficient market hypothesis in traditional finance often fails to explain how investors make their decisions and why the market sometimes goes through huge swings. Behavioural finance helps to fill these gaps. It is important for wealth and asset managers to understand and apply these behavioural biases in their investment decisions. This course aims to provide an understanding of how behavior biases affect advisor-client interaction, portfolio construction, analyst forecasts and market behaviour. You will first learn the differences between traditional and behavioural finance. This is then followed by an analysis of cognitive and emotional biases and their consequences.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 19.5

Technology and big data are changing the way portfolios are managed. You will acquire the skills to use various tools to analyze data that are pertinent to understanding the market and trading. Taught at Imperial College Business School in London over 5 days, topics include time series predictability in equity and fixed income markets, cross-sectional predictability of equity return, and risk modelling.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 39

Overseas module

Alternative investments play an important diversification role in a portfolio as well as a hedge and a source of market outperformance. This course aims to provide a deep understanding of the alternative investment space building on the knowledge of conventional investment products and covers hedge funds, private equity, commodities, real estate and art investment.

Total Training Duration / CPD Hours: 39

Overseas module