School: Business and Law

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Fixed Income Securities
  • Unit Code

    ECF6305
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    20
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Tony NGUYEN

Description

Fixed income can be an important portfolio strategy in order to preserve capital in times of high market volatility. This unit will focus on strategies and techniques for analysing and managing fixed income securities. Students will develop the knowledge and skills required to practically apply these to the portfolio construction and portfolio management of fixed income securities. Valuation principles are studied in the unit and students will learn how to effectively apply these to the various types of fixed income securities. The unit also deals with the analysis of risks inherent in fixed income, particularly credit risk and interest rate risk, and students learn practical strategies for balancing risk and return. The unit also incorporates strategies for identifying and managing distressed fixed income securities. Students will engage with global case studies to develop concepts and principles covered and to apply them practically in client-based scenarios.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must have passed ECF6110

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Identify the types, characteristics, markets and institutions of fixed income securities that can be used by governments or corporates to raise debt or as investment opportunities by investors.
  2. Develop portfolio management strategies for fixed income securities to meet the financial goals of investors.
  3. Apply valuations to the different types of fixed income securities in order to inform investor decisions.
  4. Evaluate methods for managing interest rate risk and credit risk inherent in fixed income securities in order to minimise financial loss.
  5. Manage the risk of distressed securities to mitigate financial loss.

Unit Content

  1. Types of fixed income securities and their characteristics.
  2. Fixed income markets: Characteristics and institutions.
  3. Fixed income portfolio benchmarks.
  4. Fixed income valuation: Sector, industry, company and return analysis.
  5. Term structure determination and yield spreads.
  6. Analysis of interest rate risk for fixed income securities.
  7. Analysis of credit risk for fixed income securities.
  8. Valuing bonds with embedded options.
  9. Structured products.
  10. Fixed income portfolio management strategies.
  11. Real estate valuation.
  12. Distressed securities/ bankruptcies.

Learning Experience

ON-CAMPUS

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 213 x 3 hour seminarNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

ONLINE

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Additional Learning Experience Information

Students may need to utilise financial market databases such as Refinitiv Eikon to access market data in real-time and/or to conduct appropriate research for assessment tasks.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
TestQuizzes20%
AssignmentGroup Assignment30%
ExerciseOnline Final Assessment50%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
TestQuizzes20%
AssignmentGroup Assignment30%
ExerciseOnline Final Assessment50%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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