FINS5512 Financial Markets and Institutions
The Complete Exam Bible · T3 2026FINS5512 Overview
- UNSW Sydney
- Term 3, 2026
- Postgraduate
- Moodle course
FINS5512 Financial Markets and Institutions is a postgraduate UNSW Sydney finance course offered in Term 3, 2026. It introduces the Australian financial system by connecting institutions, instruments, markets and participants, then develops those relationships through commercial banking, equity, short-term and long-term debt, foreign exchange, derivative markets, alternative investments and digital markets.
- Assessed by Four published components totalling 100%
- Calculation core Capital, present value, debt and FX methods
- Final focus Whole course with emphasis on later weeks
- Source boundary Detailed teaching materials available through foreign exchange
What you get in the full FINS5512 Exam Bible
- 10 chapters, 31 pages — every examinable topic, week by week
- 27 original practice questions, each with a model answer in the Assessment 4 format
- 10 worked examples, solved the way FINS5512 marks
- 11 computed figures, redrawn from the course’s own numbers
- Exam-morning plan for the Assessment 4 (45%) — what to revise last, where marks are lost
Free on this page: assessment table, chapter map, one worked example, key terms, FAQ. The rest is in the full exam bible.
FINS5512 Course Changes in Term 3 2026
Compared with Term 2 2026
✅ Same assessment as Term 2 2026: same components, same weights. Dates and task details follow the Term 3 2026 outline.
How FINS5512 is assessed in T3 2026
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1: Ongoing Engagement | 10% | Individual open-book weekly Moodle quizzes; best results contribute across the teaching term |
| Assessment 2: Mid-Term Quiz | 25% | On-campus paper task; closed book; mixed multiple-choice, short-answer and extended-response questions on the early topics |
| Assessment 3: Financial Literacy Builder | 20% | Group infographic and short video pitches that apply finance ideas to a client |
| Assessment 4: Final Exam | 45% | Whole course with focus on later weeks; practical application; exact duration, sections and aids are not published in the current course materials available here |
From the course outline for Term 3, 2026 (as of 2026-10-29); dates and venues are subject to confirmation. Always check your own subject guide and LMS for the authoritative timetable. See how FINS5512 has been assessed over time
How FINS5512 has been assessed over time
2 teaching periods tracked. Open an earlier period to see its full assessment.
- Term 3 2026 CurrentSee table above ↑
Term 2 2026ShowHide
Component Weight Format Ongoing Engagement 10% Assessment 1 Mid-Term Quiz 25% Assessment 2 Financial Literacy Builder 20% Assessment 3 Final Exam 45% Assessment 4 Final exam: 45%. Source: course outline, as of 2026-08-05.
What other students are asking about FINS5512
- Where can I find lecture notes or study guides for FINS5512 at UNSW?
- The FINS5512 study guide in AskSia Library covers Financial Markets and Institutions in 10 chapters, with the assessment table, a chapter-by-chapter topic map, key terms and a worked example, free to read on this page.
- Is there a final exam in FINS5512, and how much is it worth?
- Yes. In the offering this AskSia Library guide is built from, Assessment 4: Final Exam carries 45% of the FINS5512 mark; the full split is Assessment 1: Ongoing Engagement 10%, Assessment 2: Mid-Term Quiz 25%, Assessment 3: Financial Literacy Builder 20%, Assessment 4: Final Exam 45%.
- What does FINS5512 cover on banking and intermediation?
- In AskSia Library's FINS5512 guide, the Banking and Intermediation chapter explains balance sheets, transformation, contingent claims, capital and liquidity.
- What does FINS5512 cover on equity markets i: equity and the corporation?
- In AskSia Library's FINS5512 guide, the Equity Markets I: Equity and the Corporation chapter explains corporate form, exchange roles, funding routes and project value.
- What does FINS5512 cover on equity markets ii: equity and investors?
- In AskSia Library's FINS5512 guide, the Equity Markets II: Equity and Investors chapter explains diversification, efficiency, investor choices and share adjustments.
What FINS5512 covers
The course moves from financial-system structure and commercial banking through equity, short-term debt, long-term debt and foreign exchange, then closes with two derivative-market topics, alternatives, digital markets and integration.
