General information

Our online training course Focus on Fixed Income has been developed specifically for the CPD program of the FPA. It has been designed to bring financial planners up to date with the current products and developments in the Australian bond and fixed-interest markets as well as to provide a solid review of the underpinnings of the instruments.

Participants are expected to have a basic appreciation of interest-rate-based products. On completion of the course a participant should be equipped to assess the risk of a variety of financial instruments and differentiate between them.

Delivery method and requirements

The course runs on the Web. All you need is a modern Web browser (MS Internet Explorer V5 or later recommended) on a PC running any version of Windows from 95 on. No extra "plug-in" components are needed.

Before attempting to view the sample, please read the more detailed information in the panel below and ensure that your browser and setup are suitable.

Browser requirements
To run the course, you need to be using a current mainstream browser (MS Internet Explorer V4 or later, or Netscape Navigator V6.0 or later) on a PC running any version of Windows from 95 on (the course has not been tested on Macintosh systems). Links for downloading current browsers from the Microsoft and Netscape sites are available here. Images and JavaScript must be enabled in the preferences or options for your browser. These are enabled in the default settings for current browsers, but some users disable them for speed or security reasons.

To view the material as intended, ensure your desktop area is set to 800X600. You can do this as follows. On the Windows desktop, click the right mouse button, select Properties from the pop-up context menu, choose the Settings tab, and set the Desktop Area slider control to 800 by 600 pixels.

The online delivery method brings many advantages:

• The course is available to ALL members, irrespective of their physical location.

• Members can do the course at their own time and speed. The topic-by-topic approach provides complete flexibility.

• Members can raise questions with the course presenter by e-mail at their convenience.

• Online examination allows members to ensure their understanding of the topics presented.
  

List of topics in the course

The course covers the following twelve topics. You can work through the topics in the sequence presented (recommended) or choose individual topics for study or review.

1. Fixed Interest and Money Market Instrument Descriptions
2. Features of Bonds and Market Conventions
3. Money Market Mathematics and Formulae
4. Bond Market Indexes
5. Determinants of Interest Rates
6. Credit Risk
7. Duration and Modified Duration
8. Yield Curves
9. Mutual Funds
10. Floating Rate Notes
11. Hybrid Securities
12. Concepts of Risk and Return from a Fixed Interest Perspective

Subtopics within each topic are clearly flagged and you can easily go straight to a selected subtopic.

Exam

An online exam is available. It consists of 50 multiple-choice questions covering all the course topics. The exam is marked online and your assessment presented. If you reach the required pass mark of 80%, we'll mail out a certificate to you. If you fail to reach the pass mark your results will include advice on which topics you need to revise before re-attempting the exam.

Cost and enrolment

The enrolment fee is $180 per user. The enrolment procedure and payment options are detailed under How to enrol.

If you would like to receive periodic bond market updates from FIIG Securities, please register here.

All material copyright © 2001 Lydian Financial Services Pty Ltd
Web delivery system and programming by Peter Bloxsom
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