The course IAM will be offered as in-person teaching in the spring semester (FSS) 2025. The dates, times and rooms can be found in the document below. Please also join the respective ILIAS group of the current semester since all course materials as well as potential important announcements will be solely distributed via this ILIAS group . Additional information can be found in the document below (as of 2025) as well as in the module catalogue of your course of study. The information provided here is preliminary; please check back regularly for updates.

Chapter 1

Introduction

In the preliminary chapter, the logistics of the course will be announced. Slides will soon be posted above. In the introduction we will then discuss the setup and historical development of the asset management industry in important markets, as well as the products available. 

Chapter 2

Setting up a Fund

In this chapter, we will look at the definition of delegated asset management and the most important products like mutual funds, and hedge funds. Relevant regulatory rules, fund characteristics, and the pricing, distribution and sales process will be covered as well. We will also go through some recent real cases.

Chapter 3

Investment Process

In this chapter, we will look at the different forms of market efficiency. Based on this, we will  cover the Active versus Passive Debate and the resulting implications for the investment process. We will discuss different tactical asset allocation & security selection strategies as well as topics relating to strategic asset allocation. The chapter will also provide insights that relate to risk management as a key component of successful asset management.

Chapter 4

Performance: Measurement, Determinants & Prediction

The fourth chapter covers external and internal performance evaluation, performance attribution, determinants of performance, performance persistence as well as rankings and ratings. Moreover, the chapter will also provide some insights in the implications of different kinds of performance measurement in reality.

Chapter 5

Investor Behavior & Managerial Incentive

This chapter covers topics related to the behavior and incentives of investors and asset managers using recent findings in academia and real world cases.

Chapter 6

Responsible Investing

While everyone seems to talk about ESG, responsible investing etc., few people are actually familiar with the latest insights on this topic in academic research and with the many challenges an asset manager faces who wants to implement a rigorous, objective and fact driven framework. This part of the lecture should help to shed more light on all of these topics and related issues.

Chapter 7

Crypto Currencies & DeFi

In this chapter we cover a few basics on crypto currencies and learn about what DeFi in general can potentially be useful for and where we should be mindful of certain risks.

Chapter 8

Outlook

In our last session, we will discuss recent trends in asset management. Finally, we talk about the job market prospects before summarizing the course.

Note that some contents of the chapters might slightly change due to the contribution of guest lecturers.