This edition gives full worked treatment to the teaching materials available through foreign exchange and keeps later-market detail within the boundaries published in the current Term Planner and assessment brief.
Financial System and Assessment Map
Institutions, instruments, markets, financing routes and transaction classificationThis chapter turns the financial system into a cash-flow map.
- Financial-system functions and the transfer of funds
- Institution categories by sources and uses of funds
- Instrument attributes: return, risk, liquidity and timing
- Primary and secondary market transactions
- Direct and intermediated financing routes
- Money and capital market horizons
Banking and Intermediation
Balance sheets, transformation, contingent claims, capital and liquidityCommercial banks transform claim size, maturity, liquidity and credit risk. This chapter maps sources and uses of funds, distinguishes balance-sheet from contingent off-balance-sheet business, and separates capital from liquidity.
- Asset, maturity, credit-risk and liquidity transformation
- Bank funding sources and asset uses
- Off-balance-sheet contingent exposures
- Australian prudential and market regulators
- Risk-weighted assets and capital requirements
- Liquidity coverage and stable funding
Equity Markets I: Equity and the Corporation
Corporate form, exchange roles, funding routes and project valueThe corporation supports transferable ownership, continuity and large-scale finance while creating an agency problem between owners and managers.
- Corporate form and the agency problem
- Primary and secondary stock-exchange roles
- IPO advisers and underwriting functions
- Rights issues and private placements
- Preference shares, convertibles and warrants
- NPV method and the IRR concept boundary
Equity Markets II: Equity and Investors
Diversification, efficiency, investor choices and share adjustmentsThis chapter takes the investor's view. It separates systematic from diversifiable firm-specific risk, distinguishes active from passive and direct from indirect investing, and tests market-efficiency claims by their information set.
- Systematic and unsystematic risk
- Active and passive investing
- Direct and indirect share exposure
- Weak, semi-strong and strong efficiency
- Behavioural finance as an alternative lens
- Splits, bonus issues and rights mechanics
Short-Term Debt Markets
Discount securities, trade credit and short-horizon funding decisionsShort-term debt includes tradeable discount securities and working-capital arrangements such as trade credit, overdrafts, inventory finance, receivables finance and factoring.
- Certificates of deposit, bills and promissory notes
- Discount-security cash-flow direction
- Price, face value and investor yield
- Discount rate and its face-value denominator
- Trade credit and early-payment discounts
- Overdraft, inventory and receivables finance
Long-Term Debt Markets
Mortgages, leases, bond valuation and interest-rate sensitivityLong-term funding can come through mortgages, leases or tradeable debt. This chapter compares their control, collateral, payment and market-access consequences, then values a fixed-coupon bond as the present value of coupons and principal.
- Mortgage funding and secured claims
- Leasing and asset-use rights
- Bond issuance and tradeable debt
- Coupon and principal present values
- Premium, par and discount relationships
- Maturity and interest-rate sensitivity
Foreign Exchange Markets
Bid and offer, transposition, cross-rates and forward pointsForeign-exchange problems become manageable when the quote is read from the customer's side.
- FX participants and exchange-rate regimes
- Base and terms currencies
- Dealer bid and offer quotations
- Reciprocal quote transposition
- Cross-rates through unit cancellation
- Spot and forward points
Futures and Forwards
Dated contracts, hedge direction and current teaching boundariesThe current Term Planner names Derivative Markets I, but the course materials available here contains no current Week 8 lecture or workshop.
- Derivative value linked to an underlying
- Contract date and settlement date
- Underlying, quantity, price and maturity
- Commercial exposure before hedge selection
- Forward direction for receivables and payables
- Residual amount and timing risk
Options and Swaps
Rights, obligations, exposure matching and recommendation auditThe current Term Planner names Derivative Markets II, but the detailed Week 9 teaching files are not yet available. This chapter uses the supported distinction between instruments linked to an underlying and their use for risk management or speculation.
- Rights compared with contractual obligations
- Underlying exposure before product choice
- Amount and timing mismatches
- Hedge versus speculative position
- Client access and practical constraints
- Residual risk and review triggers
Alternatives, Digital Markets and Final Integration
Client decisions, practical communication and whole-course revisionThe final teaching week combines alternative investments, digital markets and course review.
