Risk Ratings 2. “Hundreds of Spreadsheets”
“There were hundreds of different spreadsheet templates floating around,” said Christopher Hansert, Product Manager at Bosch Software Innovations, and the second of two presenters at a GARP webinar on the impact of new capital rules on risk ratings, held June 24, 2014. He presented a case study of an unnamed US commercial bank. Due to an acquisition during the period of regulatory change, he said that the bank had a “heterogeneous set of platforms, models, and inconsistent ratings. They wanted one robust and centralized” risk rating system. Inconsistencies in the risk rating process increased the likelihood of error, Hansert pointed […]
Risk Ratings 1. The Big Choke Points
“The inter-connectedness of the regulatory landscape has increased dramatically,” said Balachander Lakshmanan, Director at Deloitte & Touche LLP. He was the first of two presenters at the June 24, 2014, webinar sponsored by the Global Association of Risk Professionals to discuss the impact of capital rules on risk rating systems. In the wake of the financial crisis, new regulations—Basel, Volcker rule, Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR)—have proliferated. Due to changes in capital rules, new operating models are starting to emerge at banks, said Lakshmanan. There are requests for “spot calculations” or snapshots of a bank at any given time. […]
Fama-French 2. Three is Now Five?
Fama and French, originators of the three-factor model for asset pricing, are working to understand the fourth factor –and a fifth factor, too, said Marlena Lee, PhD, VP of Dimensional Fund Advisors. She should know; she has worked closely with Nobel laureate Gene Fama and was his former teaching assistant at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Lee spoke at the CFA Society Toronto on June 19, 2014, about the evolution of asset pricing. Part 1 summarizes her comments on the dimension of profitability. Could there be another component? As early as 1993 Jegadeesh and Titman had proposed […]
Fama-French Model 1. Three is Now Four
Does the Fama-French three-factor model adequately capture all information available in describing stock returns? According to Marlena Lee, PhD, VP of Dimensional Fund Advisors, the three-factor model is lacking one or two important components. Lee visited the Toronto offices of the CFA Society Toronto on the afternoon of June 19, 2014, to speak to over twenty financial experts about the evolution of asset pricing. Lee was a funny and forthcoming lecturer. After her flight from the States up to Toronto, she said the suspicious Canada Border Services officer asked: “This CFA Society… what does ‘CFA’ stand for?” She momentarily blanked: […]