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...

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...

As a result of the recent financial crises, equity markets have performed poorly in the last five years or so. In consequence, equity long-only strategies have generally been unattractive over this period. This motivates the investigation on whether better performance can be achieved by...

We discuss the precision with which financial models are handled, in particular optimisation 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 analysed, so to better...

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...

In modern portfolio theory, financial portfolios are characterised by a desired property, the 'reward', and something undesirable, the 'risk'. While these properties are commonly identified with mean and variance of returns, respectively, we test alternative specifications like partial and...