Economic Capital

Managers can deploy and manage economic capital more effectively when they understand how their decisions add value to their organizations. Economic Capital: How It Works and What Every Manager Needs to Know presents new ways to define, measure, and implement management strategies by using recent examples, many from the sub-prime crisis. The authors also discuss the role of economic capital within the broader context of management responsibilities and activities as well as its relation to other risk management tools that are available to the modern risk manager. Explains ways to use economic capital in balancing risk and return Evaluates solutions to problems encountered in establishing an economic capital framework Emphasizes intuition Draws special attention to embedding risk modelling approaches within economic capital frameworks

Playing a key role in both the second pillar of the new Basel framework and the Solvency II project, economic capital models are becoming increasingly important. Economic Capital Modelling provides you with a multi-faceted overview of the current state of play for these cutting edge models. Presenting a theoretical overview of risk measurement, diversification and aggregation; a survey of the current state of implementation; and a supervisory view on the use of these models.

This book explains how a proper credit risk management framework enables banks to identify, assess and manage the risk proactively.

The authors present a comprehensive and timely discussion of economic capital and financial risk management for financial services firms and conglomerates. Topics covered include: the different types of risks that firms collect; risk governance issues; how stress testing can be used to measure risk; the provision of a clear and precise definition of economic capital; the different types of capital that are eligible to back regulatory capital, and; the development of models that can be used to estimate a firm's economic capital requirements. A unique feature of the book is that, for the first time, the economic capital requirements of financial services firms across the entire risk spectrum, from the short end to the long end, are considered in one book. The authors develop models to estimate the economic capital requirements of banks, asset management firms, life and non-life insurance firms, pension funds, and the financial services conglomerates that comprise these firms. Economic capital is compared to regulatory capital and regulatory capital arbitrage is discussed. The diversification benefit present in financial services conglomerates is quantified and the practical management of this diversification benefit is dealt with. The authors give new insights into capital management and performance measurement for financial services conglomerates and provide detailed descriptions of the main financial services firm regulatory capital changes that are ongoing at the time of writing. This superb and original book charts new ground in the practical application of economic capital for financial services firms and conglomerates. It is required reading for all capital allocation and risk professionals.

A little book full of enormous value for novices and seasonedventure capitalists alike After having been thrown for a loop by the bursting of the techbubble more than a decade ago, the venture capital industrysuddenly has come roaring back to life over the past two years. In2011 alone, more than $7.5 billion in venture capital wasinvested—representing more than a 19% increase overthe previous year—in more than 966 companies. A majorityof these companies reside in the life sciences, Internet, andalternative energy sectors. In today's weak job market, VC is more important than ever,since financing new tech, alternative energy, media, and othersmall to mid-sized companies is vital to creating new jobs. Writtenby Lou Gerken, a noted international authority on venture capitaland alternative investments, this book tells you everything youneed to know about the venture capital industry's important role inenhancing economic growth and employment. It is also the perfect goto primer on making venture capital investments to enhanceportfolio returns. Highly accessible explanations of the ins and outs of venturecapital for would-be investors and experienced VCs Highlights the historical VC track record, and offers expertadvice and guidance on venture capital exposure, investmentoptions, sourcing opportunities and due diligence Provides proven strategies for successful investment selection,timing, monitoring, and exiting for optimum returns Features endorsements from luminaries of the VC world,including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers co-founder FrankCaulfield, and Dr. Art Laffer, among others

What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In this work the author analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality. He shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality--the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth--today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values if political action is not taken. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, the author says, and may do so again. This original work reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today.

Complex dynamic processes of life and sciences generate risks that have to be taken. The need for clear and distinctive definitions of different kinds of risks, adequate methods and parsimonious models is obvious. The identification of important risk factors and the quantification of risk stemming from an interplay between many risk factors is a prerequisite for mastering the challenges of risk perception, analysis and management successfully. The increasing complexity of stochastic systems, especially in finance, have catalysed the use of advanced statistical methods for these tasks. The methodological approach to solving risk management tasks may, however, be undertaken from many different angles. A financial insti tution may focus on the risk created by the use of options and other derivatives in global financial processing, an auditor will try to evalu ate internal risk management models in detail, a mathematician may be interested in analysing the involved nonlinearities or concentrate on extreme and rare events of a complex stochastic system, whereas a statis tician may be interested in model and variable selection, practical im plementations and parsimonious modelling. An economist may think about the possible impact of risk management tools in the framework of efficient regulation of financial markets or efficient allocation of capital.