The proliferation of financial derivatives over the past decades, options in particular, has underscored the increasing importance of derivative pricing literacy among students, researchers, and practitioners. Derivative Pricing: A Problem-Based Primer demystifies the essential derivative pricing theory by adopting a mathematically rigorous yet widely accessible pedagogical approach that will appeal to a wide variety of audience. Abandoning the traditional "black-box" approach or theorists' "pedantic" approach, this textbook provides readers with a solid understanding of the fundamental mechanism of derivative pricing methodologies and their underlying theory through a diversity of illustrative examples. The abundance of exercises and problems makes the book well-suited as a text for advanced undergraduates, beginning graduates as well as a reference for professionals and researchers who need a thorough understanding of not only "how," but also "why" derivative pricing works. It is especially ideal for students who need to prepare for the derivatives portion of the Society of Actuaries Investment and Financial Markets Exam. Features Lucid explanations of the theory and assumptions behind various derivative pricing models. Emphasis on intuitions, mnemonics as well as common fallacies. Interspersed with illustrative examples and end-of-chapter problems that aid a deep understanding of concepts in derivative pricing. Mathematical derivations, while not eschewed, are made maximally accessible. A solutions manual is available for qualified instructors. The Author Ambrose Lo is currently Assistant Professor of Actuarial Science at the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Iowa. He received his Ph.D. in Actuarial Science from the University of Hong Kong in 2014, with dependence structures, risk measures, and optimal reinsurance being his research interests. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA). His research papers have been published in top-tier actuarial journals, such as ASTIN Bulletin: The Journal of the International Actuarial Association, Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, and Scandinavian Actuarial Journal.

While many financial engineering books are available, the statistical aspects behind the implementation of stochastic models used in the field are often overlooked or restricted to a few well-known cases. Statistical Methods for Financial Engineering guides current and future practitioners on implementing the most useful stochastic models used in financial engineering. After introducing properties of univariate and multivariate models for asset dynamics as well as estimation techniques, the book discusses limits of the Black-Scholes model, statistical tests to verify some of its assumptions, and the challenges of dynamic hedging in discrete time. It then covers the estimation of risk and performance measures, the foundations of spot interest rate modeling, Levy processes and their financial applications, the properties and parameter estimation of GARCH models, and the importance of dependence models in hedge fund replication and other applications. It concludes with the topic of filtering and its financial applications. This self-contained book offers a basic presentation of stochastic models and addresses issues related to their implementation in the financial industry. Each chapter introduces powerful and practical statistical tools necessary to implement the models. The author not only shows how to estimate parameters efficiently, but he also demonstrates, whenever possible, how to test the validity of the proposed models. Throughout the text, examples using MATLAB (R) illustrate the application of the techniques to solve real-world financial problems. MATLAB and R programs are available on the author's website.

'A shocking, enraging, sometimes hilarious exposé of a tax system that lives down to all our worst fears of further enriching the wealthy at the expense of the little guys.' - Piers Morgan 'Very funny (and furious)... By the end of the book you may be spluttering with rage at the injustice of it all. Page after page shows how the rich are exploiting loopholes to reduce their tax bill.... But this is not some crazed figure on the extreme left hoping to bring down the establishment. The book is written by an accountant who has spent his career coming up with the very tax avoidance schemes the super-wealthy use to evade the clutches of HMRC.' - The Telegraph 'Funny, clever and really quite brilliant. Taxtopia will make you furiously angry and possibly even filthy rich.' - Tom Peck, The Independent 'If you want to know how skewed the system is and how the rich always get richer and stay that way, while you don't, then read this book. Then get angry.' - Patrick Alley, Co-founder of Global Witness and author of Very Bad People 'Taxtopia's anonymous author has done the impossible - created a hilarious and deeply troubling expose about how the world's shady tax system is exploited and proves what we always suspected - that our tax system is rigged against us. Read it and weep.' - Geraint Anderson author of City Boy 'Would I recommend the book? For readers of Spear's, my answer is 'yes, and it may also be worth going back over some of the more interesting ideas with your accountant' -Spear's In TAXTOPIA a rogue accountant breaks ranks to share his journey from clueless naïf to skilled tax consultant -and in doing so blows the lid on the murky world of making the tax burdens of the ultra-wealthy disappear. In the topsy-turvy world of tax avoidance, you can get richer by buying a yacht, the world's biggest exporter of coffee is Switzerland, and billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Donald Trump and the Duke of Westminster often pay less tax than you do. Written with sharp wit and over-brimming with inside secrets, the anonymous author shows us that not only does the global tax system encourage dubious practice which favours the rich, but that it was specifically founded with that in mind. If you suspect that tax is a rigged game, a con, designed to fleece the little guy, you are about to find out just how shockingly true that really is. Welcome to TAXTOPIA.

