When investment professional Kent McCarthy returned to teach at his alma mater, the University of Kansas, he planted the seeds for the Applied Portfolio Management (APM) program--a course that allows students to manage a real money portfolio, which has compiled a remarkable record of investment success. Now, with this book, you'll discover how to use the concepts covered in this class--from understanding the fundamental drivers of business success to buying at the right price--to enhance your own investment skills.

Risk and Return for Regulated Industries provides a much-needed, comprehensive review of how cost of capital risk arises and can be measured, how the special risks regulated industries face affect fair return, and the challenges that regulated industries are likely to face in the future. Rather than following the trend of broad industry introductions or textbook style reviews of utility finance, it covers the topics of most interest to regulators, regulated companies, regulatory lawyers, and rate-of-return analysts in all countries. Accordingly, the book also includes case studies about various countries and discussions of the lessons international regulatory procedures can offer.

Portfolio Diversification provides an update on the practice of combining several risky investments in a portfolio with the goal of reducing the portfolio's overall risk. In this book, readers will find a comprehensive introduction and analysis of various dimensions of portfolio diversification (assets, maturities, industries, countries, etc.), along with time diversification strategies (long term vs. short term diversification) and diversification using other risk measures than variance. Several tools to quantify and implement optimal diversification are discussed and illustrated.

For Finance and Treasury professionals to effectively pitch, sell, and comprehend the true appeal and relevance of a particular security, there is nothing more important than knowing how the value of said security has been determined. While punching numbers into a computer may provide the information needed, it is nevertheless essential to have a firm grasp of the valuation concepts in order to make the best, most informed decisions. Offering a straightforward, accessible approach not found anywhere else, this comprehensive new book provides a clear-cut road map through the mathematical concepts associated with the investments sector of Treasury management.
Written by an expert in the field, Investment Mathematics for Finance and Treasury Professionals explains the principles and formulae used in the fixedincome cash markets. It presents an in-depth, yet practical look at the applications associated with these money and capital markets instruments. The book also covers calculations and applications in the foreign exchange and equities markets. The same in-depth coverage is applied to the various fixed-income and foreign exchange derivatives markets used as both speculative and hedging tools. Spanning the spectrum from price/yield changes to risk/return, and packed with numerous examples that illustrate key concepts, this exhaustive resource includes:
* Yield spread analysis--methods of price/yield quotation, yield spreads by maturity, off-the-run vs. on-the-run
* Price/yield sensitivity--hedge ratios, basis point value, dollar duration, convexity
* Term structure of interest rates different yield curve structures, zero coupon yield curve, Treasury trading STRIPS
* Foreign exchange--crossrates, spot rates, forward points, covered interest arbitrage
* Options--plain vanilla vs. exotic options, over-the-counter vs. exchange-traded options, understanding option valuation models, and option hedging and trading strategies
* Interest rate swaps, swaptions, caps, floors, collars, inverse floaters
* Risk/return--valuation theory, capital asset pricing model, value at risk

Complete with supporting appendixes that contain statistical information on such essentials as historical interest rate patterns, conversion factors for Treasury bond futures, the standard normal distribution, and day count basis for different bonds, Investment Mathematics for Finance and Treasury Professionals is an indispensable reference for anyone involved with corporate and municipal treasury functions.
Providing Finance and Treasury professionals the fundamental information necessary to understand the mathematical concepts and applications used in investment decisions, this in-depth and accessible resource explains and clarifies the concepts behind investment mathematics. With numerous examples and comprehensive appendixes containing important statistical data, Investment Mathematics for Finance and Treasury Professionals covers everything from price/yield changes and yield spread analysis to term structure of interest rates, derivatives, and risk/return.

This book reconsiders the role of nobility as influential economic players and provides new insights into the business activities of noblemen in Europe and Asia during the nineteenth century thus offering up opportunities for comparison in an age of economic expansion and globalisation. What was the contribution of the nobility to the economy? Can we consider noblemen to have been endowed with an entrepreneurial spirit? Research shows that far from being passive, throughout the century the European nobility were widely involved in business, carried on innovations, refined management strategies, and diversified their investments from agriculture to transport, industry and finance. Both in Europe and Asia businesses were embedded in social networks and personal relationships. In modern Japan after the Meiji Restoration - the unique case in Asia where a Western-style nobility was created - business, trust, personal connections and aristocratic marriages were intertwined and Japanese noblemen, especially the richer ones, acted as promoters of industrialisation, even though their role was certainly limited in time and space. This volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers in the fields of economics, management, political science, sociology, public management and history. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Business History.

