Teaching and Grading Experience

London Business School

Executive Education - INEOS International Managers Programme with Prof. Anna Pavlova - 2023

The objective of this course is to work with organisations around the world to inspire people, deliver transformational impact, and drive business success. The course collaborates with the participants to address a company’s challenges and to help leverage opportunities through innovative and fully customised learning solutions. The course covers case studies from current clients to discover how to deliver impact for an organisation that is as far reaching as it is long lasting.

Fixed Income with Prof. Suleyman Basak - 2022

The objective of this course is to undertake a rigorous study of fixed income securities. A wide variety of fixed income securities will be discussed. The course will begin with pure discount, default-free, government bonds. As the semester progresses, we will analyze coupon bonds, callable bonds, putable bonds, and floating rate notes.

We will also talk about some closely related financial instruments. These include forwards and futures on fixed income securities, bond options, options on bond futures, caps, floors, collars, swaps, swaptions and interest-rate exotics. Valuation of fixed income securities as well as interest risk management requires a deep understanding of these important financial claims.

Asset Management with Prof. Svetlana Bryzgalova - 2020, 2022

The objective of this course is to cover important theoretical concepts in asset management, to examine whether these concepts are supported by empirical evidence, and to identify the practical implications for investment professionals.

We begin by considering how to allocate wealth into different asset classes and investment strategies. A particular emphasis is alternative assets and on long-term investing with a coherent modeling of assets and liabilities. We then discuss performance evaluation and attribution. We cover common investment strategies based on value, profitability, investment, momentum, carry, beta, and volatility. We also cover recent developments of more complex investment products, and compare and contrast them with traditional fund structures. We finally discuss limits to arbitrage and the costs of implementing actual trading strategies.

Capital Structure with Prof. Christopher Hennessy - 2022

This course will give students a hands-on, operational, quantitative understanding of corporate financial decisions—how to make them and how to implement them. Consistent with the mission of the MFA degree, it is assumed students either have a familiarity with the basic theory, or that they will be able to pick up the basic theory on the go. This is not an undergraduate corporate finance class, nor an MBA-level corporate finance course. Our goal is to move beyond words and pictures to the development and application of quantitative tools allowing you to analyse corporate financing decisions in a rigorous way.

Corporate Finance I & II with Prof. Christopher Hennessy - 2022

The objective of Corporate Finance I & II is to develop a framework for corporate financial decision-making, and to provide a solid grounding in the principles and practice of financial management.  More specifically, the objective of part I is to give you the basic tools and understanding to analyze and participate effectively in decisions that involve investment appraisal, capital budgeting, debt and equity market analytics, risk-return tradeoffs, debt and equity cost of capital, and valuation of equity.

We realize that the range of prior knowledge within the class is wide.  We ask those of you who have already had exposure to this material to be patient.  The course is designed to make sure that everyone completing it has a solid grounding in the principles and practice of corporate finance.  Thus, the material covered is designed to achieve that goal.  If you are more advanced and want to read further on a particular topic, we are be happy to suggest further reading. 

Masters in Finance Business Projects with Prof. Roberto Gomez Cram - 2021

The objective of the Masters in Finance (MiF) individual business projects is for students to address a question of direct significance or relevance to business, and frame the question in a way that analysis, proposition and testing are needed to provide a solution. The project scope is challenging but realistic.

Investments with Prof. Marco Grotteria - 2021

The objective of the Masters in Finance (MiF) investments course is to teach students valuable investment opportunity valuation techniques. The LBS investment courses help students enhance their returns and reduce risk, as well as to get a strategic view of different asset classes to maximise portfolio performance.

Behavioural Finance with Prof. Samuli Knupfer - 2020, 2021, 2022

Over the past decades, the field of finance has developed a successful paradigm based on the notions that investors and managers are rational and that the market is efficient. In recent years, however, anecdotal evidence as well as theoretical and empirical research has shown this paradigm to be insufficient to describe various features of actual financial markets. In this course, we explain financial market phenomena by incorporating institutional, social, cognitive, and emotional biases to the traditional paradigm. This broader perspective is called behavioral finance.

