Financial Communication

The course bridges communication and finance to introduce concepts, methods and tools for Financial Communication, understood broadly as communication about investment activities and aimed to inform investment decisions.  Financial communication ranges from the Investor Relations of public companies to the interpersonal communication between advisors and private investors in wealth management and encompassess the activities and practices of diverse information intermediaries such as securities analysts, financial journalists and communication consultancies. 

The course includes the following modules: 

1. Markets and interaction:  A map of the financial markets as an interaction field, an overview of financial markets and real markets.
2. Information, communication and markets: Information and financial markets, signaling, information and intentions.
3. From communication to valuation: Quantitative and narrative aspects of firm valuation, how financial analysts write their reports, how a buy-side analyst works, how a venture capital investor works.
4. Financial media and news: Financial journalism and media relations in IR, the media and the financial markets, introducing the textual analysis of financial news and corporate disclosures.
5. Relationship management and interpersonal communication:  From markets to products, the financial advisory process, interpersonal communication in financial advisory.
6. Brand identity and activation of wealth management firms: How wealth management firms in Switzerland define a distinctive brand identity and communicate it to their clients and prospects. 

The course will offer to the students the exposure to concepts, methods and practices of professional financial communication through discussion of examples, presentations by researchers and testimonies of professionals. More importantly, the students will practice skills and methods “hands on”, through a series of in-course activities, including:

• An in-class group exercise of firm valuation focusing on the blending of quantitative and narrative aspects in valuation and on the effective reporting of the analysis.
• An in-class group exercise of analysis of brand identity, brand activation and visibility in AI platforms of Swiss wealth management firms. 
• The AI based role-playing simulation of interpersonal communication in financial advisory dialogue based on the SkillGym method.

Through lectures, testimonies and activities, students will build an understanding of financial markets as a field of interaction, where relationships are maintained, commitments are taken and information is inferred from signaling behavior and disclosures in order to form a valuation of  investment opportunities and take investment decisions. The course maintains a double focus on two strikingly different and yet connected poles of financial communication:  (1) public disclosure and signaling that affects the valuation of firms in the financial markets, and (2) the relationship-oriented communication of financial intermediaries towards private investors, where interpersonal communication is a key component of the value chain and of the brand equity of wealth management firms .

• Sustainable Development

In presence

The learning methods include lectures, guest lectures and testimonies, in-class groupwork including presentations and discussions and development of interpersonal skills through role-playing simulation. In person attendance to in-class group exercises and to the role-play feedback session is mandatory. 

In-course groupwork and assignments 40%

• In-class firm valuation groupwork including presentations and discussions based on the Valuation module of the course (10%).
• An in-class group exercise of analysis of brand identity, brand activation and visibility in AI platforms of Swiss wealth management firms  (10%)
• Training of interpersonal communication skills in financial advisory using the SkillGym role-playing simulation method (5%)  

Final written exam 75% (Computer based).

• The written exam includes open questions and exercises on the content of all course modules and on the required reading (Damodaran 2017). 

A detailed syllabus with full details on evaluation will be uploaded on iCorsi at the start of the course.