Where institutions and individuals averagely invest the majority of their assets in money-market and fixed-income instruments, interest rate risk management could be seen as the single most important global financial issue. However, the majority of the key techniques used by most investors were developed several decades ago, and the advantages of multi-factor models are not fully recognised by many researchers and practitioners. This book provides clear and practical insight into bond portfolios and portfolio management through key empirical analysis. The authors use extensive sets of empirical data to describe the value potentially added by more recent techniques to manage interest rate risk relative to traditional techniques and to present empirical evidence of such an added value. Beginning with a description of the simplest models and moving on to the most complex, the authors offer key recommendations for the future of rate risk management.

The aim of this book is to demonstrate that becoming a successful do-it-yourself (DIY) investor is within the reach of almost every person in society. Saving or investing in the stock markets is for everyone - from parents with the children's allowance, to someone who has a lump sum to invest, to the person who has just started working but can save even aC--100 a month, to someone who is free to manage their own pension. Building an asset base from which you can earn income gives you choices later in life. The aim is that, when you close this book, you should be able to implement an easy-to-follow approach to investing in the stock markets, whilst minimising risk. No matter what level of experience you are starting from, this book is aimed at assisting you to obtain the returns on offer from the markets over time. Arming yourself with a proper strategy or plan, which dictates what you buy and when you sell, is the key to stock market investing, and developing one is a good deal easier than you may think. That plan might be simply to invest across the different asset classes where there appears to be clear value on offer; to concentrate on high yielding funds listed on stock markets as a method of generating income, while controlling risk; or to master some successful approach to stock selection. 3 Steps to Investment Success offers an easy-to-follow mechanical approach to selecting a diversified portfolio of stocks from the UK FTSE 100 Index, an index that represents the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange by market capitalisation. You will learn also how to invest in the stock market indirectly through listed funds, such as exchange-traded funds and investment companies, which offer instant diversification, allowing you to more easily control risk. And 3 Steps to Investment Success includes a short story, A Villa in the Sun by Virginia Gilbert, a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning writer and director, to drive home the often real consequences of speculating in markets rather than investing.

The terms venture capital and private equity may differ across countries. This book discusses venture capital not only as risk capital toward unlisted companies with the aim to enhance the investee firm, but also analyses broader forms of entrepreneurial investment: from early stage financing to buyout and turnaround transaction. This book is divided into four sections. The first section aims to shed light on the terminology and offers a comparison between private equity/venture capital, and the traditional banking sector as financing sources. The second section details the differences between private equity and venture capital transactions on the basis of firm life cycle, and summarizes the main characteristics of both private equity and venture capital investors and investee firms. The third section illustrates the evolution of the private equity and venture capital industry before and after the financial crisis by looking at three fundamental aspects: fundraising, investment and divestment, all in terms of volume and trends. The last section discusses the basic elements of corporate valuation applied to private equity and venture capital industry, with some practical examples.

The Handbook of Investors' Behavior during Financial Crises provides fundamental information about investor behavior during turbulent periods, such the 2000 dot com crash and the 2008 global financial crisis. Contributors share the same behavioral finance tools and techniques while analyzing behaviors across a variety of market structures and asset classes. The volume provides novel insights about the influence and effects of regional differences in market design. Its distinctive approach to studies of financial crises is of key importance in our contemporary financial landscape, even more so since the accelerated process of globalization has rendered the outbreak of financial crises internationally more commonplace compared to previous decades.

Analysing foreign investment promotion at a regional level in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, the book applies regional science, international business, and place marketing concepts to explore how Central Eastern European Countries compete for multinational firms. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the author places special emphasis on promotion and its role within a wider context of regional strategies aimed at inward investment attraction. With useful insights for policy-makers, the book combines theory with empirical evidence and provides valuable reading for those researching international business location, place marketing and regional development.

This book offers 14 contributions that examine key questions in bank decision-taking,constitution of confidence in banks and risk management practices from Early Modernity to the twentieth century. It explores how the various mechanisms of bank decision taking changed over time. Chapters also analyse the types of risk management techniques used, the contributory factors to the constitution of confidence and the methods that banking historians can use to analyse and describe bankers risk management and decision taking - from system theory to behavioural finance, new institutional economics to praxeology and convention theory to network analysis. The different methodological approaches are put to the test in case studies based on archive material from four hundred years of banking in order to connect banking history more closely to political and cultural history.

