FIXED INCOME INVESTMENTS - 2020/1

Module Overview

The module studies the various approaches to Fixed Income Investments, providing a systematic understanding of the challenges faced and the decisions to be taken when analysing and valuing fixed income securities and when managing bond portfolios. It encompasses the principles and practice of valuation of Treasury securities and corporate bonds. This is approached from several different aspects including pricing of bonds, factors affecting bond pricing, risk and performance evaluation. This module is particularly useful for students considering a career in finance; investment management, investment banking, private equity or venture capital, but is also useful for those involved in the wider areas of finance and corporate management where knowledge of investment analysis and company valuation is important.

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

VELEANU Veronica (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Overview of Fixed Income Investment


• Treasury Securities


• Pricing of Bonds


• Bond Pricing Volatility


• Measuring Yield


• Factors Affecting Bond Yields


• Corporate Bonds

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Not applicable.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate

• Knowledge of the role of fixed income investment analysis and portfolio management strategies and how to apply the appropriate methods of analysis in order to critically evaluate the financial opportunities offered by fixed income investments.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC) e-learning course modules (Fixed Income and Currencies) will be available to complete on Bloomberg terminal by end of week 4.


• A 50-minute closed-book class test will be held during the mid-term class test week as timetabled.


• A 1.5-hour closed-book final exam will be held during the winter exam period as timetabled.

Formative assessment and feedback



Feedback will contribute to your learning and performance by highlighting areas where you need a deeper understanding or more practice and will be provided in the following ways:

•  Verbally during weekly live seminar and student consultation (office hours) sessions


•  Through the weekly set activities


•  Individual one-to-one feedback on the mid-term class test


•  Via emails, Zoom meetings, discussion forum, voluntary individual submitted sample answers, etc

Module aims

• Critically evaluate the different approaches to the valuation of bonds and the risks associated with different types of bond investments.
• Select the approach or combination of approaches which will yield the most suitable fixed income securities in line with their risk-return profile.
• Identify and select fixed income securities which meet investment objectives.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

The teaching and learning strategy is designed to facilitate students understanding of applied finance; how to analyse real fixed income securities, both sovereign and corporate using a range of theoretical approaches.

The learning and teaching methods include:

The teaching and learning methods includes lectures to establish key principles, seminars to focus on practical application and the use of SurreyLearn to facilitate discussion and distribution of additional materials and data sources. 

ELearning via Bloomberg will be used to reinforce key market concepts.  Additional resources such as DataStream will be used where appropriate.

Lectures will comprise 2 bite-size 30-minute PowerPoint videos per week each week AND 1-hour seminar (physical/online) per week.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM324

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2020/1 academic year.