FI 342 - European Monetary Union (EMU) and Financial Integration

Since the inception of the Euro in 1999, European financial markets and interest rates converged – till after the Lehmann failure. After Greece, BREXIT is the next challenge to EU and EMU. London is Europe´s financial center, what is going to happen? What turned the US-subprime lending crisis into the European debt crisis? How to deal with weak economies like Greece and what are the implications of BREXIT for Britain and for EMU? What is the role of financial products, markets, institutions and regulations (eg derivatives, hedge funds, shadow banks, rating agencies, deregulation) as cause or cure?  The goal of the course is to understand European monetary integration amidst the global financial crisis and BREXIT. Students will learn e.g. how Greece cheated on the entry criteria, why some countries stayed outside the Euro zone, what BREXIT implies, what reforms the EU/ECB enacted, how the Baltics joined recently and how European and US/UK financial markets and institutions differ. Against the financial market turmoil and BREXIT, the course is intended to enable participants to discuss the impact of currency risk on companies and ways to handle it; the changes EMU brings about to the EU and the US, pros and cons, and financial market integration (success or failure?), country ratings, pending reforms.