Leveraged and inverse ETFs are designed to achieve a multiple exposure (positive or negative, e.g., 2x or -2x) of some index returns on a daily basis. Recently, some controversy surrounding leveraged ETFs has appeared in the U.S. market and focused mainly on the performance results delivered by...

This paper analyzes the relevance of a set of some performance measures for optimal portfolios including hedge funds. Four criteria are considered: the Sharpe Ratio, the Returns on VaR and on CVaR, and the Omega performance measure. The results are illustrated by an allocation on several...

We study the optimal design of financial structured portfolios (equity or index linked notes) within the utility with ambiguity framework. We analyze some of these products with respect to investor's attitude towards risk, including ambiguity. These financial products usually involve derivative...

Among leveraged funds, leveraged ETFs are designed to achieve multiple exposure (e.g., twice) to some financial index returns, on a daily basis. In this paper, we derive an analytical expression for the value process of a leveraged ETF. We analyze it as a convex constant allocation portfolio...

This paper addresses the well-documented tracking error (TE) symmetry issue that undermines traditional benchmark-driven equity portfolio allocation processes. We first demonstrate how a base-case TE-driven strategy could be merely adjusted in order to work out the TE symmetry problem. The...

This paper undertakes the issue of portfolio insurance from the perspective of a risk-averse agent requiring his financial wealth to grow at a floored rate in excess of an equity benchmark. The suggested solution is a generalization of the CPPI approach within a two-equity asset framework. The...

In this paper we study the effect of institutional reform on the decision to hold risky assets at the extensive and the intensive margin. We therefore make use of the natural experiment of German Division and Reunification and, based on savings bank customer data from German savings banks, study...

We study portfolio selection under Conditional Value-at-Risk and, as its natural extension, spectral risk measures, and compare it with traditional mean–variance analysis. Unlike the previous literature that considers an investor’s mean-spectral risk preferences for the choice of optimal...