The author/editor has produced two stand-alone or companion volumes. Only one third of the original material remains.
New Markets and Products begins with two chapters on emerging markets. The book then goes on to cover markets and products of increasing complexity: standard equity and interest rate derivatives, exotic options, swap (and swaptions), volatility trading and finally credit derivatives.
The contributors are all acknowledged experts in their fields: Michael Howell, Mark Fox, Ian King, Chris Rogers, Andrew Street, Riccardo Rebonato, Edmond Levy, Bryan Thomas, Vincent Lacoste, Desmond Fitzgerald and Blythe Masters.
New Markets and Products will be an essential reference tool for risk managers, institutional investors, fund managers, bankers, corporate treasurers and financial consultants.
"In this volume Carol Alexander has gathered together ten articles that are concerned with important recent developments in financial markets. Two of the articles are concerned with emerging markets. They explore the reasons for their growth and the nature of the investment opportunities available. The remaining eight articles are concerned with derivatives. There are chapters on equity derivatives, interest rate derivatives, exotic options, volatility trading, and credit derivatives. The final chapter on credit derivatives is particularly timely. This market is in the process of transforming the way banks manage credit risk. I have seen no other discussion of the market as comprehensive and useful as that provided by Blythe Masters.
Market participants and students alike will find much useful and thought-provoking information in this volume."
- John Hull, August 1998

The digital transformation of finance and banking enables traditional services to be delivered in a more effective and efficient way but, at the same time, presents crucial issues such as fast growing new asset classes, new currencies, datafication and data privacy, algorithmization of law and regulation and, last but not least, new models of financial crime. This book approaches the evolution of digital finance from a business perspective and in a holistic way, providing cutting-edge knowledge of how the digital financial system works in its three main domains: banking, insurance and capital markets. It offers a bird's eye view of the major issues and developments in these individual sectors. The book begins by examining the wider framework of the subsequent analysis and over the next three parts, discusses the opportunities, risks and challenges facing the digitalization of these individual financial subsectors, highlighting the similarities and differences in their digitalization agenda, as well as the existing linkages and dependencies among them. The book clarifies the strategic issues facing the development of digital finance in these major subsectors over the coming years. The book has three key messages: that digital transformation changes fundamentally the way financial businesses operate; that individual trades have their own digitalization agenda; and that the State with its regulatory power and central banking and money has a particularly important role to play. It will be of interest to scholars, students and researchers of finance and banking, as well as policymakers wishing to understand the values and limitations of new forms of digital money.

Stochastic portfolio theory is a mathematical methodology for constructing stock portfolios, analyzing the behavior of portfolios, and understanding the structure of equity markets. Stochastic portfolio theory has both theoretical and practical applications: as a theoretical tool it can be used to construct examples of theoretical portfolios with specified characteristics, and to determine the distributional component of portfolio return. On a practical level, stochastic portfolio theory has been the basis for strategies used for over a decade by the institutional equity manager INTECH, where the author has served as chief investment officer. This book is an introduction to stochastic portfolio theory for investment professionals and for students of mathematical finance. Each chapter includes a number of problems of varying levels of difficulty and a brief summary of the principal results of the chapter, without proofs.

A guide to the latest, most promising technical indicators and their applications

Momentum, direction, and divergence are the three basic components of nearly all technical indicators used in the analysis of stock and commodities trading. And for those who understand them and their applications, they are also the pillars of a high-performance trading strategy. In this groundbreaking book, technical wizard William Blau schools financial professionals in all three. Combining the latest financial information with dozens of eye-opening graphics, Blau clearly, concisely, and with a minimum of complex mathematics:

• Introduces the principle of double smoothing and develops potent new indicators based on double smoothing techniques
• Describes the uses and limitations of a variety of notable technical indicators
• Explains momentum, direction, and divergence and new ways to apply them
• Presents the True Strength Index and shows how it can dramatically improve most directional indicators
• Provides new ways of identifying divergence that make implementation far simpler than ever before

MOMENTUM, DIRECTION, AND DIVERGENCE

The Wiley Trader's Advantage is a series of concise, highly focused books designed to keep savvy traders in tune with the latest successful strategies and techniques used by the keenest minds in the business.

In this latest volume, technical expert Bill Blau shows you how momentum, direction, and divergence form the basis of most technical indicators and how they can work for you to provide a considerable competitive advantage. Clearly, concisely, and with a minimum of complex mathematics, Blau shows you how to understand and apply them. Integrating the latest financial insights with more than 75 easy-to-follow graphics, Blau describes the uses and limitations of many of today's most notable technical indicators. He then demonstrates a variety of ways in which the principles of momentum, direction, and divergence can be used to create a versatile new set of technical indicators or to improve the effectiveness of the most widely used traditional indicators.

