The Understanding Financial Markets Series

This flagship series is the ideal starting point for people stepping into the financial markets. Designed to demystify the jargon and provide a plain-English overview of how the markets operate.

We offer three tailored versions of this course:

• For the Banking Industry: Focused on concepts and dynamics relevant to banks.
• For the Fund Management Industry: Centred on the needs of asset managers.
• For Regulators, Exchanges, Central Banks & Compliance Professionals: A detailed introduction tailored to these bodies and compliance teams.

If you attend any one version, you gain access to material from all three! These courses are supported by detailed video resources and links to additional materials.

For a more detailed course agenda, please refer to the accompanying PDF.

Understanding Derivatives

This is a consistently popular programme which explores the fundamentals and intricacies of derivatives markets from essential instruments like forwards, futures and CFDs to more complex products such as options, swaps and credit derivatives.

What's New for 2025? The inclusion of ZARONIA-based derivatives. ZARONIA-based derivatives reflect the latest industry standards and this course goes into detail about how these contracts contrast from how they were traded in the JIBAR / LIBOR era.

As with other courses, this agenda can be customized for introductory to advanced levels. Note that this course assumes a foundational knowledge of financial markets, such as that provided by our "Understanding Financial Markets Series" or an equivalent course.

For a more detailed course agenda, please refer to the accompanying PDF.

Interest Rate Bootcamp

This comprehensive course is designed for financial market practitioners who seek a deep understanding of money markets and bonds, including the practical tools for pricing, trading, and managing interest rate risk. This course will provide you with both foundational knowledge and advanced techniques in the interest rate markets space.

Participants will explore a wide range of fixed-income and floating instruments, learning to price bonds, money market securities, and inflation-linked products using Excel and / or Python. You’ll dive into critical topics such as yield to maturity decomposition, credit spreads, and interest rate risk measures like duration and convexity, yield curve interpretation & yield curve interpolation techniques all reinforced through detailed, practical exercises.

Special attention will be given to the implementation of Zaronia. We also cover key elements like bootstrapping yield curves, trading on yield and managing bond portfolios with techniques like barbell, bullet, and ladder strategies, interest rate derivatives, interest rate modelling and more.

Understanding ZARONIA

- 2 Day Practical Overview for Essential Financial Markets Personnel.

The South African financial landscape is evolving and with the transition from JIBAR to ZARONIA, market participants must be equipped with the knowledge and practical skills to adapt seamlessly.

This two-day course is designed for staff in operational and administrative roles, as well as non-quantitative professionals. Since this course is directed at people who are not traders or rocket scientists, the presenter will explain all the products in plain English. The complicated math is broken down into “easy to understand” sections with analogies, pictures and humour. The focus is to provide a clear, practical understanding of ZARONIA and its jargon.

Course Highlights:

• Gain a comprehensive understanding of ZARONIA and global benchmark rate reforms.
• Explore the key differences between LIBOR, JIBAR, EURIBOR versus SONIA, SOFR and ZARONIA.
• Learn how ZARONIA-linked instruments and derivatives function in practice in plain English.
• Understand the impact of ZARONIA implementation on pricing, valuation and yield curves.
• Work through real-world examples of ZARONIA-based floating rate loans and derivatives using Excel.

Please refer to the attached detailed agenda for more information.

Understanding AI: A Detailed Introduction

In an era where terms like “Artificial Intelligence,” “Agents”, “Deep Learning,” and “ChatGPT” dominate entrepreneurial and policy-making discussions, it’s vital to distinguish between the hype and the real business potential of these technologies.

