Deriving an optimal asset allocation hinges crucially on the quality of inputs used in the optimization. If the vector of expected returns and the covariance matrix are known with certainty, mean-variance optimization produces optimal portfolios. If, however, these parameters are estimated with...

In this study, we unpack the ESG ratings of four prominent agencies in Europe and find that (i) each single E, S, G pillar explains the overall ESG score differently, (ii) there is a low co-movement between the three E, S, G pillars and (iii) there are specific ESG Key Performance Indicators...

This article combines the traditional definition of portfolio risk with minimum-spanning-tree-based "interconnectedness risk" to improve equal risk contribution portfolio performance. We use betweenness centrality to measure an asset's importance in a market graph (network). After filtering the...

Defined benefit (DB) pension plans are a primary type of pension schemes with the sponsor assuming most of the risks. Longevity-indexed bonds have been used to hedge or transfer risks in pension plans. Our objective is to study an aggregated DB pension plan's optimal risk management problem...

Prior research on the demand for life insurance in household portfolio holdings has not made a clear distinction between portfolio shifts resulting from active allocation decisions and those resulting from passive acceptance. Our study examines the relationship between household portfolio...

This study explores an innovative approach to portfolio optimization, bridging traditional Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) with advanced Machine Learning techniques. We start by recognizing the significance of Markowitz's model in MPT and quickly proceed to focus on the Hierarchical Risk Parity...

This study examines the effect of the investment portfolio structure on insurers' solvency, as measured by the Solvency Capital Requirement ratio. An empirical sample of 88 EU-based insurance groups was analyzed to provide robust evidence of the portfolio's impact on the Solvency Capital...

This article studies long-horizon dynamic asset allocation strategies with recursive parameter updating. The parameter estimates for the regime-switching dynamics vary as more and more datapoints are observed and the sample size increases. In such a setting, the globally optimal portfolio...

We test the out-of-sample trading performance of model-free reinforcement learning (RL) agents and compare them with the performance of equally-weighted portfolios and traditional mean-variance (MV) optimization benchmarks. By dividing European and U.S. indices constituents into factor datasets,...

We document that compared to all other investor groups investment funds exhibit a distinctly procyclical behavior when financial-market beliefs about the probability of a euro-related, institutional rare disaster spike. In response to such euro disaster risk shocks, investment funds shed...

Forward-looking metrics of uncertainty based on options-implied information should be highly predictive of equity market returns in accordance with asset pricing theory. Empirically, however, the ability of the VIX, for example, to predict returns is statistically weak. In contrast to other...

This study examines the out-of-sample predictability of expected skewness of oil price returns, which serves as a metric for global future risks, as we show statistically through the association with crises of different nature, for stock returns of 10 (8 advanced plus two emerging) countries...