Finance and insurance

BARBARA VANTAGGI
ROBERTO DE MARCHIS

The course offers students the opportunity to consolidate and apply the knowledge acquired in the same year's courses by observing, describing, and interpreting financial phenomena and related risk management. Dedicated training activities are provided through agreements with organizations and companies. The program encompasses the areas of business communication, new technologies, soft skills, and management, with the goal of developing skills that allow students to appreciate the challenges and opportunities that arise from technological and communication skills for a more complete understanding of the world (particularly the financial and insurance world).
By the end of the course, students will have mastered specific software and platforms, as well as fundamental soft skills for teamwork, conflict management, job interviews, and emotional awareness. Practical workshops for case study and data analysis, group work, and collaborative sessions foster independence in choosing tools and methodologies, communication skills for presenting and arguing results, and independent learning abilities to stay abreast of emerging techniques. Specifically, the course strengthens the soft skills needed for working in collaborative environments and for effective financial and risk management operations.

The course offers students the opportunity to consolidate and apply the knowledge acquired in the same year's courses by observing, describing, and interpreting financial phenomena and related risk management. Dedicated training activities are provided through agreements with organizations and companies.

Specific objectives:
Knowledge and understanding. Students will acquire an understanding of key soft and hard skills, including those related to computational tools, and will understand the features and functionality of software platforms used in financial and risk management contexts.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding. Students will be able to translate real-world problems into modeled case studies, applying specific methodologies and tools to analyze, solve, and interpret the results.

Making judgments. Students will develop the ability to independently select appropriate tools and algorithms, implement solutions, and critically evaluate results, paying particular attention to model assumptions and application constraints.

Communication skills. Students will be able to effectively communicate the results of their analyses, both in writing and orally, using appropriate technical language and adapting their communication to audiences with varying backgrounds, including through collaborative activities and group work.

Learning skills. Students will acquire methods to independently update themselves on tools, technologies, and transversal skills, improving their ability to adapt to dynamic work environments and address complex professional situations.

A basic knowledge of communication and teamwork principles is recommended.
The main concepts of financial mathematics, financial intermediaries, stochastic processes and statistics as well as the basics of programming are required.

The student can choose between various activities provided in collaboration with companies (up to reaching 12 CFU):

Finantial Markets  & Portfolio Management (3 CFU)
Il Dott. Filippo Arcieri (Eurizon) holds a seminar series entitled "Finantial Markets  & Portfolio Management". 
The course provides the foundation for defining, constructing, and valuing fixed income instruments and the related financial markets, through lectures and practical applications on real data.

Quant Bootcamp with ARPM (9 CFU)
The Quant Bootcamp is a course that provides a comprehensive overview of the most advanced data science techniques and their applications in mathematical finance. In addition to basic theoretical and applied lectures, the Quant Bootcamp also includes access to an online ARPM Lab, lectures by world-renowned speakers, and networking opportunities with industry leaders and hundreds of other attendees from the industry and other universities.
The course takes place in New York (at New York University) in the second half of July. In addition to in-person activities reserved for selected students, the agreement allows for live-streaming and self-paced participation open to all.
Quant Bootcamp with ARPM (up to 9 cfu)
The full program with a certificate of completion entitles students to earn up to 9 credits. For portions of the program with tests administered by the program instructors, students earn a portion of the credits depending on the modules completed. The project coordinator is Professor Claudia Ceci.

Advanced Risk and Portfolio Management (ARPM) [https://www.arpm.co/] is an education company founded by Attilio Meucci. In collaboration with University Sapienza, ARPM offers:
The ARPM Lab [https://www.arpm.co/lab] : A multi-channel repository of study materials, including theory, case studies, code, animations, slides, proofs, and exercises, all accessible online without installation.

Frank J. Fabozzi, Introduction to fixed-income analysis and portfolio management

The series of meetings for strengthening soft skills is conducted through a series of in-person meetings. The lessons on computational and econometric aspects are available through in-person meetings, online, and via the ARPM Lab platform (on-demand).

The soft skills development series consists of a series of in-person meetings, and the laboratory activities are required. The computational and econometric lessons can also be accessed independently via the ARPM Lab platform (on-demand).

The assessment includes aptitude tests to assess to computational tools and the functionality of software platforms used in financial and risk management contexts will be assessed through a project evaluation.

Explain the methods of estimating duration.

Chose the right sentence:
A: The beta of a portfolio measures the amount of systematic risk. In particular, if the Beta of a portfolio is 1.2, we expect the portfolio to be much less volatile than the market.
B: The beta of a portfolio measures the amount of systematic risk. In particular, if the Beta of a portfolio is 1.2, we expect the portfolio to be more volatile than the market.
C: Beta is used only for stock portfolios and measures the amount of generic risk.

• Capital Structure: Understanding Debt and Equity, Conceptual Differences.
  How the Term Structure of a Bond with Yields Defines the Slope of a Curve.
  Building a Bond Portfolio: Practical Examples.
  • Books: Fabozzi Introduction to Fixed-Income Analysis and Portfolio Management. MIT 2025


• Monetary policy: what is the
  Federal Reserve trying to achieve in this cycle? What is the ECB monetary
  policy at the moment? What are the tools that central banks have to control the
  economy? Things that investors look at: GDP, CPI, PCE, NFP, Unemployment rate
  among other things. 
  • Books: Fabozzi Introduction to Fixed-Income Analysis and Portfolio Management. MIT 2025


• Data science and machine learning. Portfolio ConstructionAlgorithmic 
  • Books: ARPM LAB (on demand)https://www.arpm.co


• Trading Investment Risk Management Liquidity Modeling
  • Books: ARPM LAB (on demand)https://www.arpm.co


• ARPM Lab: case studies
  • Books: ARPM LAB (on demand)https://www.arpm.co