Optimal proportional reinsurance and investment with transaction costs, I: Maximizing the terminal wealth

We consider a problem of optimal reinsurance and investment with multiple risky assets for an insurance company whose surplus is governed by a linear diffusion. The insurance company’s risk can be reduced through reinsurance, while in addition the company invests its surplus in a financial market with one risk-free asset and n risky assets. In this paper, we consider the transaction costs when investing in the risky assets. Also, we use Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) to control the whole risk. We consider the optimization problem of maximizing the expected exponential utility of terminal wealth and solve it by using the corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. Explicit expression for the optimal value function and the corresponding optimal strategies are obtained.     

The Dynamic Interaction of Speculation and Diversification

A discrete time model of a financial market is developed, in which heterogeneous interacting groups of agents allocate their wealth between two risky assets and a riskless asset. In each period each group formulates its demand for the risky assets and the risk‐free asset according to myopic mean‐variance maximizazion. The market consists of two types of agents: fundamentalists, who hold an estimate of the fundamental values of the risky assets and whose demand for each asset is a function of the deviation of the current price from the fundamental, and chartists, a group basing their trading decisions on an analysis of past returns. The time evolution of the prices is modelled by assuming the existence of a market maker, who sets excess demand of each asset to zero at the end of each trading period by taking an offsetting long or short position, and who announces the next period prices as functions of the excess demand for each asset and with a view to long‐run market stability. The model is reduced to a seven‐dimensional nonlinear discrete‐time dynamical system, that describes the time evolution of prices and agents' beliefs about expected returns, variances and correlation. The unique steady state of the model is determined and the local asymptotic stability of the equilibrium is analysed, as a function of the key parameters that characterize agents' behaviour. In particular it is shown that when chartists update their expectations sufficiently fast, then the stability of the equilibrium is lost through a supercritical Neimark–Hopf bifurcation, and self‐sustained price fluctuations along an attracting limit cycle appear in one or both markets. Global analysis is also performed, by using numerical techniques, in order to understand the role played by the chartists' behaviour in the transition to a regime characterized by irregular oscillatory motion and coexistence of attractors. It is also shown how changes occurring in one market may affect the price dynamics of the alternative risky asset, as a consequence of the dynamic updating of agents' portfolios.     

跳扩散市场投资组合研究

研究了连续时间动态均值-方差投资组合选择问题.假设风险资产价格服从跳跃-扩散过程且具有卖空约束.投资者的目标是在给定期望终止时刻财富条件下,最小化终止时刻财富的方差.通过求解模型相应的Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellmen方程,得到了最优投资策略及有效前沿的显示解.结果显示,风险资产的卖空约束及价格过程的跳跃因素对最优投资策略及有效前沿的是不可忽略的.     

考虑交易费用和债务的再保险和投资问题

该文考虑了保险公司的再保险和投资在多种风险资产中的策略问题. 假设保险公司本身有着一定的债务, 债务的多少服从线性扩散方程. 保险公司可以通过再保险和将再保险之后的剩余资产投资在m种风险资产和一种无风险资产中降低其风险. 资产中风险资产的价格波动服从几何布朗运动, 其债务多少的演化也是依据布朗运动而上下波动. 该文考虑了风险资产与债务之间的相互关系, 考虑了在进行风险投资时的交易费用, 并且利用HJB方程求得保险公司的最大最终资产的预期指数效用, 给出了相应的最优价值函数和最优策略的数值解.     

Optimal Basket Liquidation for CARA Investors is Deterministic

Abstract

We consider the problem faced by an investor who must liquidate a given basket of assets over a finite time horizon. The investor's goal is to maximize the expected utility of the sales revenues over a class of adaptive strategies. We assume that the investor's utility has constant absolute risk aversion (CARA) and that the asset prices are given by a very general continuous-time, multiasset price impact model. Our main result is that (perhaps surprisingly) the investor does no worse if he narrows his search to deterministic strategies. In the case where the asset prices are given by an extension of the nonlinear price impact model of Almgren [(2003) Applied Mathematical Finance, 10, pp. 1–18], we characterize the unique optimal strategy via the solution of a Hamilton equation and the value function via a nonlinear partial differential equation with singular initial condition.     

具有共同冲击相依性的跳扩散金融市场中有着延迟和违约风险的鲁棒最优再保险和投资策略

在本文中,我们考虑跳扩散模型下具有延迟和违约风险的鲁棒最优再保险和投资问题,保险人可以投资无风险资产,可违约的债券和两个风险资产,其中两个风险资产遵循跳跃扩散模型且受到同种因素带来共同影响而相互关联.假设允许保险人购买比例再保险,特别地再保险保费利用均值方差保费原则来计算.在考虑与绩效相关的资本流入/流出下,保险公司的财富过程通过随机微分延迟方程建模.保险公司的目标是最大程度地发挥终端财富和平均绩效财富组合的预期指数效用,以分别研究违约前和违约后的情况.此外,推导了最优策略的闭式表达式和相应的价值函数.最后通过数值算例和敏感性分析,表明了各种参数对最优策略的影响.另外对于模糊厌恶投资者,忽视模型模糊性风险会带来显著的效用损失.     

