Stress testing has become a crucial point on the Basel II agenda, mainly as Pillar I estimatesdo not explicitly take portfolio concentration into account. We start from the credit portfolioof the German pension insurer being a cross-sectional representation of the German economyand subsequently...

This paper sets out to help explain why estimates of asset correlations based on equityprices tend to be considerably higher than estimates based on default rates. Resolving thisempirical puzzle is highly important because, rstly, asset correlations are a key driver ofcredit risk and, secondly,...