Focusing on the groundbreaking double smoothing concept, which he introduces for the first time in this book, William Blau:

• Develops reliable new momentum indicators based on double smoothing techniques
• Shows how these indicators improve the effectiveness of most popular oscillators, including the RSI, MACD, and stochastic indicators, by solving a host of timing problems
• Combines the standard Welles Wilder techniques with his original True Strength Index to improve the effectiveness of most directional movement indicators
• Introduces new ways of identifying divergence that make implementation simpler than ever
• And much more

A complete guide to the most potent new indicators and their applications, Momentum, Direction, and Divergence is an indispensable resource for traders, portfolio managers, and all financial professionals.

Finally, there's a money guide to help single women survive and thrive. Single Women and Money is a highly readable guide that helps single women live a financially secure and successful life. It's a book for the millions of unmarried women in America who must make ends meet on a single salary-which is typically less than what men earn. Using stories of actual women, as well as data and experts' insights, the book chronicles the financial issues of single women. It provides the tools needed to tackle their daily and longer-term needs and probes the issues specific to divorcees, widows, women who never married, and single mothers. Single women reveal their moving stories detailing how many have overcome obstacles. From there, the book provides a wide range of specific guidance on money issues targeted to singles. These include saving, spending wisely, managing with children, shedding debt, investing in line with your values, planning for retirement and long-term care, navigating Social Security, paying taxes, landing a job after age 55, protecting financial assets and leaving a legacy. Offering resources women can turn to in hard times, the authors also suggest ways society can, and should, assist single women.

A unique perspective on applied investment theory and risk management from the Senior Risk Officer of a major pension fund

"Investment Theory and Risk Management" is a practical guide to today's investment environment. The book's sophisticated quantitative methods are examined by an author who uses these methods at the Virginia Retirement System "and" teaches them at the Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition to showing how investment performance can be evaluated, using Jensen's Alpha, Sharpe's Ratio, and DDM, he delves into four types of optimal portfolios (one that is fully invested, one with targeted returns, another with no short sales, and one with capped investment allocations).

In addition, the book provides valuable insights on risk, and topics such as anomalies, factor models, and active portfolio management. Other chapters focus on private equity, structured credit, optimal rebalancing, data problems, and Monte Carlo simulation.Contains investment theory and risk management spreadsheet models based on the author's own real-world experience with stock, bonds, and alternative assetsOffers a down-to-earth guide that can be used on a daily basis for making common financial decisions with a new level of quantitative sophistication and rigorWritten by the Director of Research and Senior Risk Officer for the Virginia Retirement System and an Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Business

"Investment Theory and Risk Management" empowers both the technical and non-technical reader with the essential knowledge necessary to understand and manage risks in any corporate or economic environment.

Over the past decade, socially responsible investment (SRI) has changed from being a niche market to become a core consideration for mainstream investors. As such, pension fund advisers, trustees of charitable foundations and other investment professionals want to understand this new phenomenon. Up to now they have lacked any reference book to teach them what they need to know about SRI. This gap is now filled by the publication of Socially Responsible Investment: A Global Revolution, the first book on SRI specifically written for investment professionals and their clients. The book will also help business executives and business schools looking at better corporate governance and business ethics.

Socially Responsible Investment describes how SRI has moved from fringe to mainstream on both sides of the Atlantic, and its current explosive growth rate in Asia and Europe. The book consists of three parts:

• Part One traces the historical development of the subject and analyses the different types of activity that comprise it. It also provides detailed analysis of the typical investor in SRI funds.
• Part Two describes the emerging consensus that SRI for institutional investors concentrates on four main issues: the environment, human rights, corporate governance, and financial return. Each of these subjects is covered in depth.
• Part Three concentrates on the rapid growth of socially responsible investment around the world, as it truly becomes a global revolution.