Portfolio selection problem with multiple risky assets under the constant elasticity of variance model

This paper focuses on the constant elasticity of variance (CEV) model for studying the utility maximization portfolio selection problem with multiple risky assets and a risk-free asset. The Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation associated with the portfolio optimization problem is established. By applying a power transform and a variable change technique, we derive the explicit solution for the constant absolute risk aversion (CARA) utility function when the elasticity coefficient is −1 or 0. In order to obtain a general optimal strategy for all values of the elasticity coefficient, we propose a model with two risky assets and one risk-free asset and solve it under a given assumption. Furthermore, we analyze the properties of the optimal strategies and discuss the effects of market parameters on the optimal strategies. Finally, a numerical simulation is presented to illustrate the similarities and differences between the results of the two models proposed in this paper.     

Optimal investment and risk control policies for an insurer in an incomplete market

In this paper, we apply the martingale approach to investigate the optimal investment and risk control problem for an insurer in an incomplete market. The claim risk of per policy is characterized by a compound Poisson process with drift, and the insurer can be invested in multiple risky assets whose price processes are described by the geometric Brownian motions model. By ‘complete’ the incomplete market, closed-form solutions to the problems of mean–variance criterion and expected exponential utility maximization are obtained. Moreover, numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the results with the basic parameters.     

Risk minimizing hedging for a partially observed high frequency data model

Risk-minimizing hedging strategies for contingent claims are studied in a general model for intraday stock price movements in the case of partial information. The dynamics of the risky asset price is described throught a marked point process Y, whose local characteristics depend on some unobservable hidden state variable X. In the model presented the processes Y and X may have common jump times, which means that the trading activity may affect the law of X and could be also related to the presence of catastrophic events. The hedger is restricted to observing past asset prices. Thus, we are in presence not only of an incomplete market situation but also of partial information. Considering the case where the price of the risky asset is modeled directly under a martingale measure, the computation of the risk-minimizing hedging strategy under this partial information is obtained by using a projection result (M. Schweizer, Risk minimizing hedging strategies under restricted information, Mathematical Finance 4 (1994) 327–342). This approach leads to a filtering problem with marked point process observations whose solution, obtained via the Kushner-Stratonovich equation, allows us to provide a complete solution to the heding problem.     

Optimal asset allocation for pension funds under mortality risk during the accumulation and decumulation phases

In a financial market with one riskless asset and n risky assets whose prices are lognormal, we solve in a closed form the problem of a pension fund maximizing the expected CRRA utility of its surplus till the (stochastic) death time of a representative agent. We consider a unique asset allocation problem for both accumulation and decumulation phases. The optimal investment in the risky assets must decrease during the first phase and increase during the second one. We accordingly suggest it is not optimal to manage the two phases separately, and outsourcing of allocation decisions should be avoided in both phases. JEL: G23, G11 MSC 2000: 62P05, 91B28, 91B30, 91B70, 93E20     

Optimal investment strategies and risk-sharing arrangements for a hybrid pension plan

A continuous time stochastic model is used to study a hybrid pension plan, where both the contribution and benefit levels are adjusted depending on the performance of the plan, with risk sharing between different generations. The pension fund is invested in a risk-free asset and multiple risky assets. The objective is to seek an optimal investment strategy and optimal risk-sharing arrangements for plan trustees and participants so that this proposed hybrid pension system provides adequate and stable income to retirees while adjusting contributions effectively, as well as keeping its sustainability in the long run. These goals are achieved by minimizing the expected discount disutility of intermediate adjustment for both benefits and contributions and that of terminal wealth in finite time horizon. Using the stochastic optimal control approach, closed-form solutions are derived under quadratic loss function and exponential loss function. Numerical analysis is presented to illustrate the sensitivity of the optimal strategies to parameters of the financial market and how the optimal benefit changes with respect to different risk aversions. Through numerical analysis, we find that the optimal strategies do adjust the contributions and retirement benefits according to fund performance and model objectives so the intergenerational risk sharing seem effectively achieved for this collective hybrid pension plan.     

马尔科夫调节风险模型下的最优投资策略:最大化终端效用

本文用跳-扩散模型模拟保险公司的盈余过程,并允许该盈余在由1个无风险资产和N个风险资产组成的金融市场上进行投资.盈余过程和资产价格过程模型中的参数皆受到一个可观察的有限状态连续马尔科夫过程的影响.为了最大化终端效用,我们寻找最优的投资策略,借助HJB方程等工具问题得到解决.当公司的效用函数为指数型时,我们给出了最优投资策略与其对应的值函数的显示表达式,以及相关的经济解释.Browne (1995)和Yang和Zhang (2005)的一些结论得到推广.     

