Numerical solutions of quantile hedging for guaranteed minimum death benefits under a regime-switching jump-diffusion formulation

This work develops numerical approximation methods for quantile hedging involving mortality components for contingent claims in incomplete markets, in which guaranteed minimum death benefits (GMDBs) could not be perfectly hedged. A regime-switching jump-diffusion model is used to delineate the dynamic system and the hedging function for GMDBs, where the switching is represented by a continuous-time Markov chain. Using Markov chain approximation techniques, a discrete-time controlled Markov chain with two component is constructed. Under simple conditions, the convergence of the approximation to the value function is established. Examples of quantile hedging model for guaranteed minimum death benefits under linear jumps and general jumps are also presented.     

Hyper-exponential jump-diffusion model under the barrier dividend strategy

In this paper, we consider a hyper-exponential jump-diffusion model with a constant dividend barrier. Explicit solutions for the Laplace transform of the ruin time, and the GerberShiu function are obtained via martingale stopping.     

Pricing and hedging of guaranteed minimum benefits under regime-switching and stochastic mortality

This paper presents a novel framework for pricing and hedging of the Guaranteed Minimum Benefits (GMBs) embedded in variable annuity (VA) contracts whose underlying mutual fund dynamics evolve under the influence of the regime-switching model. Semi-closed form solutions for prices and Greeks (i.e. sensitivities of prices with respect to model parameters) of various GMBs under stochastic mortality are derived. Pricing and hedging is performed using an accurate, fast and efficient Fourier Space Time-stepping (FST) algorithm. The mortality component of the model is calibrated to the Australian male population. Sensitivity analysis is performed with respect to various parameters including guarantee levels, time to maturity, interest rates and volatilities. The hedge effectiveness is assessed by comparing profit-and-loss distributions for an unhedged, statically and semi-statically hedged portfolios. The results provide a comprehensive analysis on pricing and hedging the longevity risk, interest rate risk and equity risk for the GMBs embedded in VAs, and highlight the benefits to insurance providers who offer those products.     

Approximate basket options valuation for a jump-diffusion model

In this paper we discuss the approximate basket options valuation for a jump-diffusion model. The underlying asset prices follow some correlated diffusion processes with idiosyncratic and systematic jumps. We suggest a new approximate pricing formula which is the weighted sum of Roger and Shi’s lower bound and the conditional second moment adjustments. We show that the approximate value is always within the lower and upper bounds of the option and is very sharp in our numerical tests.     

Ruin theory for a Markov regime-switching model under a threshold dividend strategy

In this paper, we study a Markov regime-switching risk model where dividends are paid out according to a certain threshold strategy depending on the underlying Markovian environment process. We are interested in these quantities: ruin probabilities, deficit at ruin and expected ruin time. To study them, we introduce functions involving the deficit at ruin and the indicator of the event that ruin occurs. We show that the above functions and the expectations of the time to ruin as functions of the initial capital satisfy systems of integro-differential equations. Closed form solutions are derived when the underlying Markovian environment process has only two states and the claim size distributions are exponential.     

Valuation and hedging of participating life-insurance policies under management discretion

The valuation and hedging of participating life insurance policies, also known as with-profits policies, is considered. Such policies can be seen as European path-dependent contingent claims whose underlying security is the investment portfolio of the insurance company that sold the policy. The fair valuation of these policies is studied under the assumption that the insurance company has the right to modify the investment strategy of the underlying portfolio at any time. Furthermore, it is assumed that the issuer of the policy does not setup a separate portfolio to hedge the risk associated with the policy. Instead, the issuer will use its discretion about the investment strategy of the underlying portfolio to hedge shortfall risks. In that sense, the insurer’s investment portfolio serves simultaneously as the underlying security and as the hedge portfolio. This means that the hedging problem can not be separated from the valuation problem. We investigate the relationship between risk-neutral valuation and hedging of these policies in complete and incomplete financial markets.     

An iterative method for pricing American options under jump-diffusion models

We propose an iterative method for pricing American options under jump-diffusion models. A finite difference discretization is performed on the partial integro-differential equation, and the American option pricing problem is formulated as a linear complementarity problem (LCP). Jump-diffusion models include an integral term, which causes the resulting system to be dense. We propose an iteration to solve the LCPs efficiently and prove its convergence. Numerical examples with Kou?s and Merton?s jump-diffusion models show that the resulting iteration converges rapidly.     

多因素CIR市场结构风险的双指数跳扩散模型欧式期权定价

在一类股价服从双指数跳扩散过程以及市场存在多因素CIR结构风险的组合模型下讨论了欧式期权定价.应用Fourier反变换,Feynman-Kac定理及Riccati方程等方法给出了欧式看涨期权价格的闭式解,推广并解决了2000年Duffie等人提出的期权定价问题,该问题有利于研究公司信用风险管理.     