Recent years have witnessed massive development in both the venture capital market and in academic research relating to this market. The aims of this timely collection are to identify leading contributions to this developing area from the past two decades; to reflect the growing multi-disciplinarity of research on venture capital; and to highlight the need to recognize international differences in venture capital markets. The editors have written an authoritative overview, signaling where venture capital research has come and where it is going. This is a vital collection of writings for those wanting to become familiar with venture capital research.

Kirk Harrison Taitt examines the threat money laundering and terrorist financing pose to Caribbean island nations involved in international financial services, the role of compliance regimes in averting sanctions and the future of these nations at the table of global capital. He addresses and, indeed, positions island nations in a strategic space outside the global clamour, unceasing debate and severe criticism over their bona-fides/qualifications to engage in the trillion-dollar industry of offshore finance, alongside their G20 nemeses. He asserts a high ground (ethical) approach as essential to counteracting potential reputational harm. Throughout the book, Taitt weaves a governance, risk and compliance (GRC) thread in order to speak directly to practitioners and to demonstrate how a strong GRC paradigm at the jurisdictional and institutional levels could be leveraged for competitive advantage. Among the key recommendations outlined in his IRIE Mitigation Matrix are: effective regulatory governance of the jurisdiction's financial system by ensuring conformance with international standards, the deployment of sufficient resources to adequately supervise financial institutions and the promotion of values-based decision-making amongst corporate financial managers and leaders. He also recommends on-going engagement of the wider civil society to ensure present and future generations of the Caribbean island financial centre (IFC) workforce appreciate the value of personal moral excellence in business and its inextricable link to sustainable development of the IFC sector.

McClean argues that a collective move towards stewardship within the financial industry is necessary to restore ethical behaviour and public confidence. Drawing on practical examples and offering new policy recommendations, this unique philosophical study paints a picture of what a truly ethical trading culture of the future might look like.

Why are financial prices so much more crisis-prone and unstable than real economy prices? Because they are doing different things. Unlike real economy prices, rooted in the real goods and services produced and exchanged, financial prices attempt to value future income flows from financial and capital assets. These valuations fluctuate erratically because expectations of the future fluctuate - and large liquid financial markets can amplify, rather than correct, these effects. The book builds on the insights of economists Frank Knight and John Maynard Keynes, that uncertainty of the future is essential to understand the processes of economic production and capital investment, and adds to this Karl Popper's general explanation of how expectations of an uncertain future are formed and tested through a trial and error process. Rather than relying on fluctuating financial prices to provide a guide to an uncertain future, it suggests a better approach would be to adopt the methods common to other branches of science, and create testable (falsifiable) theories allowing reasonable predictions to be made. In finance, the elements of one such theory could be based on the concept of forecasting yield from capital assets, which is a measurable phenomenon tending towards aggregate and long-term stability, and where there is a plentiful supply of historic data. By methods like this, financial economics could become a branch of science like any other. To buttress this approach, the widely accepted public policy objective of promoting real economy price stability could be widened to include financial price stability.

Microcredit took the development world by storm as a tool for poverty alleviation in the 1980s. After being hailed as a panacea, a few decades on it started being forcefully criticised based on its practice. This book explores Akhuwat (literally brotherhood), a rapidly growing Pakistani NGO formed in 2001, which addresses the shortcomings of conventional microfinance. Its vision is of a society built on empathy and social solidarity and its mission is that of creating self-sufficiency among the entrepreneurial poor. This book examines whether Akhuwat fulfils its promises of not pushing loans or encouraging clients to get on a debt treadmill and helping them to avoid high debt burdens by charging no interest and easing repayment terms. Conventional microcredit organizations are criticised for losing sight of the original mission of poverty alleviation by engaging in empire building and Akhuwat's goal is to avoid this by embracing an alternative strategy of scaling up. Finally, this book also analyses Akhuwat's approach as being gender sensitive and embracing all religions, castes and ethnicities. Based on fieldwork designed to assess if Akhuwat is the microcredit alternative it claims to be, this book will be of interest to scholars of poverty and development studies in general and microcredit in particular.