Comparison Between the Mean-Variance Optimal and the Mean-Quadratic-Variation Optimal Trading Strategies

ABSTRACT

We compare optimal liquidation policies in continuous time in the presence of trading impact using numerical solutions of Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) partial differential equations (PDEs). In particular, we compare the time-consistent mean-quadratic-variation strategy with the time-inconsistent (pre-commitment) mean-variance strategy. We show that the two different risk measures lead to very different strategies and liquidation profiles. In terms of the optimal trading velocities, the mean-quadratic-variation strategy is much less sensitive to changes in asset price and varies more smoothly. In terms of the liquidation profiles, the mean-variance strategy is much more variable, although the mean liquidation profiles for the two strategies are surprisingly similar. On a numerical note, we show that using an interpolation scheme along a parametric curve in conjunction with the semi-Lagrangian method results in significantly better accuracy than standard axis-aligned linear interpolation. We also demonstrate how a scaled computational grid can improve solution accuracy.     

Constrained investment–reinsurance optimization with regime switching under variance premium principle

This paper studies optimal investment and reinsurance problems for an insurer under regime-switching models. Two types of risk models are considered, the first being a Markov-modulated diffusion approximation risk model and the second being a Markov-modulated classical risk model. The insurer can invest in a risk-free bond and a risky asset, where the underlying models for investment assets are modulated by a continuous-time, finite-state, observable Markov chain. The insurer can also purchase proportional reinsurance to reduce the exposure to insurance risk. The variance principle is adopted to calculate the reinsurance premium, and Markov-modulated constraints on both investment and reinsurance strategies are considered. Explicit expressions for the optimal strategies and value functions are derived by solving the corresponding regime-switching Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equations. Numerical examples for optimal solutions in the Markov-modulated diffusion approximation model are provided to illustrate our results.     

Mean–Variance Optimal Adaptive Execution

Abstract

Electronic trading of equities and other securities makes heavy use of ‘arrival price’ algorithms that balance the market impact cost of rapid execution against the volatility risk of slow execution. In the standard formulation, mean–variance optimal trading strategies are static: they do not modify the execution speed in response to price motions observed during trading. We show that substantial improvement is possible by using dynamic trading strategies and that the improvement is larger for large initial positions.

We develop a technique for computing optimal dynamic strategies to any desired degree of precision. The asset price process is observed on a discrete tree with an arbitrary number of levels. We introduce a novel dynamic programming technique in which the control variables are not only the shares traded at each time step but also the maximum expected cost for the remainder of the program; the value function is the variance of the remaining program. The resulting adaptive strategies are ‘aggressive-in-the-money’: they accelerate the execution when the price moves in the trader's favor, spending parts of the trading gains to reduce risk.     

Log-Optimal Portfolios with Memory Effect

ABSTRACT

In portfolio optimization a classical problem is to trade with assets so as to maximize some kind of utility of the investor. In our paper this problem is investigated for assets whose prices depend on their past values in a non-Markovian way. Such models incorporate several features of real price processes better than Markov processes do. Our utility function is the widespread logarithmic utility, the formulation of the model is discrete in time. Despite the problem being a well-known one, there are few results where memory is treated systematically in a parametric model. Our algorithm is optimal and this optimality is guaranteed for a rich class of model specifications. Moreover, the algorithm runs online, i.e., the optimal investment is achieved in a day-by-day manner, using simple numerical integration, without Monte-Carlo simulations. Theoretical results are demonstrated by numerical experiments as well.     

Optimal portfolio execution under cointegrated vector autoregressive systems

Abstract

In this paper, an optimal portfolio execution problem under price model which exhibits cointegration behaviour is proposed. The proposed problem is formulated as a quadratic programming problem. With different statistical procedures and parameter estimation methods, employed on real market financial data, the four portfolios are constructed with which, computational study is performed. It is shown that the trading strategies constructed out of portfolios with cointegrated price dynamics show significant reduction in execution cost.     

Optimal investment strategy for asset-liability management under the Heston model

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on an asset-liability management problem for an investor who can invest in a risk-free asset and a risky asset whose price process is governed by the Heston model. The objective of the investor is to find an optimal investment strategy to maximize the expected exponential utility of the surplus process. By using the stochastic control method and variable change techniques, we obtain a closed-form solution of the corresponding Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation. We also develop a verification theorem without the usual Lipschitz assumptions which can ensure that this closed-form solution is indeed the value function and then derive the optimal investment strategy explicitly. Finally, we provide numerical examples to show how the main parameters of the model affect the optimal investment strategy.     

Integrated insurance risk models with exponential Lévy investment

We consider an insurance risk model for the cashflow of an insurance company, which invests its reserve into a portfolio consisting of risky and riskless assets. The price of the risky asset is modeled by an exponential Lévy process. We derive the integrated risk process and the corresponding discounted net loss process. We calculate certain quantities as characteristic functions and moments. We also show under weak conditions stationarity of the discounted net loss process and derive the left and right tail behavior of the model. Our results show that the model carries a high risk, which may originate either from large insurance claims or from the risky investment.     

Filtering of a Multi-Dimension Stochastic Volatility Model

In this article, we study a stochastic volatility model for a class of risky assets. We assume that the volatilities of the assets are driven by a common state of economy, which is unobservable and represented by a hidden Markov chain. Under this hidden Markov model (HMM), we develop recursively computable filtering equations for certain functionals of the chain. Expectation maximization (EM) parameter estimation is then used. Applications to an optimal asset allocation problem with mean-variance utility are given.