Financial Markets and Institutions

The main goal of this course is to make an introduction of the students in this fascinating revolution. The course covers diversified arias of financial securities, operations and types of financial risks. It helps the students to understand how the key financial institutions manage their assets and liabilities and how the innovative financial instruments support this management. The students will be introduced with the financial regulation, institutional structure and analytical tools in order to understand the practical implementation of these innovations.
During this semester the course will focus of the latest changes in the regulation worldwide and the latest developments regarding the financial institutions. Focusing on the practice in the financial institutions is of a great benefit for the students in order to react to the challenges and changes of these institutions.
The students will have numerous information and analyses on the international finance.  They will be provided with detailed explanation of the work, structure and regulation of the main financial markets in the world. This is crucial for functioning of today’s more and more interconnected international financial systems.
After the general overview of the financial markets and institutions, lectures on understanding the role of the governments in the financial markets will follow, and their supervisory role in the financial institutions. Special attention will be given to the latest reforms in the regulation and the current regulation and structure in the Republic of Macedonia.
Organizing and functioning of the non-deposit financial institutions (investment funds, pension funds, and insurance funds) are the next topics for discussion. We will focus on the practical functioning of the Macedonian insurance companies and the experience from the reform of the Macedonian pension system. Afterwards we will cover the organization and the structure of the markets, functioning of the primary markets and secondary markets, the role of the dealers/brokers, and we will have visit to the Macedonian Stock Exchange and some other financial institutions if time permits.