An Introduction to the Financial Services Industry

Catalog description

This course is designed for first-year students and is a version of the finance elective course, The Financial Service Industry. This course is separated into three parts: (1) The first part explains why finance is such an important area of the business world. To this point, the course introduces the foundations of modern finance and how the financial services industry uses these concepts to serve households, corporations and governments. (2) The second part represents the bulk of the course by providing a broad overview of the financial services industry and of the forces that are continuing to change it worldwide. The approach is to examine each of the principal businesses in which various financial service firms are involved. These include: raising capital; financial advisory; broker/dealer operations; trading; investing the firm's own capital; managing the assets of others for both institutions and individuals; and risk management. • (3)The third part of the course focuses on the finance career path here at NYU Stern. Historically, the majority (50-55%%) of Stern undergrad students choose finance as a career, and 2/3rds of this group go into investment banking, and 1/6th investment management. As such, much of the second part of the course focuses on these areas of the financial services industry. In addition, significant focus discusses the process of getting a job in this industry and what is involved in that process. By the end of the semester each student should be well versed in the functioning of the industry, be able to understand the financial press and associated economic commentary, be aware of the types of skills necessary to thrive in this industry and have a new perspective on the global financial system.