GRA 6531 Portfolio Management
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APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016 |
GRA 6531 Portfolio Management
Responsible for the course
Bruno Gerard
Department
Department of Financial Economics
Term
According to study plan
ECTS Credits
6
Language of instruction
English
Introduction
This course is taught in English
Learning outcome
Theoretical and applied coverage of advanced portfolio management techniques, for equity only portfolios, for fixed income only portfolios and for mixed portfolios. Special consideration for pension, insurance and national fund portfolios.
Prerequisites
GRA 6534 Investments or equivalent
GRA 6543 Introduction to Asset Pricing or equivalent
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Compulsory reading
Books:
Litterman, Bob and the Quantitative Resources Group, GSAM. 2003. Modern investment management : an equilibrium approach. Wiley
Other:
Diverse authors. Cases in portfolio management. Course specific case book available from XANEDU.com (NEW selection of cases each year - do not purchase previous year case book)
During the course there may be hand-outs and other material on additional topics relevant for the course and the examination.
Further readings and handouts may be assigned during the course and may be relevant for the final examination
Recommended reading
Books:
Bodie, Zvi, Alex Kane, Alan J. Marcus. 2014. Investments. 10th global ed. McGraw-Hill Education
Campbell, John Y., Luis M. Viceira. 2002. Strategic asset allocation : portfolio choice for long-term investors. Oxford University Press
Grinold, Richard C., Ronald N. Kahn. 2000. Active portfolio management : a quantitative approach for providing superior returns and controlling risk. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill
Course outline
The course will cover among others the following topics:
• Review of the Portfolio Management Process
• Investment process - client perspective
-
Risk and Return - Historical record Portfolio Optimization and Asset AllocationCAPM, APT and Multifactor Models Applying the CAPM : The Black-Litterman Approach
Risk Managemetn and VAR Managing Currency Risk and the International Dimension in Investment Management -
Portfolio Performance Evaluation and Manager Assessement
- Efficient markets and Active Management
- Alternative Investments and Hedge Fund Strategies
- Trading and Implementation
- Topics may be added and removed from the course to reflect on current issues and development in the asset management and investment field.
Computer-based tools
Learning process and workload
A course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of 160-180 hours.
Lectures and Case discussions. Most learning will take place through student discussion of cases or computer assignments related to portfolio management.
Students will be responsible to prepare in groups a case or computer assignment for discussion prior to each class meetings. Each student must be prepared to present the case and to discuss her/his conclusions in the class room
Please note that it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/It's learning or text book.
Examination
The course grade will be based on the following activities and weights:
20% class participation and presentation
30% case write ups and computer exercises (6 alltogether, all turned in on paper, returned to the students prior to the end of the course)
10% write up for the last case and last computer assignment of the class (2 together - these last two assignments will be retained by the instructor after the course)
40% written examination 3 hours
| Form of assessment | Weight | Group size |
| Class participation | 20% | |
| Case work | 30% | |
| Case work | 10% | |
| Written examination 3 hours | 40% | |
Specific information regarding student assessment will be provided in class. This information may be relevant to requirements for term papers or other hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one of several components of the overall assessment. This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded using points on a scale from 0-100. The final grade for the course is based on the aggregated mark of the course components. Each component is weighted as detailed in the course description. Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam components will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the points system and the mapping scale in the student portal @bi.
Examination code(s)
GRA 65313 continuous assessment accounts for 100 % of the final grade in the course GRA 6531.
Examination support materials
BI approved exam calculator
Bilingual dictionary
Permitted examination support materials for written examinations are detailed under examination information in the student portal @bi. The section on support materials and the use of calculators and dictionaries should be paid special attention to.
Re-sit examination
It is only possible to retake an examination when the course is next taught. The assessment in some courses is based on more than one exam code. Where this is the case, you may retake only the assessed components of one of these exam codes. All retaken examinations will incur an additional fee. Please note that you need to retake the latest version of the course with updated course literature and assessment. Please make sure that you have familiarised yourself with the latest course description.
Additional information
Honor Code
Academic honesty and trust are important to all of us as individuals, and represent values that are encouraged and promoted by the honor code system. This is a most significant university tradition. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the ideals of the honor code system, to which the faculty are also deeply committed.
Any violation of the honor code will be dealt with in accordance with BI’s procedures for cheating. These issues are a serious matter to everyone associated with the programs at BI and are at the heart of the honor code and academic integrity. If you have any questions about your responsibilities under the honor code, please ask.