An American option give an investor the right but not the obligation to buy a call or sell a put at a set strike price at any time prior to the contract’s expiry date. Since investors have the freedom to exercise their American options at any point during the life of the contract, they are more valuable than European options, which can only be e…[Read more]

An implied volatility is the volatility implied by the market price of an option based on the Black-Scholes option pricing model. In cap market, a cap/floor is quoted by implied volatilities but not prices. An interest rate cap volatility surface is a three-dimensional plot of the implied volatility of a cap as a function of strike and maturity.

An implied volatility is the volatility implied by the market price of an option based on the Black-Scholes option pricing model. A volatility surface is derived from quoted volatilities that provides a way to interpolate an implied volatility at any strike and maturity.

An implied volatility is the volatility implied by the market price of an option based on the Black-Scholes option pricing model. An interest rate swaption volatility surface is a four-dimensional plot of the implied volatility of a swaption as a function of strike and expiry and tenor.

Overnight index swaps (OIS) curves became the market standard for discounting collateralized cashflows. The reason often given for using the OIS rate as the discount rate is that it is derived from the fed funds rate and the fed funds rate is the interest rate usually paid on collateral. As such the fed funds rate and OIS rate are the relevant…[Read more]

The basis curve construction methodology is based on the most liquid market instruments. Normally a basis curve is divided into two parts. The short end of the term structure is determined using LIBOR rates and the remaining is derived using basis swaps.

Zero curves can be derived from government bonds or LIBOR/swap instruments. The LIBOR/swap term structure offers several advantages over government curves, and is a robust tool for pricing and hedging financial products. Correlations among governments and other fixed-income products have declined, making the swap term structure a more efficient…[Read more]

The term structure of interest rates, also known as yield curve, is defined as the relationship between the yield-to-maturity on a zero coupon bond and the bond’s maturity. Zero yield curves play an essential role in the valuation of all financial products.

Value at Risk (VaR) is the regulatory measurement for assessing market risk. It reports the maximum likely loss on a portfolio for a given probability defined as x% confidence level over N days. VaR is vital in market risk management and control. Also regulatory and economic capital computation is based on VaR results. Although VaR measure is…[Read more]

Risk sensitivities, also referred to as Greeks, are the measure of a financial instrument’s value reaction to changes in underlying factors. The value of a financial instrument is impacted by many factors, such as interest rate, stock price, implied volatility, time, etc. Sensitivities are risk measures that are more important than fair values.

Value at Risk (VaR) is the regulatory measurement for assessing market risk. It reports the maximum likely loss on a portfolio for a given probability defined as x% confidence level over N days. VaR is vital in market risk management and control. Also regulatory and economic capital computation is based on VaR results. Although VaR measure is…[Read more]

Financial business is exposed to many types of risks due to the nature of business. To guard against the risk, financial institutions must hold capital in proportion to the potential risk. Market risk economic capital is intended to capture the value change due to changes in market risk factors. It is an internal capital reserve to cover…[Read more]

A financial market is a market where people trade financial products. Typical financial markets are the fixed income and interest rate market, the currency market, the equity market, the commodity market and the credit market.

The incremental risk charge (IRC) is a regulatory requirement from the Basel Committee in response to the financial crisis. It supplements existing Value-at-Risk (VaR) and captures the loss due to default and migration events at a 99.9% confidence level over a one-year capital horizon.

Initial Margin (IM) is the amount of collateral required to open a position with a broker or an exchange or a bank. The Standard Initial Margin Model (SIMM) is very likely to become the market standard. It is designed to provide a common methodology for calculating initial margin for uncleared OTC derivatives. Initial margin calculation is…[Read more]

Value at Risk (VaR) is the regulatory measurement for assessing market risk. It reports the maximum likely loss on a portfolio for a given probability defined as x% confidence level over N days. VaR is vital in market risk management and control. Also regulatory and economic capital computation is based on VaR results. Although VaR measure is…[Read more]

An implied volatility is the volatility implied by the market price of an option based on the Black-Scholes option pricing model. In cap market, a cap/floor is quoted by implied volatilities but not prices. An interest rate cap volatility surface is a three-dimensional plot of the implied volatility of a cap as a function of strike and maturity.

The Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) is a new Basel committee framework for the next generation market risk regulatory capital rules. It is inspired by the undercapitalisation of trading book exposures witnessed during the financial crisis. FRTB aims to address shortcoming of the current Basel 2.5 market risk capital framework.

Funding Valuation Adjustment (FVA) is introduced to capture the incremental costs of funding uncollateralized derivatives. It can be referred to as the difference between the rate paid for the collateral to the bank’s treasury and rate paid by the clearinghouse. Also FVA can be thought of as a hedging cost or benefit arising from the mismatch b…[Read more]

Credit valuation adjustment (CVA) is the market price of counterparty credit risk that has become a central part of counterparty credit risk management. By definition, CVA is the difference between the risk-free portfolio value and the true/risky portfolio value. In practice, CVA should be computed at portfolio level. That means calculation…[Read more]