Diversification
Bonds fall from favour as shock absorbers for equity losses
Ultra-low rates force investors to rethink role of fixed income as diversifier
Time to move on from mean-variance diversification
A new diversification measure appears to produce better results than mean-variance optimisation
Equally diversified or equally weighted?
New diversification measure enables construction of equally diversified portfolios
Sometimes it’s fine to be boring
Diversification puts portfolios in the middle of the pack – where investors feel safe, writes Antonia Lim
Safe havens no longer safe, quants fear
Equity-debt correlation breakdown and negative bond yields make investors nervous
A sea change – Driving awareness to confront climate risk
Amid a global push towards green policies, the reality of overhauling how industries worth trillions of dollars operate is causing concern. A forum of market participants and sponsors of this report discuss the levels of awareness of climate risk and its…
Competitive differentiation – Reaping the benefits of XVA centralisation
A forum of industry leaders discusses the latest developments in XVA and the strategic, operational and technological challenges of derivatives valuation in today’s environment, including the key considerations for banks looking to move to a standardised…
Crash risk exposure, diversification and cost of equity capital: evidence from a natural experiment in China
Based on a broad sample of Chinese listed firms for the period 2001–10, this study investigates the effect of stock price crash risk exposure on the cost of equity capital and uses the split share structure reform as an exogenous shock to test whether…
Stress-testing to improve strategic decision‑making
Banking regulators remain focused on expanding and developing the range of stress-testing regimes across the globe to maintain stability, monitor emerging risks and avoid another financial crisis. Here, a forum of industry leaders discusses the evolution…
Value: ‘Trade of the decade,’ says QMA
Quant firm predicts big revival for out-of-favour strategy
Search for alpha in a volatile world
Alpha generation can be an elusive goal, particularly when trading volatility. Three different approaches to trading volatility were discussed by a panel looking at the role of systematic and carry strategies in finding profit in a high-volatility world
Equity derivatives house of the year: UBS
Asia Risk Awards 2019
Structured products – The ART of risk transfer
Exploring the risk thrown up by autocallables has created a new family of structured products, offering diversification to investors while allowing their manufacturers room to extend their portfolios, writes Manvir Nijhar, co-head of equities and equity…
The future of emerging markets – 30 years on from the launch of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index
For the past 30 years, emerging markets have provided return enhancement and risk diversification opportunities for global equity investors. The opening of the domestic Chinese capital market and its integration into international markets is likely to…
Beyond market equilibrium – The future of active investing
Asset owners use indexes as policy benchmarks and reference portfolios in their asset allocation. Index investors track cap-weighted indexes that seek to capture the market return. Active investors select securities and build portfolios that aim to…
One size does not fit all – Adapting to meet investment goals
Guillaume Arnaud, global head of quantitative investment strategies (QIS), and Sandrine Ungari, head of cross-asset quantitative research at Societe Generale, explore the benefits of QIS for investors, why flexibility is crucial for investors to meet…
Risk premia strategies – Lessons learned for the future
After a difficult 2018, investors are increasingly wary of risk premia, concerned that factors leading to underperformance might be a recurring problem. Imene Moussa, executive director at UBS, clarifies this issue
A helping hand – Addressing industry concerns
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s final revisions to the FRTB guidelines aim to address industry concerns around complexity and capital implications. A forum of industry leaders discusses whether the changes have been effective and how banks…
Fixed income risk surges 19% at JP Morgan
Fixed income markets revenues came in 18% lower year-on-year
Portfolio traders turn to tech – A new generation of strategies
Chris Bruner, head of US credit product at Tradeweb, explores the products that can help managers express portfolio views and how they can maximise the benefits they can reap by evaluating and understanding the price, risk and relative value of each…
Alt risk premia study finds ‘zero alpha’, clear beta to bonds
Vanilla exposures explain as much as two-thirds of returns, authors say
Second-order risk of alternative risk parity strategies
In this paper, the authors provide theoretical and empirical evidence of the contribution of second-order risk to realized volatility for alternative risk parity strategies.