"To newcomers and veterans of the SRI movement, Russell Sparkes’ "Socially Responsible Investment, a Global Revolution" is a "must read". You will come away with a fresh appreciation of the history, evolution, and potential of socially responsible investing. The book is well researched. To Russell Sparkes--thank you!" Patricia Wolf, RSM, Executive Director, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

"The next few years will be crucial for the long term future of Socially Responsible Investment. Russell Sparkes’ timely book sets the scene very clearly for those who are shaping the agenda, but it will also be of value to people who are responding to the challenge of investing responsibly"  Helen Wildsmith, Executive Director, UK Social Investment Forum

"The Ethical Investor (1995) changed my views on what could done to harness investment to social responsibility in the UK context. This book now moves the agenda to the world stage and is essential reading for all those who can see the need to harness capitalism to SRI objectives in the post Sept. 11th world, and that after the Enron and Worldcom scandals, SRI can deliver the better world we need" Tony Colman MP, House of Commons International Development Select Committee

"The growth of SRI has been one of the most important - but often misunderstood - investment trends of the past decade. Russell Sparkes provides an invaluable analysis of the main SRI developments and issues for both professional and private investor alike, writing with true authority and insight" Stuart Bell, Research Director, PIRC Ltd

"At just the moment when the relationship between corporations and society is coming dominate political agendas, Russell Sparkes has produced an invaluable sequel to The Ethical Investor. Global in scope, Socially Responsible Investment is a practical, authoritative, readable guide that will well-serve both institutional and individual investors. Sparkes’ twenty plus years in the field and his understanding of cross-cultural issues give his work a unique depth and application wherever investors want to effect positive social change" Peter D. Kinder, Chief Executive Officer of KLD Research & Analytics, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts

"Russell Sparks has filled a huge need. In this magisterial volume, he has brought together the history, language and lore of shareholder activism and responsibility into coherence. For everyone searching for ways for owners to make corporations part of the solution for global problems, this book is a must read" Robert A.G. Monks, Chairman, Lens Investment Management and Publisher of www.ragm.com concerned with corporate governance and shareholder responsibility

"…a useful tool for investors and managers. Not the untested ideals of someone wishing to jump on the ethical band wagon but the considered and tested observations of a successful institutional investor of conviction"

"…having compared Socially Responsible Investment to an iceberg, Russell Sparkes explains many of those aspects of the subject not obvious on the surface." J E Rogers, Chief Executive, UKSIP The Society of Investment Professionals

A comprehensive text on financial market operations management Financial Market Operations Management offers anyone involved with administering, maintaining, and improving the IT systems within financial institutions a comprehensive text that covers all the essential information for managing operations. Written by Keith Dickinson an expert on the topic the book is comprehensive, practical, and covers the five essential areas of operations and management including participation and infrastructure, trade life cycle, asset servicing, technology, and the regulatory environment. This comprehensive guide also covers the limitations and boundaries of operational systems and focuses on their interaction with external parties including clients, counterparties, exchanges, and more. This essential resource reviews the key aspects of operations management in detail, including an examination of the entire trade life cycle, new issue distribution of bonds and equities, securities financing, as well as corporate actions, accounting, and reconciliations. The author highlights specific operational processes and challenges and includes vital formulae, spreadsheet applications, and exhibits. * Offers a comprehensive resource for operational staff in financial services * Covers the key aspects of operations management * Highlights operational processes and challenges * Includes an instructors manual, a test bank, and a solution manual This vital resource contains the information, processes, and illustrative examples needed for a clear understanding of financial market operations.

3i (Investors in Industry, and formerly the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation, etc.) is Britain's leading venture capital company. Founded in 1945 as a result of a combination of pressures and counter-pressures from political parties, Whitehall, the Bank of England, and the clearing banks, the organization has played a significant role in post-war investment banking and industrial development.
The first part of the book traces its history from the early years of post-war reconstruction and the role played by Piercy and Kinross, through the years of consolidation, to the higher-profile years of the change of name and style and the 1994 flotation. The second part offers an inside view of the workings of this unique institution - the controllers, 3i's role in developing MBOs, methods of assessing risk and return, its relationship with capital markets, etc.
During its first 50 years 3i has invested in numerous well known and successful companies - many of these are detailed in the text (British Caledonian, Oxford Instruments, Laura Ashley, etc.). The book is also elegantly and innovatively designed, making good use of the well known 3i cartoons.

Make the best choices for your money and earn big with this guide to high-risk, high-reward investment strategies including options trading, investing in meme stocks, and the business of cryptocurrency. Your favorite sites are filled with the latest investment trends and stories of other people making bank by making smart moves in the market. But how can you get your own share of the wealth? A Beginner's Guide to High-Risk, High-Reward Investing can help you make sense of trends, from short selling to cryptocurrency and "meme stock," breaking down the buzzwords to give you hard facts about the opportunities and risks of fringe investment strategies. With advice from expert Robert Ross, this easy-to-follow investing guide gives you everything you need to determine which high-risk, high-reward investment strategies are the best fit for your portfolio.