EC5613 Banking and Finance Workshop

Please note that these research questions are suggestions only, provided by the workshop presenters. You are free to deviate from them as much as you wish. You can also ignore them and come up with your own research question, although the alternative topic chosen must (1) relate directly to the subject matter of one of the workshops and must (2) be within the fields of finance/accounting (or economics) also (3) it will be subject to agreement by the module leader.

Note in that context that simply giving the subject of the workshop such as “Financial Stability” or “Valuation in practice” as your essay or presentation title is not satisfactory, since it does not pose a question to be answered, nor a sufficiently precise topic to be addressed.

As stated in the “essay guidelines” document, the aim of the assessments is to “test your ability to apply a finance/accounting (or economic) perspective to a theoretical/empirical observation or a practical issue”. This applies both to the essay and the presentation.

Any coursework or examined submission for assessment where plagiarism, collusion or any form of cheating is suspected will be dealt with according to the University processes which are detailed in Senate Regulation 6. You can access information about plagiarism here.

Written work submitted to Wiseflow is checked by URKUND, a powerful detector of plagiarism.

Valuation in Practice

Essay/presentation title:

Either

“How has the pandemic impacted valuations of certain sectors and can you explain, using valuation techniques, which sectors are currently valued on higher metrics than prior to the pandemic?”

Or

“Have valuation of companies with a strong ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) policy and impact increased over the last 5 years compared to those traditionally seen as heavy polluters?”

Contemporary Asset Management

 Essay/presentation title: “Does ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) alpha exist?”

Developments in the UK Private Capital Markets

Essay/presentation title: “Public Capital Markets are Becoming Irrelevant to UK Companies. Discuss.”

EBRD – The financing work of a multilateral development bank

 Essay/presentation title: “Critically evaluate the interaction between the new EU policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, i.e. the EU Vaccine Joint Procurement Programme and the EU Recovery & Resilience Facility (RRF). What are the implications in terms of the successful deployment of the RRF funds, its macroeconomic impact and also the institutional future of the EU?"

Financial stability

Essay/presentation title: “What are the most important current threats to the stability of the major financial systems? In particular, what risks are posed by the prospect of higher interest rates in response to rising inflation?"

The International Monetary and Financial System

Essay/presentation title: “What are the main features of a well-functioning International Monetary and Financial System that supports strong, sustained and balanced growth?”

Law, Finance and Financial Regulation

Essay/presentation title: “What are the regulatory changes that need to happen to make the financial system fit for purpose in the green and digital age?”

Liquidity crises in commercial and central banking

Essay/presentation title: “What will be the financial after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and what policies will be needed to address them?”

Finance and growth

Essay/presentation title: “What is the impact of financial liberalization on economic growth?”

Macroprudential regulation

Essay/presentation title: “Distinguish between macroprudential surveillance and macroprudential policy. Why are both essential? Focusing on a single country, critically evaluate the macroprudential surveillance projections and macroprudential policy responses undertaken in the year following the onset of Covid in early 2020.”