Unit information: Digital Finance in 2023/24

Unit name	Digital Finance
Unit code	EFIM30056
Credit points	10
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Ronald Lui
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	Asset Markets Quantitative Methods for Finance 1
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	At least 50% in Quantitative Methods for Finance 2
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	School of Accounting and Finance - Business School
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Unit Information

The goal of this course is to offer a research-based perspective on these current developments and equip students with an understanding of new and disruptive forms of bank and market forms of finance in a way that is analytically rigorous and reflective of current academic research. Whilst Finance students will never be able to compete directly with computer programmers, mathematicians and other STEM graduates, the aim of the course is to explain the new Finance in a way that goes much beyond high quality financial journalism.

This area of study is obviously very fluid. The course structure is kept flexible to accommodate what will be most topical at the time of lecture delivery. This may include:

• New forms of lending and intermediation, P2P, etc.
• New forms of stock market trading: computer-driven and high-frequency trading. Alternative exchanges.
• New Investments and market structures: cryptocurrencies and crypto-exchanges. Other applications of distributed ledger (blockchain) technology.
• Introduction to Machine learning and Big Data analysis and how they change financial decision-making; Text analysis, sentiment analysis, web scraping.

Your learning on this unit

Students will be able to:

1. Understand new forms of financial intermediation, trading and investing
2. Explain the institutional and regulatory contexts in which new forms of finance operate
3. Critically evaluate the relevance of the theories of finance to new practical problems
4. Critically evaluate the evidence available on new investment assets and practices
5. Analyse and solve problems relating to digital finance.

How you will learn

Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions including lectures, tutorials, drop-in sessions, discussion boards and other online learning opportunities.

How you will be assessed

Formative assessment

Group projects.

Summative assessment

2000-word essay (100%). This assesses all learning outcomes.

Any re-assessment required will be a like for like assessment

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. EFIM30056).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.