module specification

Marketing financial products is one of the most prominent activities within the industry. For many years Financial regulation and regulators have been concerned with the manner in which financial products have been marketed.

The module considers the statutory and regulatory framework for controlling ‘financial promotions’ and the objective of investor protection.

This module aims to provide a detailed, critical and evaluative knowledge of the law and regulation.

The module aims to enable to students to:

• Appraise the international importance of marketing financial services in a modern global economy
• Have a critical understanding of the influence of European Law on marketing financial services
• Appreciate the commercial importance of marketing financial services
• Enable students to critically evaluate the impact of relevant global and commercial policy issues

The module requires students to undertake self-directed research on a designated topic and present their findings succinctly in coursework.

No pre-requisites. Not available for Study Abroad.

The module will include:

• An introduction to financial promotions;
• The restriction of financial promotions;
• Non-UK promotions;
• Exemptions;
• Criminal offences for contravention;
• Legal consequences of a breach of the Financial Promotions restrictions;
• MiFID requirements, Conduct of Business Regulation in particular the rules under COBS, BCOBS, ICOBS, MCOB and CONC;
• Consumer Credit and the FCA and the issue of Unfair Contract Terms;
• Regulatory requirements and expectations of system and controls and their implementation;
• Senior management oversight obligations for financial promotions;
• The challenges of social network marketing and digital media promotions

Overview

Students will be taught by a combination of online lectures, interactive online seminars, one-to-one supervision, and self-study of a comprehensive module, with students encouraged to read from specified case law and legal journals. Students will be given the opportunity to discuss theoretical issues as well as practical problem solving.  Students will be supported in undertaking on-line research using electronic law databases and encouraged to use on line legal resources on a regular basis. There is a virtual learning environment containing handbooks, lecture notes, weblinks, discussion groups, study skills materials and assessment criteria. 

Experiential Learning

Students will be encouraged to respond to realistic case-studies relating to the sector, giving written legal opinions to clients in the style of a professional legal advisor. As an alternative core for the LLM award, students will be able to undertake and experiential learning project. Students will also be able to participate in the extracurricular experiential learning offered within the Law School, including the Pro Bono Clinic and the Mooting Club.

Study Support

Students will have regular access to module tutors by email and by one-to-one video conferences to support their studies. They will also engage with one formative assessment for each module, which will be marked promptly with opportunities for feedback either by email or individual online discussion.

On successful completion of the module students will be able to:

1. Comprehend and manage a substantial body of legal knowledge on marketing financial services      

2. Evaluate the commercial and government policy implications of marketing financial services        

3. Research and manage legal information from paper and IT resources and present competent legal arguments in writing;

4. Synthesise relevant case law and statute, understand and present conflicting arguments and apply the law to problem scenarios relevant to all aspects of marketing financial services;

5. Display competence in the benchmark skills outcomes of subject knowledge and understanding, application and problem solving and analysis, synthesis, critical judgment and evaluation.

The module adopts the assessment strategy principles of GSBL which have been developed in the spirit of ESJ. These are:

1. The School is committed to ensuring that each student should have no more than 2 assessment points per 20 credit module.
2. We provide balanced forms of assessment, both in terms of its overall volume (measured in terms of assessment points and output required and the types used.
3. Group activities are part of the learning and teaching strategies but assessment is at the level of the individual. Thus, assessment focused on individual reflections and learning from participating in a group activity.
4. Flexibility/choice in assessment methods will be introduced wherever possible in order to facilitate different learning studies and support personalization

Assessment of the module will be by way of coursework, giving a choice of either a critical analysis of contemporary issues and/or experiential employment-related practical exercises.

In line with our policy on facilitating formative feedback to students, the assessment strategy is designed to provide formative feedback on a piece of contributing summary assessment before another summative component is due to be submitted.

https://rl.talis.com/3/londonmet/lists/49F2E2D4-DE69-436C-7A87-89BEFA7834FE.html?lang=en-US&login=1