New Economics Papers
on Risk Management
Issue of 2005‒09‒11
four papers chosen by



  1. Is The FX Derivatives Market Effective and Efficient in Reducing Currency Risk? By Esteban Jadresic; Jorge Selaive
  2. PFPC: Building an IT Risk Management Competency By Westerman, George; Walpole, Robert
  3. MARKET IMPERFECTIONS, DISCOUNT FACTORS AND STOCHASTIC DOMINANCE: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS WITH OIL-LINKED DERIVATIVES By Alejandro Balbas; Anna Downarowicz; Javier Gil-Bazo
  4. How Much Do Banks Use Credit Derivatives to Reduce Risk? By Bernadette A. Minton; René Stulz; Rohan Williamson

  1. By: Esteban Jadresic; Jorge Selaive
    Abstract: In a typical tactical asset allocation set up a manager receives compensation for his excess of return given a tracking error target. Critics of this framework cite its lack of control over the total portfolio risk. Current approaches recommend what we call a mixed allocation, derived from concerns about relative and absolute return and risk. This work provides an analytical framework for mixed tactical asset allocation, based on the premise that after the investor sets a tracking error target, a fundamental trade off remains unsolved: the one between excess of return and total risk. The article derives a separation theorem for tactical allocation, wherein the portfolio is a linear combination of an alpha portfolio providing excess returns and a beta portfolio providing overall risk hedge. The author shows how the formal expression summarizes all previous works. Moreover, it also includes the simplest Black-Litterman allocation.
    Date: 2005–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chb:bcchwp:325&r=rmg
  2. By: Westerman, George; Walpole, Robert
    Abstract: IT Risk management is becoming increasingly important for CIOs and their executive counterparts. Educators and managers have materials they can use to discuss specific IT risks in project management, security and other risk-related topics, but they have few resources they can use to have a holistic discussion of enterprise-level IT risk management. This case is intended to address the gap. It describes the IT risks facing a large financial services firm, PFPC, as a result of rapid growth, a large merger and distributed management of the IT function. The firm€ٳ first enterprise-wide CIO, Martin Deere used risk management as a key pillar in a major revamp of the firm's applications and IT capabilities. The case is rich in detail on the firm's IT risks, the new risk management process, including examples of the firm's risk management tools. It also describes early lessons and outcomes in the implementation of risk management capabilities. The case has enough richness and potential controversy to engage students from the undergraduate through executive levels in an informative and interesting discussion of IT risk management.
    Keywords: IT risk management, IT governance, IT architecture, IT transformation,
    Date: 2005–07–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mit:sloanp:18232&r=rmg
  3. By: Alejandro Balbas; Anna Downarowicz; Javier Gil-Bazo
    Abstract: Oil-linked derivatives are becoming very important in Modern Investment Theory. Accordingly, the analysis of Pricing Techniques and Portfolio Choice Problems involving these securities is a major topic for both managers and researchers. We focus on both the No-Arbitrage Approach and Stochastic Discount Factor (SDF) based methods in order to study oil-linked derivatives available at The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc, one of the world's largest markets in energy and precious metals. First, we generalize some theoretical properties of the SDF in order to capture the effects induced by the bid-ask spread when analyzing dominated/efficient portfolios. Secondly, we apply our findings and empirically analyze the existence of dominated assets and portfolios in the oil derivatives market. Our results reveal the systematic presence of dominated prices, which should be taken into account by traders when composing their portfolios. Additionally, the test yields pricing and portfolio choice methods as well as new strategies that may allow brokers to outperform their service for their clients. It is worth to point out that the conclusions of the test have two important characteristics: On the one hand, they are very precise since we draw on perfectly synchronized bid/ask prices, as provided by Reuters. On the other hand, they are robust in the sense that they do not depend on any assumption about the underlying asset price dynamics. Finally, despite the empirical test focuses on oil derivatives, the methodology is general enough to apply to a broad range of markets.
    Date: 2005–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:wbrepe:wb055013&r=rmg
  4. By: Bernadette A. Minton; René Stulz; Rohan Williamson
    Abstract: This paper examines the use of credit derivatives by US bank holding companies from 1999 to 2003 with assets in excess of one billion dollars. Using the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Bank Holding Company Database, we find that in 2003 only 19 large banks out of 345 use credit derivatives. Though few banks use credit derivatives, the assets of these banks represent on average two thirds of the assets of bank holding companies with assets in excess of $1 billion. Few banks are net buyers of credit protection and disclose using credit derivatives to hedge loans. Banks are more likely to be net protection buyers if they engage in asset securitization, originate foreign loans, and have lower capital ratios. The likelihood of a bank being a net protection buyer is positively related to the percentage of commercial and industrial loans in a bank's loan portfolio and negatively or not related to other types of bank loans. The use of credit derivatives by banks is limited because adverse selection and moral hazard problems make the market for credit derivatives illiquid for the typical credit exposures of banks.
    JEL: G10 G20 G21 D82
    Date: 2005–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11579&r=rmg

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