Online Self-Study
|
Online Self-Study
|
|
|
|
|
The ICMA Fixed Income Certificate (FIC) has been an essential qualification for market professionals for 50 years. With its emphasis on developing practical skills for trading, investment and risk management, the training will build upon your existing knowledge of the fixed income markets to give you the skills to compete in the global marketplace.
This is a demanding qualification aimed at developing a broad and in-depth knowledge of the key fixed income instruments and markets. Throughout the training there are many exercises which test and assess candidates’ knowledge, examining scenarios which will equip participants with practical skills in their day-to-day business activity.
Learning Outcomes
By completing the course you will be able to:
- Develop a broad knowledge of fixed income markets and credit products
- Understand at a deeper level the relationship between cash bond and derivatives markets
- Be proficient in the basic maths of the fixed income and derivatives market
- Be able to develop and apply rates trading and hedging techniques
- Understand structured securities, CDS and Interest Rate Derivatives and their uses
- Have an up to date working knowledge of current best market practice and regulatory considerations for fixed income and derivative markets
- Be part of a network of fixed income professionals around the world
Who should attend?
The programme is primarily intended for those working in client or market facing positions in fixed income within a bank or fund management company, although it has become increasingly popular with middle office and operations managers who require greater product and market knowledge. Other candidate profiles include those working for financial IT service companies, exchanges and central securities depositories.
As an intermediate level qualification, the FIC requires that candidates should already have some familiarity with the topics below:
- Fundamental Numerical Skills
- Overview of Financial Markets and Participants
- The Main Fixed Income Securities
Online courses start on the 1st of each month – please note that payment must be received BEFORE access to these courses are provided.
Assessment
The exam consists of 75 multiple choice questions of which candidates must answer a minimum of 45 questions, or 60%, correctly in order to pass. You will have six months in which to study the material, book and complete an online, fully invigilated exam.
We use a third-party exam invigilation service called ProctorU to administer the exams on our assessed courses. We recommend you take a few minutes to watch this video before you take your exam, which provides information on what to expect on the day. You can also take a look at some further information here.
More information regarding your specific exam will be available in the Exam Orientation page on Moodle, the ICMA training platform.
Certification and Programme Recognition
ICMA is a member of the CPD® Certification Service, an FCA-approved qualifications provider and approved by the Securities & Futures Commission of Hong Kong as provider of Continuous Professional Training (CPT).
This course is certified by ICMA and the ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading and accredited by CPD® Certification Service.
ICMA recommends that 50 learning hours can be associated with this course, based on attended/undertaken hours of study required to successfully complete the learning outcomes.
A Certificate of Completion will be awarded to those who successfully pass the final exam of this course – see Assessment section for more details.
Please note that your course certificate of attendance or completion should be sufficient to satisfy any professional development requirements – if you require further evidence, please contact us at education@icmagroup.org.
Course Trainer
David Oakes
The ICMA Fixed Income Certificate (FIC) is a professional qualification that places strong emphasis on practical skills, based on a thorough understanding of valuation principles and the relationships between the cash and derivatives markets. The current programme covers the following subjects:
- Trading the Yield Curve with Cash Market Securities
Fixed income securities & interest rates
Monetary policy & the yield curve
Interest rate risk
Trading views on the yield curve with cash instruments
Financial fixed income trades
Bonds with embedded options
Inflation-indexed bonds
Sovereign credit risk & sovereign ratings
Fixed income market practice & regulation
- Interest Rate Derivatives
Short-term interest rate (STIR) futures
Bond futures
Interest rate swaps & swap futures
Interest rate options
Inflation derivatives
Counterparty risk in derivatives
Derivative market practice & regulation
- Credit Trading
Credit risk & credit spreads
Default probability & expected recovery
Credit analysis & credit ratings
Securitisation
Credit default swaps & credit default swaptions
Credit trading & hedging with single name CDS
Credit trading with index CDS
Credit trading with CDS index tranches
CDS pricing & revaluation
Online Course
Delegates who sign up to our online courses will have access for 6 months to enable them to take advantage of the additional online resources, discussion boards and other functions of our new digital learning platform.
Online courses start at the beginning of each month – please note that payment must be received BEFORE access to these courses are provided.
Online course fees
ICMA Members: EUR 2,250 (VAT not applicable)
Non Members: EUR 3,050 (VAT not applicable)
Costs include full access to the online campus, associated learning materials and the examination fee.
Please note that:
- Payment for online courses must be received before the start of the course.
- All payments must be made in Euro.
As an indicative guide, we would recommend a total of 50 study hours is required to go through the material. Please note this is an approximate guide only.
Contact
Should you have any queries, please contact education@icmagroup.org.
