ECON3507 Financial Markets and Central Bank
Autumn 2020
Assessment Details
Deadline for Submission: [Assignment is to be
submitted at 12 noon, 11 December 2020]
Submit this coursework on Blackboard via Turnitin system
Word Limit: [1500] words
Econ3507 Financial Markets and Central Bank Autumn 2020 Coursework Brief
Assignment Question, (50% of final marks)
The question is broken down into sections as follows, the breakdown of each
section’s contribution to the final mark is in brackets. Please do not copy and
paste the following criteria into your work and try to answer one by one such
as a, b, c…
(a) Explain the difference between a bank having a liquidity problem and a
solvency problem. How does each problem affect a bank’s balance sheet?
(25 marks)
Select two out of the following central banks: Bank of England 2) European
Central Bank 3) reserve bank of New Zealand 4) Bank of Canada and 5)
Swedish Riskbank. For each of your chosen banks, answer the following
sections:
(b) Compare and contrasts the objectives and accountability measures of the two
banks. For example, what are these objectives, who sets these objectives,
and how is accountability ensured? (25 marks)
(c) Compare and contrasts the actions taken by the two selected-banks following
the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and how did they explain
their actions? (25 marks)
(d) Compare and contrast how these banks have responded to covid-19, which
has had huge economic and financial impact on businesses across the world?
(25 marks).
End of Assignment Brief
Econ3507 Financial Markets and Central Bank Autumn 2020 Coursework Brief
Assignment Instructions Please read carefully
POINTS TO BEAR IN MIND (GENERIC ADVICE)
1. Please provide a word count. Do not write more than 1500 words.
2. Do not stray into tangential material. Always ask yourself – is what I have
written relevant to the question?
3. Online submission. You must submit your coursework online. Hard copies
of coursework or email attachments will not be accepted.
4. Do not send me the first draft. I do not read first drafts as it gives you an
unfair advantage. The coursework is your work – not my work.
5. Copy and Paste. Please try to refrain from doing this. It is lazy and most
students do not explain the diagrams/tables they have pasted. Draw
diagrams/graphs yourself or learn to draw using appropriate software easily
found on your PCs/Macs. It takes a bit of time to master – but it is a skill worth
having.
6. Font size. Please use a font size of approx. TNR 12/Arial 12 size. Nothing
smaller. And use 1.5 spacing.
7. English. Some students’ grasp of grammar and syntax is understandably
weak. I do not deduct marks for poor English. But if I can’t understand your
argument, I can’t reward you with marks. Please read (aloud) what you have
written and get others to proofread your work.
8. Referencing or Bibliographies. Ensure you reference your citations using the
Harvard method. Do not use footnotes or endnotes.
9. Try not to reference sources that you haven’t read! If you wish to quote a
paper or book which you haven’t read, state the [full] source for this in your
bibliography. For an undergraduate essay of this type, I wouldn’t expect less
than 5 references and no more than about 10 references. Thirty-forty
references do not impress me! More likely, it will annoy me.
10.Please see the following guide to ensure your references for this assignment
is correct.
11.There are materials on how to write an essay, Academic style
12.DMU has a clear policy for plagiarism and bad academic practice: This
already clearly communicated to you in the Handbook of the course (2020/21).
De Montfort University’s Academic Regulations describe plagiarism as:
“the significant use of other people’s work and the submission of it as though it
were one’s own in assessed coursework (such as dissertations, essays,
experiments etc)”.
This includes:
• Copying from another student’s work
• Copying text from sources such as books or journals without
acknowledgement
• Downloading information and/or text from the Internet and using it without
acknowledgement
• Submitting work which you claim to be your own when it has been
produced by a group
• Submitting group work without acknowledging all contributors.
Note: All students should have a cover page (without decoration): The
cover page should contain the title of the assignment, name, student
number, module name, module leader’s name and due date.
Marking Criteria
In general terms, the grades are awarded for assessment on the following
basis:
Mark Range Criteria
90-100%
Indicates that no fault can be found with the work other
than very minor errors, for example typographical, or
perhaps the failure to satisfy the most challenging and
exacting demands of the assessment.
80-89%
Indicates a very high level of understanding evidenced by
an ability to engage critically and analytically with the
source material. Likely to exhibit independent lines of
argument. Only minor errors.
Econ3507 Financial Markets and Central Bank Autumn 2020 Coursework Brief
DMU Leicester Page 5 of 5
70-79%
Judged to be very good, yet not outstanding. May contain
minor errors or omissions. A well-developed response
showing clear knowledge and the ability to interpret and/or
apply that knowledge.
60-69%
Indicates a sound understanding of basic points and
principles but with some failure to express or to apply them
properly. Hence the answer is essentially correct, has some
errors or omissions, and is not seriously flawed.
50-59%
Indicates a more limited understanding of basic points and
principles, with significant errors and omissions. These
errors and omissions, however, do not cast doubt on the
basic level of understanding.
40-49%
Indicates questionable understanding of basic points and
principles yet sufficient to show that learning outcomes have
been achieved at a rudimentary level.
30-39%
Indicates an answer that shows only weakly developed
elements of understanding. The learning outcomes have
been insufficiently realised.
20-29% Very little knowledge has been demonstrated and the
presentation shows little coherence of material or argument.
0-19% Only isolated or no knowledge displayed.
ECON3507 Financial Markets and Central Bank