Structured Derivative Notes & Swaps Explored in New e-Learning Course.

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c29643) has announced the addition of e-Learning Course: Structured Derivative Notes & Swaps to their offering.

Structured derivative notes and swaps are non-standard packaged products that have emerged as important instruments in financial markets. These products are motivated by the efforts of banks to bundle derivative products for clients (financial engineering). There are a number of reasons why banks do this, such as the desire to increase margins on existing products, market products in a different manner or disguise the cost of the product from the client. A proliferation of structured products has emerged in recent years and this course covers a sample of these.

In this course, you will explore:

--The features, characteristics and pricing of range notes

--The use of reverse floaters to create a profit for investors when interest rates decline

--The structure and pricing of capped and collared floating rate notes

--The basic features of trigger products, the approach to their valuation and the major difficulties that are generally encountered by users of these structures

This course is designed for:

--New or recent recruits to the derivatives desk

--Dealers/traders

--Portfolio managers

--Treasury department staff

--Sales and marketing executives

--Finance and accounting staff

--IT staff

--Compliance and regulatory staff

The following tutorials are included in this E-Learning course:

1. Range Accrual Structures

The structured note market is noted for its ability to develop new and innovative structures as it strives to meet the requirements of diverse groups of investors and issuers around the world. Range accrual structures originally emerged in 1993 and subsequently became a popular method of trying to obtain cheap funding relative to some underlying interest rate. As well as allowing borrowers to attain highly attractive below-market funding, these instruments also rewarded investors as long as interest rates remained low. This tutorial looks at range accrual structures in detail, examining their features and characteristics and showing how to price these instruments.

2. Reverse FRNs

Reverse floating rate notes (FRNs), or reverse floaters, are similar to traditional FRNs in that the investor profits from interest rates moving in a certain direction. Unlike standard FRNs, reverse floaters create a profit for the investor when interest rates decline. They are typically used when short-term rates are expected to decline and/or when the yield curve exhibits a steep positive slope. This tutorial looks at reverse floaters in detail, examining their features and characteristics, and demonstrating how to price these structures.

3. Capped & Collared FRNs

A capped FRN is a floating rate note combined with an interest rate cap, while a collared FRN is one that combines both an interest rate cap and floor. These instruments are attractive to issuers seeking to reduce funding costs and to investors seeking to earn a higher spread over the floating rate index. This tutorial describes how capped and collared FRNs work and illustrates the payoffs on these instruments from the viewpoint of both the issuer and the investor.

4. Trigger Structures

Trigger structures are an important development in interest rate risk management in recent years. They are attractive to liability managers looking for alternatives to traditional cap structures and to investors looking to gain extra return through taking on additional risk. Although these structures are simple to describe, they are complex to price and hedge. This tutorial describes the basic trigger structure, how it is priced using the binomial tree and the most common uses of these structures.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c29643