The objective of this course is to give students an understanding of investor and managerial behavior and its impact on financial market outcomes. The participants should be able to identify most common obstacles to making rational decisions, to debias their own decisions, and to understand the risks and opportunities associated with biased decisions. The course spans all major fields of finance, including household finance, asset pricing, and corporate finance.

Financial Institutions with Prof. Alex Edmans, Prof. Vania Stavrakeva, and Prof. Paolo Surico - 2022

This course examines the roles banks and non-bank financial intermediaries, including insurance companies, play in the economy. What economic functions do these institutions fulfill? What risks do they take? How do they make money? How do they affect the economy, and in particular what role do they play in financial crises? Why and how are they regulated? How are they affected by monetary policy? What role do they play in ensuring that business as a whole serves society?

Understanding International Macroeconomy with Prof. Vania Stavrakeva - 2020

Course for EMBAs to improve understanding of the international macroeconomy. Course covers concepts including purchasing power parity (PPP) theory; inflation and currency exchange rate determination; government spending, externalities and spillovers; the role of interest rates for the economy, investment and consumption; sovereign borrowing; and economic growth.

Macroeconomics for Managers with Prof. Joseba Martinez - 2020, 2022

Macroeconomic events are a fundamental source of changes in the business environment, markets, and society. Even a moment’s consideration of the long run impact of globalisation, technology and the rise of China and India makes us realise how firms, sectors, economies and ways of life are totally transformed by shifts in the external economic environment. The long lasting impact of the financial crisis of 2007-8 and the coronavirus crisis of 2020 underline how critical macro factors are for corporate success as well as uncertainty looking forward around secular stagnation and the future of emerging markets.

Understanding these developments is key in formulating the appropriate personal and corporate strategies to follow. The purpose of this course is to familiarise you with the workings of the global economy and the main macro factors that determine the wealth of nations, people and corporations.

FinTech with Prof. Narayan Naik and Prof. Lil Mohan - 2020, 2022

A confluence of major developments including (i) the ubiquitous consumer use of smartphones, (ii) technological advances in AI, ML, cryptography, cloud-based services, etc., and (iii)  a set of new regulations in the world of finance after the market crash of 2008, has created a situation where practically every area of finance is being disrupted by the use of technology.

This course, FinTech: Innovations and Business Opportunities In Finance,  primarily focuses on understanding the technology-based, disruptions and innovations that are transforming multiple areas of finance including Banking, Lending, Payments, Investments, Insurance, Finance Infrastructure, and Regulatory structure.

Wealth Management with Prof. Narayan Naik and Prof. Vidur Varma - 2022

The elective covers the business aspects of Wealth Management, managing clients and investments from a wealth manager’s perspective and the investment management industry. The course aims to help you recognise and navigate with confidence a broad range of conventional wealth management concepts, tools, and structures.

It features a mix of lectures, case studies, in class debates & discussions, client simulation, and guest speakers. It is a practical course, building on your knowledge base, covering case studies on current market events and developments, and an investment simulation exercise running through the course linked to a real client situation, which evolves with the market.

Hedge Funds with Prof. Narayan Naik - 2021

The objective of this course is to understand all aspects of hedge funds, considered as the epitome of active fund management. The hedge fund industry has grown rapidly over the last decade and is getting recognized as an “alternative” to the traditional mutual fund investment. University endowments and high net worth individuals have long invested in hedge funds. More recently, European pension funds have also started making significant investments in hedge funds, in spite of the relative lack of transparency, disclosure, liquidity, regulation, capacity etc. The regulatory authorities in Europe are opening up to hedge funds, and are considering harmonization of regulation. Attempts are being made to bring hedge funds to retail investors. In the light of these developments, the course will examine the raison d'être behind these developments, the modus operandi of hedge funds, their legal, organizational and operational structures, their risk-return characteristics, their model of aligning the interests of investors and managers, and the likelihood of their success in the future. The course is of particular   relevance to those working in the field of investment, or seeking to open up career opportunities in asset management. It will also appeal to anyone who is likely to have contact with investors, fund managers, investment consultants or investment organizations.