Pricing and hedging barrier options

European options are a significant financial product. Barrier options, in turn, are European options with a barrier constraint. The investor may pay less buying the barrier option obtaining the same result as that of the European option whenever the barrier is not breached. Otherwise, the option's payoff cancels. In this paper, we obtain closed‐form expressions of the exact no‐arbitrage prices, delta hedges, and gammas of a call option with a moving barrier that tracks the prices of the risk‐free asset. Besides the interest in its own right, this class of options constitutes the core element to obtain, via an original and simple technique, the closed‐form expressions for the estimates of the prices of call options with barriers of arbitrary shape. Equally important is the fact that a bound for the worst associated error is provided, so the investor can evaluate beforehand if the accuracy provided is according to his/her needs or not. Discrete monitored barrier provisions are also allowed in the estimates. Simulations are performed illustrating the accuracy of the estimates. A quality of the aforementioned procedures is that the time consumed in computations is very small. In turn, we observe that the approximate prices, delta hedges, and gammas of the barrier option associated to the risk‐free asset, obtained via a PDE approach in conjunction with a good finite difference method, converge to the closed‐form expressions of the prices, hedges, and gammas of the option. This attests the correctness of the analytical results.     

Pricing currency options under two-factor Markov-modulated stochastic volatility models

This article investigates the valuation of currency options when the dynamic of the spot Foreign Exchange (FX) rate is governed by a two-factor Markov-modulated stochastic volatility model, with the first stochastic volatility component driven by a lognormal diffusion process and the second independent stochastic volatility component driven by a continuous-time finite-state Markov chain model. The states of the Markov chain can be interpreted as the states of an economy. We employ the regime-switching Esscher transform to determine a martingale pricing measure for valuing currency options under the incomplete market setting. We consider the valuation of the European-style and American-style currency options. In the case of American options, we provide a decomposition result for the American option price into the sum of its European counterpart and the early exercise premium. Numerical results are included.     

The Markovian regime-switching risk model with a threshold dividend strategy

In this paper, we study a regime-switching risk model with a threshold dividend strategy, in which the rate for the Poisson claim arrivals and the distribution of the claim amounts are driven by an underlying (external) Markov jump process. The purpose of this paper is to study the unified Gerber-Shiu discounted penalty function and the moments of the total dividend payments until ruin. We adopt an approach which is akin to the one used in [Lin, X.S., Pavlova, K.P., 2006. The compound Poisson risk model with a threshold dividend strategy. Insu.: Math. and Econ. 38, 57-80] to extend the results for the classical risk model with a threshold dividend strategy to our model. The matrix form of systems of integro-differential equations is presented and the analytical solutions to these systems are derived. Finally, numerical illustrations with exponential claim amounts are also given.     

Valuation and hedging of contingent claims in the HJM model with deterministic volatilities

The aim of the present paper is mostly expository, namely, we intend to provide a concise presentation of arbitrage pricing and hedging of European contingent claims within the Heath, Jarrow and Morton frame-work introduced in Heath et al. (1992) under deterministic volatilities. Such a special case of the HJM model, frequently referred to as the Gaussian HJM model, was studied among others in Amin and Jarrow (1992), Jamshidian (1993), Brace and Musiela (1994a, 1994b). Here, we focus mainly on the partial differential equations approach to the valuation and hedging of derivative securities in the HJM framework. For the sake of completeness, the risk neutral methodology (more specifically, the forward measure technique) is also exposed.     

Pricing annuity guarantees under a double regime-switching model

This paper is concerned with the valuation of equity-linked annuities with mortality risk under a double regime-switching model, which provides a way to endogenously determine the regime-switching risk. The model parameters and the reference investment fund price level are modulated by a continuous-time, finite-time, observable Markov chain. In particular, the risk-free interest rate, the appreciation rate, the volatility and the martingale describing the jump component of the reference investment fund are related to the modulating Markov chain. Two approaches, namely, the regime-switching Esscher transform and the minimal martingale measure, are used to select pricing kernels for the fair valuation. Analytical pricing formulas for the embedded options underlying these products are derived using the inverse Fourier transform. The fast Fourier transform approach is then used to numerically evaluate the embedded options. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate our approach.     

The role of index bonds in universal currency hedging

This study examines the demand for index bonds and their role in hedging risky asset returns against currency risks in a complete market where equity is not hedged against inflation risk. Avellaneda's uncertain volatility model with non-constant coefficients to describe equity price variation, forward price variation, index bond price variation and rate of inflation, together with Merton's intertemporal portfolio choice model, are utilized to enable an investor to choose an optimal portfolio consisting of equity, nominal bonds and index bonds when the rate of inflation is uncertain. A hedge ratio is universal if investors in different countries hedge against currency risk to the same extent. Three universal hedge ratios (UHRs) are defined with respect to the investor's total demand for index bonds, hedging risky asset returns (i.e. equity and nominal bonds) against currency risk, which are not held for hedging purposes. These UHRs are hedge positions in foreign index bond portfolios, stated as a fraction of the national market portfolio. At equilibrium all the three UHRs are comparable to Black's corrected equilibrium hedging ratio. The Cameron-Martin-Girsanov theorem is applied to show that the Radon-Nikodym derivative given under a P -martingale, the investor's exchange rate (product of the two currencies) is a martingale. Therefore the investors can agree on a common hedging strategy to trade exchange rate risk irrespective of investor nationality. This makes the choice of the measurement currency irrelevant and the hedge ratio universal without affecting their values.     

