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Description

Financial Markets: Understanding Instruments, Participants and Risks

Build the vocabulary and market mechanics needed to engage confidently with trading desks and clients

  • 2 days — 14 h
  • In-person or virtual
  • Foundation
  • Up to 6 participants

Working in a bank or a finance function without market bearings creates two difficulties. The first is vocabulary: yield curve, spread, notional or underlying cannot be improvised. The second is understanding the chain of effects that makes a rate rise feed through to the price of a bond or to the hedging cost borne by a client.

Two days to connect instruments to their real-world uses. The programme covers how markets are organised and who operates in them, interest rate and equity products, the main derivatives, and the processing chain of a transaction through to final settlement.

Learning objectives

  • Position the participants in financial markets and their respective roles
  • Distinguish interest rate instruments from equity instruments
  • Explain the relationship between interest rate levels and bond prices
  • Identify the purpose of a forward contract
  • an option and a swap
  • Describe how a transaction unfolds from execution through to settlement

What makes this programme different

Each instrument is introduced through the concrete use an issuer or an investor makes of it
Pricing mechanics are worked through on numerical examples built live in the session
Participants progressively build their own glossary of market terminology

Programme

1How markets are organised

Who operates in them and why

  • Distinguish the primary market from the secondary market
  • Identify issuers
  • investors and intermediaries
  • Position the role of central banks and regulators
  • Understand how a price forms in an order book

2Interest rates and bonds

The core of debt markets

  • Position the money market and its treasury uses
  • Break down the characteristics of a bond
  • Explain the inverse relationship between rates and prices
  • Read a yield curve and interpret its shape
  • Understand the role of credit ratings and credit spreads

3Equities and foreign exchange

Share capital and currencies

  • Understand how a share is valued and how it remunerates the holder
  • Position market indices and how they are used
  • Read an FX quotation and calculate a cross rate
  • Identify a company's exposure to currency risk

4Derivatives and transaction processing

Hedging and settling cleanly

  • Distinguish forward contracts
  • options and swaps by their purpose
  • Identify what an option covers and what it costs
  • Understand margin calls and the role of the clearing house
  • Follow a transaction from execution through to delivery versus payment
  • Spot the operational risks along the processing chain

Who is it for

Banking and insurance professionals · middle and back office support functions · legal officers · auditors · finance department staff working alongside market activities.

Prerequisites

No prior knowledge required

Dates & locations

36 scheduled dates between November 2026 and December 2027. Seats are confirmed in the order enquiries are received.

November 2026

December 2026

January 2027

February 2027

March 2027

April 2027

May 2027

June 2027

September 2027

October 2027

November 2027

December 2027

None of these dates suit you? We open additional sessions on request, and any programme can be run privately for your team.

Practical details

Before the programme
Online positioning questionnaire. Your development objectives are shared with the trainer, who tailors the practical case studies to your context.
Teaching methods
Theoretical input, workshops and practical case studies. Digital course materials and method sheets provided.
Assessment
Multiple-choice tests and role-play exercises. Assessment of learning at the start and end of the programme, with immediate and 60-day follow-up evaluations.
After the programme
One year of access to the e-learning platform. Self-assessment of the skills acquired and a 30-day follow-up session with your trainer.
How to register
Registration online or on the basis of a quotation.
Lead time
11 working days after confirmation of registration.
Accessibility
Accessible to people of determination. Contact our accessibility coordinator to design a suitable solution: contact@mpf-academy.ae
Start dates
Rolling intake: in addition to the scheduled sessions, this programme can start on request.