- Client circumstances and financial objectives
- Instrument relevance and market characteristics
- Access, timing, liquidity and exit
- Ethical implications and credible sources
- Practical call to action
- Whole-course final review
The assessment structure combines weekly engagement, a mixed-format mid-term, a client-facing group task and a final exam. The current course information places strong emphasis on applying financial ideas in practical settings rather than reproducing isolated definitions. This guide therefore begins each method with cash-flow direction and transaction classification, then moves into calculations and interpretation.
The course materials available here contains detailed teaching files through the foreign-exchange topic. Later topics are present in the current Term Planner, but their current lecture and workshop files were not available in the course materials available here, so those chapters avoid invented course-specific formulas or question formats and identify what must be checked on Moodle.
The numerical chapters use fresh figures and original questions while following the relationships taught in the course: risk-weighted assets precede bank capital, NPV discounts project cash flows, discount-security yield uses purchase price, bond price moves inversely to required yield, and an FX customer buys the base currency at the offer and sells it at the bid.
The released prior mid-term is used only as evidence for question genres and mark allocations. Its stems are not copied, and the linked answer extraction is not readable enough to support an official marking scheme.
Worked example · free
Price a short-term discount security
- +1Write the yield relationship with price as the denominator: F = P[1 + y(d/365)].
- +1Substitute the face value, yield and 120-day fraction.
- +1Compute P = 250,000/[1 + 0.054(120/365)] = $245,639.08.
- +1Confirm price is below face value because a positive yield requires a positive maturity gain.
Key terms
- Primary market
- A market transaction in which a new financial instrument is issued and new funds reach the issuer.
- Secondary market
- A market transaction in which an existing instrument changes owners without raising new funds for its issuer.
- Intermediation
- Financing in which an institution creates separate contracts with fund providers and fund users.
- Risk-weighted assets
- Exposures after relevant credit-risk weights have been applied for a capital calculation.
- Net present value
- The present value of future project cash flows plus the initial cash flow.
- Rights issue
- A pro-rata offer of new shares to existing holders under stated terms.
- Systematic risk
- Market-wide risk that diversification across companies does not remove.
- Discount security
- A debt claim bought below face value that pays face value at maturity.
- Bond yield
- The return required by investors and used to discount a bond's promised cash flows.
- Bid
- The price at which an FX dealer buys the base currency from a customer.
- Offer
- The price at which an FX dealer sells the base currency to a customer.
- Residual risk
- Exposure that remains after a proposed hedge or market action is applied.
FINS5512 FAQ
How is the course assessed?
Four published components make up the result: Ongoing Engagement is 10%, the Mid-Term Quiz is 25%, the Financial Literacy Builder is 20%, and the Final Exam is 45%. The numeric weights total 100%. The final is explicitly not a hurdle, while the other components should not be assigned hurdle status from silence.
What is the mid-term format?
The detailed current task page describes an on-campus, paper, closed-book quiz lasting 60 minutes. It contains 20 questions worth 50 marks: 14 multiple-choice questions, four short-answer questions and two extended responses. It covers the early course topics. The published summary and detailed page disagree on the calendar date, so check Moodle.
What is known about the final exam?
The course introduction says the final is worth 45%, covers the whole course with focus on Weeks 6 to 10, applies ideas to practical settings, is not a hurdle, and has format and conditions similar to the mid-term. Its exact duration, sections, question count and permitted aids are not stated in the current course materials available here.
Which calculations deserve the most practice?
Rehearse risk-weighted assets before bank capital, project NPV, discount-security price and yield, bond present value, and two-way FX quotations. In each method, write the denominator, time period and cash-flow direction before substituting. A correct direction check often catches a formula inversion faster than repeating the arithmetic.
Are past papers available?
The course materials available here contains a 2025 mid-term paper and links it as additional practice. This guide uses the paper only to understand question genres and mark allocations, then supplies entirely new questions. No past final paper is present, and the extracted answer file contains no readable substantive solution text, so no official marking scheme is claimed.
