More than other industries, the financial services sector has encountered a variety of ‘strategic turbulence’ in recent years. This course introduces the key economic concepts (scale economies, agency conflicts, competition, externalities, cannel conflicts, synergies, etc. based on case studies) by which to judge the industrial organization of the asset management and its evolution. The strategic options open to financial firms in responding to and anticipating structural change are examined, together with the factors that seem to drive competitive performance with respect to market share and profitability. The course also highlights structural problems revealed by the financial crisis and integrates a discussion of the Fintech challenge to asset management. The course is organized as a blend of lectures and case studies.

The aim of this course is to examine a number of important topics pertaining to real estate and housing in a wealth management context. Those topics include: the construction of price indexes, real estate liquidity, the behavior of securitized real estate investments with respect to the underlying asset, tenure choice, mass appraisal and housing submarkets, land leverage and house price bubbles. The course is research focused and the discussion of each topic will combine introductory presentations and article presentations by the students.

This course presents the main strategies used by hedge funds, analyze their risk-return trade-offs and assess their ability to generate positive performance (alpha). We also review the institutional, organizational and competitive characteristics of the hedge fund industry. The course draws on the most recent academic research on hedge funds and its relation to industry practice. Additional topics include the role of hedge funds as liquidity providers, hedge fund replication and the impact of hedge funds on financial market stability. Finally, one (or more) industry professionals share their insights into real world hedge fund investing.

This course aims at exploring the development of SRI in different asset classes (equities, fixed income and real estate). It will address the different motives of sustainable investors, the implementation of sustainable investment strategies and the impact that sustainable investors are having through their investment decisions. The course aims to foster the student's understanding of how sustainability concerns can be integrated into traditional investment management. A main theme of the course will be the important issue of how to quantify an asset's environmental or societal impact. In order to tackle this crucial issue, students will be familiarized with commonly employed sustainability metrics. Grading will be based on a final exam and a project.

This course introduces the learner to the field of Neurofinance, an interdisciplinary approach to studying decision making which integrates insights from many different disciplines such as neuroscience, economics, finance, psychology, affective sciences, and computational neuroscience. Topics include the impact of behavioral biases on individual investment and market behavior as well as topics defined by the learners themselves. This course uses an interactive and creative classroom design. It brings together students from multiple backgrounds and practitioners to facilitate the transfer of knowledge.

Part I (Tony Berrada): This section of the course starts by reviewing the standard modern portfolio theory with a particular focus on estimation and implementation issues. The discussion is mainly the main performance measures used in the portfolio management industry and assess their relative benefits. The Merton problem, the dynamic programing approach, the martingale approach，the equivalent static problem and topics particularly relevant in today's fund management industry are further discussed.
Part II (Ines Chaieb): The second part of the course deals with the theoretical foundations of international investments, empirical evidence and applications in a real world setting. Globalization is a major trend affecting the asset management industry. We will discuss international diversification of portfolios and the problem of global asset allocation, international asset pricing, hedging currency risk, factors that generate returns, international securities such as CFs and ETFs, and global performance evaluation.

This course investigates the international macroeconomic and financial environment in which firms operate. Combining up-to-date theories, empirical findings, practical knowledge, and real-world applications we will explore selected topics, including international capital flows, exchange rate behaviour, international asset pricing, international sovereign borrowing, international portfolio choices, financial crises, and contagion. We will discuss the consequences of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic for the global economy, match them to theory and discuss their implications for economic policy.

The course introduces different approaches to team management, from practical applications to their theoretical and scientific underpinnings. The course is a mix of (1) short, interactive and immersive workshops for learners to experience different team scenarios and (2) lectures and workshops on the theoretical underpinnings of team management. The latter will link theoretical and scientific insights from finance, psychology, and neuroscience to practical problems in finance, banking & management. This course uses an interactive and creative classroom design. It brings together students from multiple backgrounds and practitioners to facilitate the transfer of knowledge.

The course introduces basic concepts of financial economics and financial asset pricing theory such as state preference theory, portfolio selection, no-arbitrage pricing, Arrow-Debreu Pricing, martingale measure. It specifically deals with distinction between the equilibrium and the arbitrage perspectives on valuation and pricing. It first deal with decisions making in risky situations and how to measure risk and risk aversion. It then introduces basic concepts of financial asset pricing theory. It covers the Capital Asset Pricing Model, Arrow-Debreu Pricing, the Consumption Capital Asset Pricing Model (CCAPM), the Martingale measure, the Arbitrage pricing theory (APT).

