This paper analyzes empirical market utility functions and pricing kernels derived from the DAX and DAX option data for three market regimes. A consistent parametric framework of stochastic volatility is used. All empirical market utility functions show a region of risk proclivity that is...

Market option prices in last 20 years confirmed deviations from the Black and Scholes (BS) models assumptions, especially on the BS implied volatility. Implied binomial trees (IBT) models capture the variations of the implied volatility known as "volatility smile". They provide a discrete...

The calibration of option pricing models leads to the minimization of an error functional. We show that its usual specification as a root mean squared error implies fluctuating exotics prices and possibly wrong prices. We propose a simple and natural method to overcome these problems, illustrate...

Modelling portfolio credit risk is one of the crucial challenges faced by financial services industry in the last few years. We propose the valuation model of collateralized debt obligations (CDO) based on copula functions with up to three parameters, with default intensities estimated from...

In this paper we consider the optimal stopping problem for general dynamic monetary utility functionals. Sufficient conditions for the Bellman principle and the existence of optimal stopping times are provided. Particular attention is payed to representations which allow for a numerical...

This paper studies polar sets of anisotropic Gaussian random elds, i.e. sets which a Gaussian random eld does not hit almost surely. The main assumptions are that the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix are bounded from below and that the canonical metric associated with the Gaussian random eld...

We present a solution to some discounted optimal stopping problem for the maximum of a geometric Brownian motion on a finite time interval. The method of proof is based on reducing the initial optimal stopping problem with the continuation region determined by an increasing continuous boundary...

We present a closed form solution to the perpetual American double barrier call option problem in a model driven by Brownian motion and a compound Poisson process with exponential jumps. The method of proof is based on reducing the inital irregular optimal stopping problem to an...

We present solutions to some discounted optimal stopping problems for the maximum process in a model driven by a Brownian motion and a compound Poisson process with exponential jumps. The method of proof is based on reducing the initial problems to integro-differential free-boundary problems...