Why are the later derivative chapters cautious?
The current Term Planner names two derivative-market topics and a final alternatives and digital-markets topic, but the materials available hered current lecture and workshop files stop at foreign exchange. The later chapters therefore teach contract and recommendation discipline without inventing course-specific payoff formulas, swap structures or question formats. Complete those details from Moodle when released.
Questions students ask in each FINS5512 chapter
- Why does a secondary market matter if the issuer receives no new cash?
- Secondary trading provides liquidity and price information for investors. That makes newly issued claims easier to buy and value, which can support the issuer's future access to primary funding even though the particular resale sends no money back to the issuer. Chapter 01 · Financial System and Assessment Map
- Why can a solvent bank still fail during stress?
- Solvency concerns whether asset value ultimately exceeds obligations, while liquidity concerns cash when payments fall due. A bank can own valuable long-term loans yet be unable to meet short-term withdrawals or refinancing needs if funding markets close. Chapter 02 · Banking and Intermediation
- Why does secondary-market liquidity help primary issuance?
- Investors are more willing to buy a new claim when they expect an orderly way to resell it later. Secondary trading therefore supports valuation and exit, which can make primary issuance more attractive even though resale proceeds do not reach the issuer. Chapter 03 · Equity Markets I: Equity and the Corporation
- Why does diversification not remove all risk?
- Adding holdings can reduce company-specific shocks because gains and losses may offset across firms. Market-wide forces affect many holdings together, so systematic risk remains even in a broad portfolio. The current topic emphasises this distinction without requiring portfolio-risk calculations. Chapter 04 · Equity Markets II: Equity and Investors
- Why are yield and discount rate different?
- They measure the same dollar gap against different bases. Investor yield uses the smaller purchase price because it measures return on money invested. Discount rate uses face value. For a positive discount, the yield is therefore larger. Chapter 05 · Short-Term Debt Markets
- Why does bond price fall when yield rises?
- The promised coupon and principal cash flows remain fixed while investors apply a larger discount rate. Their present values therefore decline. The inverse relationship is a present-value effect, not a change in the bond's face value. Chapter 06 · Long-Term Debt Markets
- Why does the customer buy at the offer?
- The offer is the dealer's selling price for the base currency. A customer who wants the base currency buys it from the dealer and therefore pays that higher side. The dealer's bid applies when the customer sells the base currency. Chapter 07 · Foreign Exchange Markets
- Why is this chapter cautious about futures mechanics?
- The current Term Planner names the topic, but the current Week 8 lecture and workshop files are not included in the course materials available here. Claiming a particular margin rule, formula or exam format would therefore exceed the available course-specific evidence. Chapter 08 · Futures and Forwards
- Why does the chapter avoid detailed option payoffs?
- The course planner names the topic, but the current Week 9 lecture and workshop are absent from the course materials available here. A detailed payoff formula or question type would be course-specific information that the available evidence does not establish. Chapter 09 · Options and Swaps
- What should a client recommendation contain?
- It should connect circumstances and objectives to an instrument or action, explain market access and timing, identify material costs and risks, consider ethical implications, provide a practical next step and name the conditions that would trigger review. Chapter 10 · Alternatives, Digital Markets and Final Integration
How to study for the exam
Build revision around cash-flow direction rather than a loose list of product names. For the financial-system chapter, trace who supplies funds, who uses them, whether a new claim is created and whether an intermediary creates two contracts. For banking, calculate risk-weighted assets row by row before applying capital percentages, and keep solvency separate from liquidity.
In equity, distinguish project acceptance from financing choice, then practise value-conservation checks for splits, bonus issues and rights issues. In debt, place price today and face value at maturity before selecting a yield denominator, and discount every bond cash flow on a consistent clock. In foreign exchange, name the base currency and customer action before choosing bid or offer.
Rework each numerical example until you can explain the direction without a calculator. Use the released prior mid-term only for timing and response-shape practice, never for memorising stems. For Weeks 8 to 10, update your notes from the current Moodle material as it appears and do not assume another course's derivative conventions apply.
Before the final, verify the exact time, venue, duration, sections and permitted aids on the official exam surfaces.
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