We investigate the performance of the threshold accepting heuristic for the index tracking problem. The index tracking problem consists in minimizing the tracking error between a portfolio and a benchmark. The objective is to replicate the performance of a given index upon the condition that the...

We discuss the precision with which financial models are handled, in particular optimization models. We argue that precision is only required to a level that is justified by the overall accuracy of the model, and that this required precision should be specifically analyzed in order to better...

Portfolio selection is about combining assets such that investors' financial goals and needs are best satisfied. When operators and academics translate this actual problem into optimisation models, they face two restrictions: the models need to be empirically meaningful, and the models need to...

Hedge funds offer desirable risk-return profiles; but we also find high management fees, lack of transparency and worse, very limited liquidity (they are often closed to new investors and disinvestment fees can be prohibitive). This creates an incentive to replicate the attractive features of...

Linear regression is widely-used in finance. While the standard method to obtain parameter estimates, Least Squares, has very appealing theoretical and numerical properties, obtained estimates are often unstable in the presence of extreme observations which are rather common in financial time...

We construct portfolios with an alternative selection criterion, the Omega function, which can be expressed as the ratio of two partial moments of the returns distribution. Finding Omega-optimal portfolios, in particular under realistic constraints like cardinality restrictions, requires to...