Fixed Income Certificate Program

The ICMA Fixed Income Certificate (FIC) has been an essential qualification for market professionals for 50 years. With its emphasis on developing practical skills for trading, investment and risk management, the training will build upon your existing knowledge of the fixed income markets to give you the skills to compete in the global marketplace. This is a demanding qualification aimed at developing a broad and in-depth knowledge of the key fixed income instruments and markets. Throughout the training there are many exercises which test and assess candidates’ knowledge, examining scenarios which will equip participants with practical skills in their day-to-day business activity.

Course Outcomes

• Develop a broad knowledge of fixed income markets and credit products.
• Understand at a deeper level the relationship between cash bond and derivatives markets.
• Be proficient in the basic maths of the fixed income and derivatives market.
• Be able to develop and apply rates trading and hedging techniques.
• Understand structured securities, CDS and Interest Rate Derivatives and their uses.
• Be part of a network of fixed income professionals around the world.
• Have an up to date working knowledge of current best market practice and regulatory considerations for fixed income and derivative markets.

Review Of Fixed Income Principles

• Price/ yield relationship
• Bond market risk

Definitions And Features

• Main features of interest rate swaps
• What is an overnight index rate?
• Understanding the transition from LIBOR
• The movement to ‘risk free rates’ (RFR)
• ISDA ‘fallback’ language
• ‘RFR’ swaps – what has been traded so far?
• Variations on the classic structure

Swap Quote Interpretation

• Quotation conventions
• Interest Rate Swap quotation construction
• What factors drive OIS rates?
• How do swap curve move? – the empirical evidence

Principles Of Valuation

• Swap yield curves
• What is meant by swap ‘fair value’?
• Calculating the fair value of an existing swap
• Calculating the market risk of an interest rate swap

Overview Of Market And Credit Risk

• Calculating the market risk of a swap
• Early termination of swaps
• Overview of swap credit risk
• Overview of the “XVAs”