The lectures cover quantitative tools aimed at measuring risk dependencies in finance and insurance. We cover the notions of stochastic dominance and positive quadrant dependence together with their associated statistical inference. We study inference in Copula Models and Goodness-of-Fit tests for Copula. Building survival models through survival Copula is introduced. We illustrate all concepts via financial and actuarial applications.

The lectures start with complementing basic statistical knowledge and are divided into two parts depending on the presence of temporal dependencies or not in the data. The studied statistical methods are illustrated via applications in economics and finance: Value at Risk, Expected Shortfall, portfolio selection, CAPM, APT, dynamic modelling of financial asset prices via ARMA, ARCH models and cointegration, etc. The analysed methods will cover parametric and nonparametric tools. We aim at developing concepts necessary to applications of econometrics in finance and insurance.

The objective of this course is to get a better understanding of the role of banks in the economy and the sources of fragility of the banking sector. We will develop simple theoretical models with information asymmetry. At the end of the course, you should be able to understand the functioning of these models.

This course will discuss efforts to create an international legal framework for financial markets. We will analyse lessons that have been drawn from financial crises. We will address to what extent financial laws and regulations achieve the objectives of investor protection, market efficiency and financial stability. Topics will include key legal and regulatory issues relating to financial intermediation, capital raising, initial public offerings (IPOs), insider dealing, market manipulation, digital assets in the FinTech marketplace, credit rating agencies, and sovereign debt markets. International financial regulation is essentially characterized by its soft law quality. The course will examine the disciplining mechanisms that bolster the observance of non-binding standards. Furthermore, it will address the fact that financial law is adopted and implemented at the national level. With respect to national jurisdictions, we will mainly cover US law and EU law through a comparative approach.

Trusts are like elephants: they are difficult to define, but easy to spot. Trusts were born in England around the 13th century and later flourished in common law jurisdictions. They are now extensively used worldwide, although many civil law systems do not have trusts as a legal institution.
Studying trusts offers a good insight into comparative law. It also provides a useful toolkit for estate planning or for structuring complex business transactions. This course will introduce students to the fundamental principles and many uses of trusts. We will use a textbook and study a number of cases. We will also examine the Hague Convention on Trusts and understand how Swiss courts recognize trusts governed by some other relevant law.

This course provides deep insights into the laws and regulations governing investment in financial instruments and the provision of related services (financial advice, wealth/asset management, trade execution). It does so in a comparative perspective, with a focus on Swiss law, extensive consideration of EU law, international standards, and frequent use of cases from leading jurisdictions in the area of 'private banking' services.
Topics will include the notion of financial instrument, the regulatory framework applying to financial instruments and services, contracts for the provision of such services, conflicts of interest, standard of care, liability and damages. We will also consider topical issues such as sustainable (ESG) investment and robo-advisors.

This course will focus on regulatory and criminal enforcement against financial firms and their managers and staff in the US, the UK and Switzerland. It will include Swiss and US guest speakers from authorities, law firms or legal corporate.

This course surveys international tax planning strategies and challenges.
It begins with an introduction to the concept of income, from an economic and tax perspective. Participants will delve into the tax treatment of gains and losses, tackling in particular financing and income realization issues. Once at ease with the economics of the underlying structures, the participants will look into several tax events: death (inheritance tax), gratuitous transfers (gift tax), and the fiscal year’s end (wealth tax). They will also study treaty allocation and transfer pricing rules with the aim of being able to identify planning opportunities and tax risks. Finally, the Participants will examine exchanges of information mechanisms (on request, spontaneous and automatic). Hence, they will be familiar with the key concept of beneficial owner. Throughout the course, participants will engage with policy issues underlying the tax law (efficiency, fairness, and practicability).

China’s fast economic growth has attracted much attention from the world. A poor, economically weak country thirty years ago, China took on market reform and built from scratch a modern financial system, which many believe is key for China’s growth. Today, China’s fin-tech industry demonstrated unprecedented innovation and potential. This course will introduce China's banking and financial regulations and the on-going financial regulatory reform. By analyzing a series of issues that have emerged in China’s modern financial industry, such as shadow banking and the growth of the fin-tech industry, this course will tackle some difficult questions on finance and society and explore how fin-tech in the future should be regulated.

The CFA Research Challenge is composed of university teams of 3-5 students.
The goal of the CFA Research Challenge is to gather together university students, investment industry professionals, and representatives from a publicly traded company for local, regional, and global competition. This annual educational initiative promotes best practices in equity research through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills. Students interested in becoming an equity analyst are highly encouraged to participate.
Teams are mentored by industry professionals.
Teams write an equity research report on a publicly traded company.
Teams present their findings to a panel of experts that include directors of research, chief strategists, and CIOs from Credit Suisse, Bank Safra Sarasin, among others.