THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS SCHOOL OF BANKING & FINANCE FINS 3650 / FINS 5550 INTERNATIONAL BANKING Course Outline Semester 2, 2011
This Part A is specific to this course. Part B relating to general bumpf is separately posted.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Lecturer Contact Details 2. Course Details 2.1. Teaching Times and Locations — FINS 3650 2.2. Teaching Times and Locations — FINS 5550 2.3. Units of Credit 2.4. Summary of Course 2.5. Course Aims and Relationship to Other Courses — FINS 5550 2.6. Course Aims and Relationship to Other Courses — FINS 3650 2.7. Student Learning Outcomes 2.8. ASB Graduate Attributes 3. Learning and Teaching activities 3.1. Lectures, Preparation, and Postparation (a new work I just made up) 3.2. Course Materials 3.3. The Lectures Themselves 4. Assessment 4.1. General Approach 4.2. Formal Requirements 4.3. Examination Details 4.4. Assignment Submission Procedure 4.5. Late Submission 4.6. Quality Assurance 5. Course Evaluation and Development 6. Other Thoughts 6.1. Inappropriate Behaviour 6.2. Workload 6.3. Attendance 7. Course Topics 7.1. Introduction to International Banking 7.2. Bank Regulation, Risk, and Capital Management 7.3. Interest Rates 7.4. Liquidity 7.5. Credit 7.6. Trading and Investment Banking 7.7. Securitisation and the Global Financial Crisis 7.8. Payments 7.9. Operational Risk 7.10. Money Laundering 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Part A. Course Specific Information
Note: If you failed to notice the notice on the front cover, allow me to repeat: This course outline needs to be read in conjunction with Part B, which contains essential information on key policies, student responsibilities, special consideration and student resources. Part B is also posted on Blackboard.

1.

Lecturer Contact Details
Lecturer: Dr. Bruce R. Arnold The lecturer can be reached via Blackboard or email on bruce.arnold@unsw.edu.au. This is quite important: When you send an email, the very first item in the subject must be FINS3650 or FINS5550, as the case may be. The second item must be your student number (eg, z1234567). THEN add a meaningful subject. Face-to-face consultations are difficult for me, as I have a day job. So first, let’s try to sort things out by email. Then we try it by phone. Finally, if we find that there is a really good reason to meet, the preferred time is likely to be Tuesdays 17:00-18:00.

2.

Course Details
2.1. Teaching Times and Locations — FINS 3650 Day and Time: Tuesdays 17:00-20:00 Location: Biomedical Theatre D 2.2. Teaching Times and Locations — FINS 5550 Day and Time: Thursdays 18:00-21:00 Location: Old Main Building 149 2.3. Units of Credit Six (VI) UOC 2.4. Summary of Course International banking is a highly profitable business — except of course when the international banks lose lots of money. The theme which underpins this course is how an international bank can operate profitably, while at the same time manage its risk consistent with both the appetite of shareholders and the requirements of the regulatory system. While this course does not constitute a course in banking regulation, we nonetheless refer extensively to the Basel Capital Accords (which by design apply to “internationally active banks") to order our thoughts. In particular,

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we use Basel's catalogue of risk categories to understand precisely how international banks use risk to generate value, and how risk sometimes destroys value. We also look at the role of international banks in the payment system, and how that contributes to bank profits. 2.5. Course Aims and Relationship to Other Courses — FINS 5550 The major aim of this course is to equip you with the background on and current knowledge of international banking. This course constitutes part of the International Finance stream of the MCom program, and complements Financial Institutions Management—FINS5530 by providing an international perspective on banking. 2.6. Course Aims and Relationship to Other Courses — FINS 3650 The major aim of this course is to equip you with the background on and current knowledge of international banking. This course constitutes part of the International Finance concentration, and complements Bank Financial Management—FINS3630 by providing an international perspective on banking. 2.7. Student Learning Outcomes If you successfully complete this course, you will understand the basic workings of an international bank; you will appreciate the pressures and constraints under which international banks operate; and you should be able to think original thoughts on issues relating to international banking. 2.8. ASB Graduate Attributes The Australian School of Business graduate attributes were developed in 2008 to reflect the qualities and skills that students are expected to develop by the end of the degree program. This course has been designed to contribute to the following Australian School of Business graduate attributes: If you understand the basic workings of an international bank, you will have demonstrated engagement with relevant disciplinary knowledge, which can readily lead to the acquisition of professional skills. If you appreciate the pressures and constraints under which international banks operate, you will have obtained valuable social, ethical and global perspectives. If you think original thoughts on issues relating to international banking, you will have engaged in critical thinking and problem solving. Congratulations. More information on the ASB Graduate Attributes and how they align with the UNSW Graduate Attributes (2010) is available on the ASB website at Graduate Attributes.

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3.

