Shipping Derivatives & Risk Management

Description

Course overview

This course aims to introduce the attendees in the world of financial derivatives and risk management, with a special focus on shipping derivatives.
It covers the increasing need for in-house technical and theoretical knowledge of financial risk management, with the use of financial instruments and derivatives products, especially those available to the shipping industry.
It is a highly technical subject, and the need for a thorough and in-depth understanding of fundamental concepts is of the essence for business practitioners, both at the operational and managerial levels.
An important part of the course is the familiarization (& free distribution) with almost professional level precision pricers of specific types of financial derivatives, that will facilitate understanding of technical concepts, and assist practitioners in their operations and daily adoption of derivatives products.
Attendees of this course will be able to:
– Understand the fundamental pillars of financial risk management as is performed today at an international level.- Adopt a risk manager thinking perspective when addressing market and operational risks in enterprise ongoing operations.
– Understand, structure and price specific derivatives instruments that help the enterprise to modify its cash flows and risk profile according to its strategic yield/risk framework.
– Familiarize with all available shipping derivatives instruments, and practically use them for hedging or risk-taking activities, on an enterprise-wide basis.

Course Beneficiaries

– Maritime industry professionals working in the financial and/or risk management department of enterprises, seeking to understand and practically implement hedging/risk-taking or cash flow management strategies, of parts or the total portfolio of the enterprise.
– Professionals seeking to increase their employability within the maritime industry.
– New entrants in the maritime industry, specialized in financial risk management and derivatives (i.e. BSc & MSc graduates).
– Banking professionals specialized in the maritime sector, seeking to acquire a professional and solid understanding of risk management in the maritime industry and shipping derivatives.

Course Prerequisites

– Basic knowledge of algebra and statistics is recommended, but not required.
– Familiarization with the maritime industry functioning and risks is merit.
– No previous knowledge of financial derivatives instruments is required.

Course Syllabus

Course Structure (4 modules):
– Module 1: INTRODUCTION TO RISK MANAGEMENT
– Financial risks/Business risks and the need for hedging – Risk Management
– Risk Management Theory
– Risk Management in Practice

– Module 2: INTRODUCTION TO DERIVATIVES
– Overview and History of financial contracts and markets
– Forwards – Futures
– Option contracts
– Using Derivatives to Hedge various types of risks (Interest Rates, Commodity Risk)
– Problems and malpractices in derivatives markets

– Module 3: SHIPPING DERIVATIVES IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
– Shipping Markets Introduction
– The shipping Freight market
– Shipping Indices – Bunker Indices
– Baltic Exchange S&P and Demolition assessments
– Baltic Exchange shipping indices assessments
– Shipping Derivatives introduction
– Shipping derivatives mechanics and documentation
– Shipping derivatives & Risk management in practice

Module 4: CASE STUDIES
– Case Studies of hedging Freight risk
– Limitations of shipping derivatives and risks of proxy/correlation hedging
– Best practices for use of Shipping and Financial Derivatives

Course Material

Online videos for every module of the course, with accompanying PDF slides and a full set of notes (videos can be watched as many times as needed online). (Accompanying PDFs are downloadable and distributed to enrolled attendees).
XLS format files and code samples where applicable for the pricing and structuring of derivatives and risk management strategies.
The course must be completed (after passing the relevant final online exams) within 1-year from enrollment/purchase, during which time, the course instructor is always available through email for relevant questions and queries.
6-month consultation period (after course completion) by the instructor for any relevant questions and queries.

Course Instructor

Konstantinos Theodoropoulos Ph.D. (Course Instructor), Financial Risk manager – Proprietary Trader with ongoing professional financial derivatives experience of +12 years. He is a banking industry practitioner, working as a portfolio risk manager in a Large Greek bank for the last 11 years. He has traded and executed various types of derivates transactions over the years, as well as managed different types of financial instruments portfolios. He holds a Ph.D. in Shipping Derivatives and Risk Management from the University of Piraeus and is a holder of Professional Risk Management certification from PRMIA.org.