Robustness to Dependency in Portfolio Optimization Using Overlapping Marginals

In this paper, we develop a distributionally robust portfolio optimization model where the robustness is to different dependency structures among the random losses. For a Frechet class of distributions with overlapping marginals, we show that the distributionally robust portfolio optimization problem is efficiently solvable with linear programming. To guarantee the existence of a joint multivariate … Read more

On reducing a quantile optimization problem with discrete distribution to a mixed integer programming problem

We suggest a method for equivalent transformation of a quantile optimization problem with discrete distribution of random parameters to mixed integer programming problems. The number of additional integer (in fact boolean) variables in the equivalent problems equals to the number of possible scenarios for random data. The obtained mixed integer problems are solved by standard … Read more

Asset Allocation under the Basel Accord Risk Measures

Financial institutions are currently required to meet more stringent capital requirements than they were before the recent financial crisis; in particular, the capital requirement for a large bank’s trading book under the Basel 2.5 Accord more than doubles that under the Basel II Accord. The significant increase in capital requirements renders it necessary for banks … Read more

Two methods of pruning Benders’ cuts and their application to the management of a gas portfolio

In this article, we describe a gas portfolio management problem, which is solved with the SDDP (Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming) algorithm. We present some improvements of this algorithm and focus on methods of pruning Benders’ cuts, that is to say, methods of picking out the most relevant cuts among those which have been computed. Our … Read more

Minimal Representation of Insurance Prices

This paper addresses law invariant coherent risk measures and their Kusuoka representations. By elaborating the existence of a minimal representation we show that every Kusuoka representation can be reduced to its minimal representation. Uniqueness — in a sense specified in the paper — of the risk measure’s Kusuoka representation is derived from this initial result. … Read more

Pricing Conspicuous Consumption Products in Recession Periods with Uncertain Strength

We compare different approaches of optimization under uncertainty in the context of pricing strategies for conspicuous consumption products in recession periods of uncertain duration and strength. We consider robust worst-case ideas and how the concepts of Value at Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) can be incorporated efficiently. The approaches are generic in … Read more

Pareto Efficiency in Robust Optimization

This paper formalizes and adapts the well known concept of Pareto efficiency in the context of the popular robust optimization (RO) methodology. We argue that the classical RO paradigm need not produce solutions that possess the associated property of Pareto optimality, and illustrate via examples how this could lead to inefficiencies and sub-optimal performance in … Read more

Equilibria on the Day-Ahead Electricity Market

In the energy sector, there has been a transition from monopolistic to oligopolistic situations (pool markets); each time more companies’ optimization revenues depend on the strategies of their competitors. The market rules vary from country to country. In this work, we model the Iberian Day-Ahead Duopoly Market and find exactly which are the outcomes (Nash … Read more

Optimal Execution Under Jump Models For Uncertain Price Impact

In the execution cost problem, an investor wants to minimize the total expected cost and risk in the execution of a portfolio of risky assets to achieve desired positions. A major source of the execution cost comes from price impacts of both the investor’s own trades and other concurrent institutional trades. Indeed price impact of … Read more

Robust Decision Making using a General Utility Set

We develop the concept of utility robustness to address the problem of ambiguity and inconsistency in utility assessments. A robust decision-making framework is built on a utility set which characterizes a decision maker’s risk attitude described by boundary and auxiliary conditions. This framework is studied using the Sample Average Approximation (SAA) approach. We show the … Read more