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Part 4 (Module 20 - 25): Q&A

Development Questions

  1. Main sources of uncertainty when using models in ERM

    • See Module 21 Section “Sources of uncertainty”

    • Parameter uncertainty, model uncertainty and stochastic uncertainty

  2. List the steps involved in developing and applying a model

    • See Module 21 Section “Modeling Process”
  3. List the features of the returns on individual equities that have been suggested by time series analyses

    • See Module 22 Section “Features of Equity Market Returns”
  4. List the factors which are reflected in a credit spread and state the 3 most common measures of credit spread

    • See Module 22 Section “Corporate Bonds”
  5. Explain how the op-risk capital can be calculate under the following models

    1. Implied capital model

      See Module 24 Section “Top-down Models”

    2. Income volatility model

      See Module 24 Section “Top-down Models”

    3. Capital asset pricing model

      See Module 24 Section “Top-down Models”

  6. Advice on actively managing operational risk in a formal way

    1. Reasons why the company’s directors might have become interested in op-risk management

      See Module 24 Section “Need to Assess Op-Risk” Point 1-5

    2. Advantages of a more formal approach to op-risk

      See Module 24 Section “Need to Assess Op-Risk” Point 6-8

    3. Benefits that the directors could expect to see if they enforce an effective op-risk management process

      See Module 24 Section “Need to Assess Op-Risk” Benfits bullet points

  7. More op-risk related questions

    1. Distinguish between bottom-up and top-down approaches for op-risk

      Top-down: The company as a whole is considered

      • Use readily available data and fairly simple calculations to give a general picture of the op-risk

      Bottom-up

      • Each activity of the company is considered first and then the results are aggregated
    2. Describe bottom-up approaches to assess op-risk

      • See Module 24 Section “Bottom up models” for the following key points

      • Model frequency and severity of day-to-day op-risk losses

      • Insufficient data so need to suppliment with external data

      • If there is sufficient data, use Monte Carlo

      • Model needs to cope well with the outer tail (e.g. EVT) but is not widely use due to limitation on internal data

      • Simpler approach can be used that assumes losses are related to the volume of transactions

      • Bottom up includes statistical and scenario analysis

    3. State 4 top-down models that can be used in assessing operational risk

      • See Module 24 Section “Top-down Models”
    4. Main problems with the top-down models

      • All these models fail to capture successfully low probability, high consequence risk events

      • Do not consider specific individual activities / incidents

      • No assessment of the effect of individual events, so these models do not help in minimizing future losses by improving procedures in this area

  8. CAPM: risk free = 2%, market risk premium = 4%, \(\beta\) = 1.25

    1. Expected return from the market = 2% + 4% = 6%

    2. Expected return from shares in company = 2% + 1.25 \(\times\) 4% = 7%

    3. Cost of capital used by management in evaluting projects

      Should be 7% to meet investors expectations

      This assumes no tax is payable, and that a project that yields a return of 7% would offer the same return to equity shareholders

  9. Extreme events

    1. Examples of extreme events

      See Module 20 Section “Low Freq/ High Sev Events”

    2. Importance to consider extreme events separately from other types in ERM

      See Module 20 Section “Low Freq/ High Sev Events”

  10. Generalized Extreme Value distribution

    1. Describe the GEV distribution

      See Module 20 Section “GEV Distribution”

      • The distribution of the maximum value \(X_M\) in a sample on \(n\) iid r.v. when \(n \rightarrow \infty\)

      • Discuss the different parameters and the different classes corresponding to each \(\gamma\)

    2. Describe how GEV can be used to model extreme events in ERM

      See Module 20 Section “Generalized Extreme Value Distribution”

      Extreme loss events correspond to the maximum values experienced over a period, so we might expect them to conform to the GEV distribution

      We can calculate the maximum loss event from past data by dividing it into blocks and calculating the maximum within each block

      We can do it 2 ways (max in a block or threshold)

      Estimate the parameters with MLE or moments

      Use the fitting distribution for percentiles, means and variances

    3. Alternate approach to the GEV

      Theshold approach with GPD

      See Module 20 Section “Generalized Pareto Distribution”

  11. Mean excess function

    1. Define the mean excess function

      See Module 20 Section “Mean XS Function”

    2. Formula for mean XS loss for exponential with mean \(1 / \lambda\)

      If \(X\) has exponential with mean \(1 / \lambda\):

      \(\Pr(X >u) = \int \limits_u^{\infty} \lambda e^{-\lambda x} dx = e^{-\lambda u}\) The conditional probabilities:

      \(\begin{align} \Pr(X > x + u \mid X >u ) &= \dfrac{\Pr(X > x + u \& X > u)}{\Pr(X > u)} \\ &= \dfrac{\Pr(X > x +u )}{\Pr(X>u)} \\ &= \dfrac{e^{-\lambda(x+u)}}{e^{-\lambda u}} \\ &= e^{-\lambda x} \\ \end{align}\)

      Therefore:

      \(\Pr(X - u \leq x \mid X > u) = 1 - e^{-\lambda x}\)

      So the mean XS loss function has a constant value \(e(u) = \dfrac{1}{\lambda}\)

    3. Shapes of the mean XS loss function for different loss distribution

      1. Exponential

        Constant, so graph would be horizontal

      2. Normal

        Symmetrical and tails off quicker than exponential on the right handside

        Mean XS will tail off as the threshold increases (but always remains positive)

      3. Uniform

        Has finite upper limit

        Once threshold hits the limit, the XS will always be 0

        Before this point, the mean excess decrease linearly

  12. Reasons why op-risk might NOT be best measured simply as a % of revenue

    See Module 24 Section “Factor-based models”

  13. 1 year term insurance contracts with sum insured of $350,000 to a group of 100 lives

    1. Probability it will pay out $1m or more for lives aged 50 where \(q_{50} = 0.002\)

      Need at least 3 deaths during the year \(Binomial(100, q_x)\)

      \(1 - (1-q_x)^{100} + { {100} \choose{1} } q_x(1-q_x)^{99} - { {100} \choose {2} } (q_X)^2 (1-q_x)^{98}\)

      Just plug and play

    2. For \(q_{60}\) Just plug the above

    • This example shows that \(q_{60} \gg q_{50}\), so a 1% change in all mortality rates has a greater effect for higher ages

      Hence the volatility risk is much higher for the older lives in (b)

Applied Calculation Questions

Exam Style Questions