Learning and Teaching activities
3.1. Lectures, Preparation, and Postparation (a new work I just made up) This course takes a novel approach to the relationship between the lecturer and the students, the lecture and the time before and after the lecture. The role of the lecturer is to provide structure as you construct your own understanding of the course material. Your role as a student is to use that as a foundation on which to build your own detailed analysis of the subject matter. Before each lecture, very little is expected of you in terms of preparation. Shortly before each lecture, summary slides will be posted on Blackboard. Print them out, and then in class you won’t have to rush madly to write down everything that is on the screen. The purpose of each lecture is to introduce each topic — NOT to download into your brain an exhaustive knowledge of the topic. Accordingly, you should spend the lecture time listening, thinking, and perhaps jotting down a few notes. (That’s why the slides will be made available before class, to help you listen.) Shortly after each lecture, a summary recap of the lecture will be posted on Blackboard. The summary will make sure you understand what was presented in class, but it’s really just a framework. The summary will include links to various source materials, and will pose questions. Check out the links. Answer the questions. But most of all, pull together what I said and what you’ve read into a coherent narrative — a mashup, this being the 21st century and all. (This is kind of why the slides aren’t intended to be comprehensive. There is no reason to spoon-feed you “the” answer when you can look it up yourself.) Then you can relax until the next lecture. Think of it this way: The lecture marks the end of my job in respect of a given topic, and the beginning of yours. 3.2. Course Materials There is no textbook for this course. The best text I could find was last updated in 2004, and if you haven’t noticed, the world of international banking has changed a bit since then. So I’ve just saved you $145. A lot of what you need to know about international banking is available online, and as noted above, the summary recaps will give you the links. However, the material to which the recaps are linked is vastly more than what you need to attain an adequate — or even good — knowledge of the subject matter. Why is all this stuff linked, then? Two reasons. First, some students are likely to be more interested than others in certain topics. If you’re interested in what you’re reading, keep going. Second, some of the items need to be read very carefully, while others do not.

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For example, the Basel Capital Accord was a pretty important document in the world of international banking, but has been superseded first by Basel II, and more recently, Basel III. However, the Basel Capital Accord (also known as Basel I) is about thirty pages long — numbered paragraphs and very easy to read. Basel II checks in at about 350 pages. So the clever way to approach this is to read all of Basel I, even though it no longer applies. But you’ll be able to see how the document is put together, and you’ll be introduced to a number of concepts that were carried over into Basel II. When you turn to Basel II, DON’T read every word. In fact, you won’t have to, because you’ll have an understanding of how it fits together, and you’ll be able to zoom in on exactly the stuff you need. So use your judgment, but follow your curiosity. For the convenience of the lecturer, the Blackboard sites for FINS 5550 and FINS 3650 have been consolidated. 3.3. The Lectures Themselves The three hour lecture block will consist of three 50 minute lectures interleaved with two 10 minute breaks. Thus if you leave promptly upon the completion of the third lecture, it should be possible to make a 9:00 pm date (for FINS 5550), or even an 8:00 pm date (for FINS 3650).

4.

Assessment
4.1. General Approach Failure is avoidable. Most students who fail a course do so because they choose to, either by dropping the course or by neglecting to take even the simplest steps to fulfil course requirements. The formal assessment procedure has been designed to allow willing students to accomplish enough to demonstrate an adequate knowledge of the subject matter. Assuming that you really should be in university in the first place, and that no personal tragedy befalls you, there is no reason why you cannot pass this course. While you will be given every opportunity to accrete enough marks to pass this course, the only way you can attain distinction is to distinguish yourself. The most likely path to distinction is original thought. 4.2. Formal Requirements Each student will be required to sit two exams and to submit at least one written assignment. Attendance and class participation will also be relevant to the student’s grade. A score of 50 marks is required to pass the course. A maximum of 65 marks in the aggregate can be earned through sitting the exams, thus it is possible for a student to earn ‘Pass’ or ‘Credit’ grades solely from the marks available from the exams.

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Five (5) marks towards a ‘Pass’ or ‘Credit’ will be awarded to each student who attends every class, and two (2) marks to each student who misses only a single class. Ten (10) marks towards a ‘Pass’ or ‘Credit’ can be earned by class participation.* Given the size of the class, and this being the 21st century and all, I interpret class participation to include participation on various discussion boards established on Blackboard. Examples of class participation which are likely to result in the awarding of marks include posting mashups of previous lectures, or accepting challenges laid down in the lecture theatre. A maximum of 35 marks in the aggregate can be earned through submitting the assignment(s). Marks earned by an assignment can be applied to two purposes. For students who have difficulties in taking exams, assignment marks may be applied towards a ‘Pass’ or ‘Credit’. (Again, the assessment design is to give you every opportunity to demonstrate adequate or good knowledge of the subject matter.) If you have already demonstrated subjectmatter proficiency by your test results, attendance, and class participation, assignment marks may also be considered in the awarding of ‘Distinction’ or ‘High Distinction’. However, these two grades will not be awarded if the assignments do not demonstrate sufficient intellectual curiosity, originality of thought, and clarity of expression. The most important thing to understand, then, is that marks on assignments are context specific. So consider, for example, if your test results, attendance, and class participation have you sitting on 73 marks. If you turn in a perfectly respectable but completely undistinguished paper, you are not going to be awarded a grade of distinction. Thus you can’t be awarded more than 1 mark for your paper. However, if you’re sitting on 48 marks, and you turn in the exact same paper, I won’t be looking for distinction. Instead, I’ll be looking to see if the assignment demonstrates that you have knowledge of the subject matter. If it does, it could earn you 2 marks, in which case you pass. It could even earn you 17 marks, in which case you earn a ‘Credit’. But it won’t earn you 27 marks. 4.3. Examination Details Both the mid-semester and final exams will be short answer, which allows me to use the services of graduate assistants to mark the exams. The markers will be informed that this is a course in international banking, not spelling or grammar. The mid-semester exam will be held in Week 9 (20 or 22 April, as the case may be). This is later than I would have otherwise preferred, but it is