This course demystifies AI and its related fields, with clear explanations of key AI terminology:

• The AI Revolution in Business: Explore the backstory of AI and the triggers of its recent surge in the business world.
• AI Terminology: Demystifying AI Jargon and Learning Models: Unravel AI terminologies from ANI to AGI and understand the distinction between Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning in a financial markets and business context. Get to grips with LLMs, Agents and Hugging Face.
• AI in Practice: A Tour of Practical Machine Learning Algorithms, Neural Networks and Advanced AI Technologies: Interactive demos and walkthroughs of algorithms with a focus on financial markets and business applications, the latest AI advancements and their implications.
• AI Agents: The New World of Agents: Detailed explanation of all the “agentic jargon” and live demo of agents in practice.
• AI Ethics: Ethics and Risks in AI: Navigate the ethical considerations and manage risks associated with AI in business.
• AI Transformation: Managing AI Transformation: Practical steps and frameworks for implementing and managing AI transformation effectively in your organization.

Please refer to the detailed agenda below for more information.

Learn Python, Vibe Coding & Py for Excel

With Python now integrated into Excel, it’s become an indispensable tool for financial modeling and data analysis. This course addresses the urgent need for proficiency in this versatile language.

Our curriculum is meticulously tailored to fast-track your learning, blending core Python programming skills with specific applications in business and the financial markets. From understanding basic data types and control structures to mastering data manipulation with Numpy and Pandas.

We accelerate your learning with AI copilots such as ChatGPT and Gemini, wrapped inside our signature Vibe Coding workflow—pairing you with an always-on AI teammate and live coding sessions with instructor guidance. Because the course takes you inside Excel to run native Python code, you’ll learn how to super-charge the spreadsheets you already know, putting full-scale programming power at your fingertips and keeping you a step ahead of the curve.

What sets our course apart is not just the content but the format. We combine the best of in-person and online learning, ensuring you’re not just passively watching pre-recorded lectures but actively engaging with instructors and peers. This interactive approach is invaluable, especially when starting out, as it provides immediate feedback, personalized support, and the dynamic exchange of ideas and questions with fellow participants. The course will be recorded to get the best of both experiences.

For a more detailed course agenda, please refer to the accompanying PDF.

Time Series Analysis using Python

This comprehensive course takes you from the basics of time series analysis to advanced forecasting techniques. Key topics include:

• Foundational concepts of time series: Exogenous & Endogenous Variables, ETS (Error/Trend/Seasonality), Stationarity & Differencing, ADF Test, Granger Causality, ACF & PACF etc.
• Classical models for forecasting: SMA, EWMA, Holt-Winters, AR, ARMA, ARIMA, ARIMAX, and SARIMAX.
• Vector Autoregressive Models: VAR, VARMA, and VARMAX.
• Machine learning models for time series forecasting: Ensemble methods such as Random Forests, XGBoost, and Gradient Boosting; traditional models like KNN, SVR, and Decision Trees.
• Deep Learning methods: Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), including LSTMs and GRUs.
• Advanced techniques: Experiment with cutting-edge models like Wavenet, N-Hits, N-Beats, TimeGPT, and many more for time series predictions.

The program leverages real-world datasets, such as:

• Econometric data: Inflation, GDP.
• Stock market data: Share prices, yields.

The AI Accelerator Programme

Our AI Accelerator Programme is designed to guide you through the journey of mastering AI, regardless of your starting point. This comprehensive course collection is your ticket to becoming proficient in programming and modelling, and ultimately, a leader in the AI field. The course is divided into a series of modules such that delegates with previous experience are only required to attend the modules which are of interest to them.

The core modules are divided into:

1. Python programming essentials.
2. Core Python libraries.
3. The “Quants” for AI and Quant Portfolio metrics with Python
4. An Overview of AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning & Core AI Jargon.
5. The Art of Modelling using Python for AI.
6. Machine Learning with a Financial Markets Focus. This section includes the traditional Machine Learning Algos including ensembles and XAI.
7. Deep Learning with a Financial Markets focus using Tensorflow or Pytorch or both.
8. Unsupervised Learning with a Financial Markets focus.

Other optional modules include:

• Time series analysis (recommended). This section includes traditional methods and AI methods.
• Reinforcement Learning.
• Anomaly detection and Regime Change (including Markov chains).
• Algo Trading & Portfolio Management.
• Automation & Webscraping etc.
• Implementing LLM's.

Each of the above modules can be run separately, independently and customized to your needs. Our programme emphasizes learning by doing.