Written by prominent thought leaders in the global fintech space, The AI Book aggregates diverse expertise into a single, informative volume and explains what artifical intelligence really means and how it can be used across financial services today. Key industry developments are explained in detail, and critical insights from cutting-edge practitioners offer first-hand information and lessons learned. Coverage includes: - Understanding the AI Portfolio: from machine learning to chatbots, to natural language processing (NLP); a deep dive into the Machine Intelligence Landscape; essentials on core technologies, rethinking enterprise, rethinking industries, rethinking humans; quantum computing and next-generation AI - AI experimentation and embedded usage, and the change in business model, value proposition, organisation, customer and co-worker experiences in today's Financial Services Industry - The future state of financial services and capital markets - what's next for the real-world implementation of AITech? - The innovating customer - users are not waiting for the financial services industry to work out how AI can re-shape their sector, profitability and competitiveness - Boardroom issues created and magnified by AI trends, including conduct, regulation & oversight in an algo-driven world, cybersecurity, diversity & inclusion, data privacy, the 'unbundled corporation' & the future of work, social responsibility, sustainability, and the new leadership imperatives - Ethical considerations of deploying Al solutions and why explainable Al is so important

The Routledge Handbook of Banking and Finance in Asia brings together leading scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to provide a comprehensive and cutting-edge guide to Asia's financial institutions, markets, and systems. Part I provides a country-by-country overview of banking and finance in East, Southeast, and South Asia, including examples from China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, and Singapore. Part II contains thematic chapters, covering topics such as commercial banking, development banking, infrastructure finance, stock markets, insurance, and sovereign wealth funds. It also includes examinations of banking regulation and supervision, and analyses of macroprudential regulation, capital flow management measures, and monetary policy. Finally, it provides new insights into topical issues such as SME, green, and Islamic finance. This handbook is an essential resource for scholars and students of Asian economics and finance and for professionals working in financial markets in Asia.

Featured as Book of the Week by The Wire China in August 2020! If your business has anything to do with China or you simply seek to understand the rise of China, you need to read this book. In The China Paradox, business strategist and historian Dr. Paul G. Clifford uses vivid examples from his deep experience in China to lay bare the delicate and fragile balance of forces which lie at the heart of China's success. He explains how, against all the odds, the ruling Communist Party boldly led the economic reforms as the surest way to preserve their grip on power. This flourishing of China's hybrid developmental model is placed firmly in the historical context, shedding light on the legacies that thwarted earlier attempts at change and which today still threaten to render the progress unsustainable. China is taking its place on the world economic stage, displaying business acumen and innovation. But China's un-reformed political governance, coupled with the challenges resulting from breakneck growth, may hamper the nation's ability to realize its potential and impact its longer-term prospects. This book is for anyone who needs to understand how China competes, anyone with business or other affairs in China, and anyone involved in foreign trade will benefit from this book. Click to read the author's article on Open Democracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/the-us-should-not-demonize-huawei-it-should-invest-to-compete/ Click here to see a related article in the South China Morning Post: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2134180/reform-or-no-reform-authors-clash-over-chinas-way

