The new Basel III rules for liquidity and funding will have an impact on several areas of the banking business. As a consequence, it is useful to identify the key areas within a bank where Basel III has the biggest impact and to define the necessary strategies, processes, and new products to...

The complex dynamics of world financial markets yield inherent uncertainty and the prospect of periods of enhanced volatility. The turbulent global economic and regulatory environment of the past few years has certainly illustrated this reality. As investment managers interpret clients’...

This paper provides an overview of the hedge fund industry and explains why hedge funds are gaining in popularity among institutional investors. I review the different styles used by hedge fund managers and analyze how they impact returns. Furthermore, I will address how the lack of transparency...

In this paper, we review the historical reasons behind the success of Swiss private banks and discuss whether they possess the attributes necessary to be successful in the future. We suggest that although Swiss banquiers are well positioned to retain their global supremacy, they do need to make...

The article proposes the creation of a new type of financial instrument, bearer money market mutual fund shares, designed to appeal to savers in less developed countries by protecting them from exchange rate risk.

It has become almost conventional wisdom that investors should avoid funds with high expense ratios. Like many nuggets of conventional wisdom, there is some truth, but many exceptions: some of the best funds come at the price of higher expense ratios. Financial planners need this type of...

The essence of investing is to generate return and manage risk. In the absence of arbitrage opportunities, return generation is about gaining exposure to risks that are well rewarded. To manage this exposure, we can diversify rewarded risks and hedge risks that are not rewarded. However, our...

With the rapid development of the credit derivatives market, efficient pricing of default has become an extremely important issue for the credit risk management of banks and other investors. We consider here some of the opportunities and problems that the development of this market poses to...

Historically, the practice of trustees of defined benefit programs has been to make the asset allocation decision based on prevailing risk-return relationship for asset classes without regard to the plan’s economic funded ratio, liability structure, and liability economic growth rate. Once the...

The recent financial crisis highlighted the dangers of systemic risk. In this regard no common view appears to exist on the definition, measurement, and real impact of systemic risk on the financial system. This paper aims to analyze the relationship between systemic risk and portfolio...