Geoffrey K. See In order to plan for the upcoming training program, we asked our North Korean counterparts to conduct an informal pre-training survey to understand the areas of financial knowledge which are of interest. The pool of trainees is anticipated to be 50 people and will include financial experts in main banks in Pyongyang and other cities, as well as lecturers from Kim Il Sung University. Expected training will last 2 to 3 days. All attendees will have a minimum of an undergraduate degree and some will have had post-graduate training.
The pre-training survey among this pool of attendees indicates that the following topics are of interest: 1. Corporate finance with a focus on choosing between different forms of financing. In particular, how should top executives think about and choose among debt financing, private equity and public equity. Under debt financing, trainees are also interested in learning about financing foreign trade, asset-backed financing and structured products. 2. Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of exchange traded funds, mutual funds and private equity funds with the use of examples to illustrate the differences between products. 3. Explaining the use and structuring of financial derivatives and Collaterized Debt Obligations (CDOs) with a focus on their impact on the subprime mortgages market. 4. Macro topics of interest include the management of foreign exchange policy and the operation of money markets
It is possible that topics chosen reflect developments this year: the formation of the Daepung Investment Fund and a State Development Bank.