Understand Up-to-Date Statistical Techniques for Financial and Actuarial Applications Since the first edition was published, statistical techniques, such as reliability measurement, simulation, regression, and Markov chain modeling, have become more prominent in the financial and actuarial industries. Consequently, practitioners and students must acquire strong mathematical and statistical backgrounds in order to have successful careers. Financial and Actuarial Statistics: An Introduction, Second Edition enables readers to obtain the necessary mathematical and statistical background. It also advances the application and theory of statistics in modern financial and actuarial modeling. Like its predecessor, this second edition considers financial and actuarial modeling from a statistical point of view while adding a substantial amount of new material. New to the Second Edition Nomenclature and notations standard to the actuarial field Excel exercises with solutions, which demonstrate how to use Excel functions for statistical and actuarial computations Problems dealing with standard probability and statistics theory, along with detailed equation links A chapter on Markov chains and actuarial applications Expanded discussions of simulation techniques and applications, such as investment pricing Sections on the maximum likelihood approach to parameter estimation as well as asymptotic applications Discussions of diagnostic procedures for nonnegative random variables and Pareto, lognormal, Weibull, and left truncated distributions Expanded material on surplus models and ruin computations Discussions of nonparametric prediction intervals, option pricing diagnostics, variance of the loss function associated with standard actuarial models, and Gompertz and Makeham distributions Sections on the concept of actuarial statistics for a collection of stochastic status models The book presents a unified approach to both financial and actuarial modeling through the use of general status structures. The authors define future time-dependent financial actions in terms of a status structure that may be either deterministic or stochastic. They show how deterministic status structures lead to classical interest and annuity models, investment pricing models, and aggregate claim models. They also employ stochastic status structures to develop financial and actuarial models, such as surplus models, life insurance, and life annuity models.

Despite being an integral part of modern economic science, the subject of financial economics has deep historical roots. Geoffrey Poitras provides an exhaustive account of the early development of the subject and, in so doing, provides a sound basis for the study of modern financial economics. By the time The Wealth of Nations had appeared, financial economics featured a well developed body of scientific knowledge, covering subjects such as fixed income evaluation, life insurance and derivative securities. From beginnings which are traced back to the commercial arithmetic of the Renaissance reckoning schools, by the latter part of the 18th century financial economics had witnessed contributions by the likes of Abraham de Moivre, Edmond Halley and Simon Stevin. This book chronicles the development of early financial economics, from the appearance of the first printed commercial arithmetic in 1478 to the publication of The Wealth of Nations in 1776. This book will prove invaluable to scholars of financial economics and the history of economic thought.

Financial market reform has focused chiefly on the threats to stability arising from the risky, uncontrolled activity of the leaders of financial institutions. Nevertheless, organized crime, white-collar crime, and corruption have a huge impact on financial systems worldwide and must also be confronted if true reform is to be achieved. A collection of articles written by experts in their fields of study, Financial Crimes: A Threat to Global Security spotlights the importance of addressing the problem of illegal financial activity as part of a greater comprehensive plan for reforming the financial sector. Drawn from the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) held in Vienna, the book explores the major themes discussed at this elite symposium. In the first section, the contributors examine changing concepts in security over the course of history and across nations. They discuss how an event in Austria led to the implementation of a new security philosophy that is now followed by the majority of the European Union. The book examines the diverse models of preventing security threats that have grown from that idea as well as the gradual expansion of the role of the security council of the United Nations. The next section analyzes the present state of security worldwide and examines the wide array of criminal activity that plagues the financial sector. Expert contributors reveal methods to identify certain types of behavior and criminals as well as efforts to combat illegal activity-including the role of the media. The final section investigates alternative approaches to preventing another worldwide financial disaster through investigative reporting, human factors analysis, legislative initiatives, and other methods. Filled with insight from international experts, the book highlights both the warning signs to illegal activity as well as the mos

China's financial system and its legal reform have drawn a great deal of attention from around the world. This fast development is motivated by political, social, and economic factors. In addition, the continuing calls for establishing economic justice have contributed to further reforms of this system. Nevertheless, despites these rapid developments, the challenges and constraints are many; eg, the mismatch between the legal framework and financial development, inefficiency of the legal regime, difficulties in enforcing the law, and financial crimes. This collection uncovers the motivation, strength and strategy of these reforms, and examines their real impact in China.

Build a better, faster forecast. In this Authority Guide, forecasting guru Simon Thompson shows you how to build financial forecasts quickly, effectively and cheaply through his unique, proven and easy-to-follow 10-step process. By learning how to create effective forecasts you will master the ability to understand the potential financial outcomes for your business and be able to communicate financial information in order to successfully raise investment or loans.

