Course on Financial Markets and Instruments

From July 8 to 12, 2024, CEMLA co-organized with the Institute for Capacity Development (ICD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a virtual course focused on financial instruments such as futures, forwards, swaps, and options, attracting the participation of representatives from central banks in Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, and Europe. The general purpose of the course was to broaden the participants' knowledge of these financial instruments, their use in hedging, and their functioning in the markets.

Specifically targeted at technical officials from CEMLA member central banks, the course aimed for participants to gain the knowledge and expertise necessary to actively engage in the sessions, sharing their national perspectives. The course covered several crucial topics, including the definition, pricing, and use of futures and forwards for hedging. It also addressed swaps, including interest rate swaps, currency swaps, and credit default swaps. Regarding options, the course covered basic concepts, market structures, option strategies, factors affecting option prices, binomial pricing models, and the Black-Scholes model. Additionally, it addressed securitization, including transfer securitization, collateralized bonds, and financial structure, and explored repurchase markets, their functioning, and characteristics.

The course included theoretical sessions and practical workshops, where participants applied the acquired knowledge and discussed practical cases with experts from the IMF's ICD, such as Ms. Luisa Zanforlin, Mr. Fabian Lipinsky, and Mr. Connel Fullenkamp. At the end of the course, questionnaires and surveys were conducted to evaluate learning and gather feedback. The impact of the course lies in its ability to prepare participants to tackle challenges related to the use of financial instruments in maintaining the safety and efficiency of financial systems, within the context of the constantly evolving international markets.