Hedge Funds are often considered as a possibility for optimizing traditional portfolios due to their alternative risk factors and sources of return. But as the return distribution of hedge funds shows negative skewness and excess kurtosis, using portfolio optimization techniques, based on the...

The often reported empirical success of trend-following technical timing strategies remains to be puzzling. In previous academic research, many authors admit some prediction power but struggle to substantiate their findings by referring vaguely to insufficient market effciency or unknown hidden...

The application of a technical trading rule, which just provides long and short signals, requires the investor to decide upon the exposure to stake in each trade. Although this position sizing (or money management) crucially affects the risk and return characteristics, recent academic literature...

Despite their impressive market success, investment certificates' benefits are puzzling from both a theoretical and an empirical viewpoint. Previous research analyzed portfoliotheoretical issues, mispricing patterns, and counterparty risk. This work highlights the impact of taxation, which has...

The current financial market crisis has impressively demonstrated the importance of an effective credit risk management for financial institutions. At the same time, the use and the valuation of credit derivatives has been widely criticised as a result of the crisis. Over the past decade, credit...

The year 2000 started the evolution of the German market for Structured Products with incorporated Hedge Fund exposures. This paper provides an extensive commentary on this fast growing segment. Our analysis suggests that the market for existing products is affected by significant heterogeneity....

Loss Given Default (LGD) is a major element for pricing credits and bonds. As there has been a substantial amount of research during the last years, this paper aims to give an overview. Initially, defaults and recovery definitions for credits and the differences to bonds are discussed. A survey...

This paper analyzes the current use of incentive-fee-concepts for mutual funds in Germany. Following an empirical analysis about the relevance of these methods, the different methods of calculation and the influence of different parameters are described. Further on it explains the impacts of...

The paper examines the key drivers of gold investment. Since 2000 the gold price has risen drastically, making gold an interesting add-on to a portfolio. As gold futures have negative roll returns, gold pool accounts are characterized by high credit risk and physical possession of gold means...

The aim of portfolio insurance strategies is to put a floor on the value of a stock portfolio by progressively selling stocks and buy safe, short-term debt securities as stock prices fall. This paper analyzes the current static and dynamic methods in use and explains their pros and cons.