A jump-diffusion model for option pricing under fuzzy environments

Owing to fluctuations in the financial markets from time to time, the rate λ of Poisson process and jump sequence {V_i} in the Merton’s normal jump-diffusion model cannot be expected in a precise sense. Therefore, the fuzzy set theory proposed by Zadeh [Zadeh, L.A., 1965. Fuzzy sets. Inform. Control 8, 338-353] and the fuzzy random variable introduced by Kwakernaak [Kwakernaak, H., 1978. Fuzzy random variables I: Definitions and theorems. Inform. Sci. 15, 1-29] and Puri and Ralescu [Puri, M.L., Ralescu, D.A., 1986. Fuzzy random variables. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 114, 409-422] may be useful for modeling this kind of imprecise problem. In this paper, probability is applied to characterize the uncertainty as to whether jumps occur or not, and what the amplitudes are, while fuzziness is applied to characterize the uncertainty related to the exact number of jump times and the jump amplitudes, due to a lack of knowledge regarding financial markets. This paper presents a fuzzy normal jump-diffusion model for European option pricing, with uncertainty of both randomness and fuzziness in the jumps, which is a reasonable and a natural extension of the Merton [Merton, R.C., 1976. Option pricing when underlying stock returns are discontinuous. J. Financ. Econ. 3, 125-144] normal jump-diffusion model. Based on the crisp weighted possibilistic mean values of the fuzzy variables in fuzzy normal jump-diffusion model, we also obtain the crisp weighted possibilistic mean normal jump-diffusion model. Numerical analysis shows that the fuzzy normal jump-diffusion model and the crisp weighted possibilistic mean normal jump-diffusion model proposed in this paper are reasonable, and can be taken as reference pricing tools for financial investors.     

Pricing and hedging Asian basket spread options

Asian options, basket options and spread options have been extensively studied in the literature. However, few papers deal with the problem of pricing general Asian basket spread options. This paper aims to fill this gap. In order to obtain prices and Greeks in a short computation time, we develop approximation formulae based on comonotonicity theory and moment matching methods. We compare their relative performances and explain how to choose the best approximation technique as a function of the Asian basket spread characteristics. We also give explicitly the Greeks for our proposed methods. In the last section we extend our results to options denominated in foreign currency.     

On the threshold dividend strategy for a generalized jump-diffusion risk model

In this paper, we generalize the Cramér-Lundberg risk model perturbed by diffusion to incorporate jumps due to surplus fluctuation and to relax the positive loading condition. Assuming that the surplus process has exponential upward and arbitrary downward jumps, we analyze the expected discounted penalty (EDP) function of Gerber and Shiu (1998) under the threshold dividend strategy. An integral equation for the EDP function is derived using the Wiener-Hopf factorization. As a result, an explicit analytical expression is obtained for the EDP function by solving the integral equation. Finally, phase-type downward jumps are considered and a matrix representation of the EDP function is presented.     

Basket options valuation for a local volatility jump-diffusion model with the asymptotic expansion method

In this paper we discuss the basket options valuation for a jump-diffusion model. The underlying asset prices follow some correlated local volatility diffusion processes with systematic jumps. We derive a forward partial integral differential equation (PIDE) for general stochastic processes and use the asymptotic expansion method to approximate the conditional expectation of the stochastic variance associated with the basket value process. The numerical tests show that the suggested method is fast and accurate in comparison with the Monte Carlo and other methods in most cases.     

The maximum principles for partially observed risk-sensitive optimal controls of Markov regime-switching jump-diffusion system

ABSTRACT

This paper studies partially observed risk-sensitive optimal control problems with correlated noises between the system and the observation. It is assumed that the state process is governed by a continuous-time Markov regime-switching jump-diffusion process and the cost functional is of an exponential-of-integral type. By virtue of a classical spike variational approach, we obtain two general maximum principles for the aforementioned problems. Moreover, under certain convexity assumptions on both the control domain and the Hamiltonian, we give a sufficient condition for the optimality. For illustration, a linear-quadratic risk-sensitive control problem is proposed and solved using the main results. As a natural deduction, a fully observed risk-sensitive maximum principle is also obtained and applied to study a risk-sensitive portfolio optimization problem. Closed-form expressions for both the optimal portfolio and the corresponding optimal cost functional are obtained.