*

School of Banking and Finance policy allows marks to be awarded for class participation, ordinarily in the context of a tutorial. Given the format of the course — three hours of lecture rather than two hours of lecture and one hour of tutorial — the third hour of lecture each week can be construed as the student’s ‘tutorial’, in respect of which classparticipation marks may be awarded.

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necessary so as to accommodate some international travel which I will be taking. The biggest problem with such a late exam date is giving you feedback. While I’m afraid you won’t have any formal feedback prior to the drop deadline, but I do have an interesting plan to give you feedback as soon after the mid-semester exam as possible. The final examination will be centrally scheduled, and will occur after the study period. As per the UNSW Assessment Policy, these and any other additional details relating to the assessment process will be communicated via Blackboard. 4.4. Assignment Submission Procedure You may do one or more assignments. All assignments are to be submitted via email, with the subject of the email following convention: FINS3650 z3121438 Assignment 1 or FINS5550 z3121438 Assignment 2. If at all possible, please submit a .pdf version, but.doc or docx will do in a pinch. There is no page or word limit. Last semester, one fascinating paper clocked in at 5 pages, and earned its author a ‘Distinction’. But another student turned in 2 20-pagers that were shocking, and earned a ‘Credit’ in the course. That said, would you be so kind as to provide a word count? I’m running a little experiment. While markers will be used for the exams, I will be reading each and every assignment you submit. The earlier you turn in an assignment, the greater the likelihood that I can give you some personalised feedback during the course of the semester. That can be very useful. For example, I had one student who was thinking about a very ambitious topic for a paper, but didn’t know if she had sufficient insight and creativity to do a creditable job. She wrote a summary, and it was pretty good, so I told her to give it a good try. She earned a ‘Distinction’. Another student also tried a very ambitious paper, and did a pretty lousy job. I had also just seen his mid-semester exam mark, which was equally lousy. I told him that, while I would never DISCOURAGE a student from trying for distinction, in this case I would really ENCOURAGE you to go for the marks. He did a credible job of explaining the Australian payment system in a second paper, and the marks he earned kept him from failing the course. All assignments must be received on or before 21 October, which is the last day of the teaching period. 4.5. Late Submission Late submissions will be accepted until the last day of the study period, or such other time as agreed with the lecturer. There is no penalty for late submission.

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4.6. Quality Assurance The ASB is actively monitoring student learning and quality of the student experience in all its programs. A random selection of completed assessment tasks may be used for quality assurance, such as to determine the extent to which program learning goals are being achieved. The information is required for accreditation purposes, and aggregated findings will be used to inform changes aimed at improving the quality of ASB programs. All material used for such processes will be treated as confidential and will not be related to course grades.

5.

Course Evaluation and Development
Each year feedback is sought from students about the courses offered by the School and continual improvements are made based on this feedback. There is an online course-evaluation program (CATEI) to allow you to do so at the end of the semester, but I welcome constructive feedback, whether positive or critical, at any time. Email me.

6.

Other Thoughts
6.1. Inappropriate Behaviour Prior to each lecture, a charity will be announced. (Nominations will be accepted through Blackboard.) Students whose mobile phones go off during lectures will be expected to contribute to the named charity, in an amount to be announced. Texting, listening to music, or playing Angry Birds will, if detected by the lecturer, result in the confiscation of the responsible device, although the confiscation is likely to be temporary. You may, however, become ineligible to enter the MasterChef competition. If you want to eat or drink during lectures, bring enough to share. The lecturer is sympathetic with students who are compelled to nap during lectures, but please keep snoring within limits. 6.2. Workload The lecturer expects that you will spend three hours per week attending class, and an additional nine or more hours per week reading, preparing for exams, completing assignments, or thinking about the issues addressed in this course. Only the most organised students will be able to spread the workload evenly over the course of the semester, so expect that some weeks may require a heavier time commitment. 6.3. Attendance Punctuality is a virtue. Attendance is commended, and regular attendance will be rewarded. Regular attendance is also recommended, as university regulations provide that if a student attends less than eighty per cent of scheduled classes, he or she may be refused final assessment.

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7.

Course Topics
Note that some of the topics will extend beyond a single lecture. 7.1. Introduction to International Banking 7.2. Bank Regulation, Risk, and Capital Management 7.3. Interest Rates 7.4. Liquidity 7.5. Credit 7.6. Trading and Investment Banking 7.7. Securitisation and the Global Financial Crisis 7.8. Payments 7.9. Operational Risk 7.10. Money Laundering

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