| Unit name | Digital Finance |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ACFI30007 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Ronald Lui |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
Asset Markets Quantitative Methods for Finance 1 |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
Pass in Quantitative Methods for Finance 2 |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Accounting and Finance - Business School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why this unit is important?
The digitalisation of finance has emerged as a crucial component of the global economy. Learning about digital finance is vital as it fosters financial inclusion and enhances transaction efficiency and transparency, reducing the risk of fraud. Understanding digital currencies and decentralized finance is essential for navigating evolving financial landscapes, enabling individuals and businesses to adapt to emerging trends and transformative innovations.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
Taking part in this unit will complement your core studies by additional in-depth exploration of an important finance topic. The elective will deepen your understanding of recent technological developments in trading and investments. The unit will also develop your practical skills in investment analysis.
An overview of content
The goal of this course is to offer a research-based perspective on these current developments and equip students with an understanding of new and disruptive forms of bank and market forms of finance in a way that is analytically rigorous and reflective of current academic research. Whilst Finance students will never be able to compete directly with computer programmers, mathematicians and other STEM graduates, the aim of the course is to explain the new Finance in a way that goes much beyond high quality financial journalism.
This area of study is obviously very fluid. The course structure is kept flexible to accommodate what will be most topical at the time of lecture delivery. This may include: new forms of lending and intermediation, P2P, etc.; new forms of stock market trading (computer-driven and high-frequency trading); Alternative Exchanges; new investments and market structures (cryptocurrencies and crypto-exchanges); other applications of distributed ledger (blockchain) technology; introduction to machine learning and big data analysis and how they change financial decision-making; text analysis, sentiment analysis, web scraping.
How will students personally be different as a result of the unit?
You will gain confidence in applying general finance tools to technology-driven developments in investment, trading and decision making. In your project, you will gain hands-on experience in professionally highly valuable data-oriented techniques of investment analysis.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
Weekly 2-hour lectures. In most weeks there are additional exercise classes or tutorials (in smaller groups). You are given exercises in advance, these are discussed with your peers and your tutor in class, and full solutions are published after class.
Your total learning time for this unit is expected to be some 200 hours. This is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Lectures allow for questions to the lecturer. Exercise lectures or tutorials give you a chance of preparing your own work and discuss solutions with the tutor. There are written answers to selected exercises. A relevant part of the lectures will be dedicated to an introduction to the practice project.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
100% individual coursework, 3000 words. The coursework comprise of an essay and applied practice project assessing ILO1, ILO2, ILO3, ILO4
When assessment does not go to plan
As this is a final year unit reassessment is not normally permitted, however, where it is permitted it will be an exam in the same format as the main exam.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ACFI30007).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
