Introduction to Risk Management

Overview

What is risk? Why do firms manage risk? In this course, you will be introduced to the different types of business and financial risks, their sources, and best practice methods for measuring risk. This course will help you gauge different risk types and set risk limits, describe the key factors that drive each type of risk, and identify the steps needed to choose probability distributions to estimate risk. You will explore the history and development of risk management as a science, and financial and business trends that have shaped the practice of risk management. By the end of the course, you will have the essential knowledge to measure, assess, and manage risk in your organization. To be successful in this course, you should have a basic knowledge of statistics and probability and familiarity with financial instruments (stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, etc). Experience with MS Excel recommended.

Syllabus

Getting Started

This course will introduce you to different types of business and financial risk. You will learn how these risks are measured and also gain an understanding of the goals and benefits of risk management. The skills that you will gain by the end of this course will enable you to measure and manage risk in your organization.

Module 01: Overview of Risk Management

In this module, you will learn about financial and business risks. You will also get introduced to the various types of financial risks and learn about their sources and how firms manage risks. We'll also look at the difference between risk measurement and risk management. Let's get started.

Module 02: Types of Business and Financial Risks

In this module, you will learn about the four main types of financial risk. You will then learn about the best measures to use to gauge different risk types and set risk limits. You will also learn how investment managers maximize portfolio returns while keeping risk within their tolerances and then apply these techniques to a portfolio you will construct.

Module 03: Money & Capital Markets and Regulatory

In this module, you will learn the difference between Money and Capital markets. You will also learn to differentiate among the 3 regulatory structures - US, UK, and EU and understand how regulatory structures impact your firm.

Module 04: Introduction to Risk Modeling

In this module, you will learn about the factors that drive each type of risk and then use these factors to create distributions (density functions). You will explore non-parametric measures of loss distributions such as scenario analysis and stress testing.