This timely book offers important new insights into the boundaries between political and financial geographies, focusing on the links between the changing strategies, policies and institutions of the state. It investigates banks and other financial institutions affected by both state policies and a globalizing financial system, and the financial resources available to firms as well as households. In so doing, the book highlights how an empirical focus on the semi-periphery of the financial system may generate new perspectives on the entanglement between geopolitics and finance. Chapters explore a range of place-specific relations, highlighting the impact of state-led reforms, the importance of models, innovation and adaptation to local conditions, and bank intermediation. Conceptually, the book engages with insights from a variety of disciplines in order to explore the connections between geo-political and geo-economic discourses, public finance and foreign policy, the practices and localization of financial institutions, and the evolution of strategies for globalizing firms. Political and financial geographers will find this book to be a compelling read, as it sheds new light on the semi-periphery, which is often overlooked in studies addressing the global financial system. Economic policy-makers working on the nexus between politics, finance and development will also benefit from reading this book. Contributors include: S. Ageeva, G. Battisti, F. Betioli Contel, S. Grandi, J. Jafri, G. Lim, A. Mishura, T.T. Nguyen, M. Percoco, U. Rosati, C. Sellar, E. Stavrova, E. Yilmaz

Also known as the Libor market model, the Brace-Gatarek-Musiela (BGM) model is becoming an industry standard for pricing interest rate derivatives. Written by one of its developers, Engineering BGM builds progressively from simple to more sophisticated versions of the BGM model, offering a range of methods that can be programmed into production code to suit readers' requirements. After introducing the standard lognormal flat BGM model, the book focuses on the shifted/displaced diffusion version. Using this version, the author develops basic ideas about construction, change of measure, correlation, calibration, simulation, timeslicing, pricing, delta hedging, barriers, callable exotics (Bermudans), and vega hedging. Subsequent chapters address cross-economy BGM, the adaptation of the BGM model to inflation, a simple tractable stochastic volatility version of BGM, and Brazilian options suitable for BGM analysis. An appendix provides notation and an extensive array of formulae. The straightforward presentation of various BGM models in this handy book will help promote a robust, safe, and stable environment for calibrating, simulating, pricing, and hedging interest rate instruments.

Guide to Optimal Operational Risk and Basel II presents the key aspects of operational risk management that are also aligned with the Basel II requirements. This volume provides detailed guidance for the design and implementation of an efficient operational risk management system. It contains all elements of assessment, including operational risk identification, measurement, modeling, and monitoring analysis, along with evaluation analysis and the estimation of capital requirements. The authors also address the managing and controlling of operational risks including operational risk profiling, risk optimization, cost & optimal resource allocation, decision-making, and design of optimal risk policies. Divided into four parts, this book begins by introducing the idea of operational risks and how they affect financial organizations. This section also focuses on the main aspects of managing operational risks. The second part focuses on the requirements of an operational risk management framework according to the Basel II Accord. The third part focuses on all stages of operational risk assessment, and the fourth part focuses on the control and management stages. All of these stages combine to implement efficient and optimal operational risk management systems.

The role of a financial manager is to ensure the financial sustainability of a firm by maintaining a firm's profitability, liquidity and solvency. Sales may generate revenue, but it is only when credit sales are converted into cash once debtors settle their accounts that these goals are achieved. As firms attempt to ensure their sustainability, they face competition from other firms, regulation, policy uncertainty and taxation issues, new technologies, as well as a dependency on suppliers and labour, plus challenges from environmental issues and dynamic economic conditions. Finance for non-financial managers explains the long-term goal of creating value, followed by the short-term goals of profitability, liquidity and solvency. A firm has to acquire assets and to finance them at the lowest cost possible. However, the management of these assets is not exclusively in the hands of a financial manager. Other functional departments, especially supply chain management and marketing, play a significant role. Finance for non-financial managers thus provides an understanding of the principles of financial management required to contribute favourably to the long-term sustainability of a firm. Finance for non-financial managers explains the financial goals of a firm, and illustrates how the principles of finance should be applied in creating wealth as opposed to simply maximising profit. With its thought-provoking opening cases and user-friendly content, this book is ideal for anyone who has little or no prior knowledge of accounting or financial management. Finance for non-financial managers is a useful resource for managers involved in marketing, human resources, logistics, supply chain management and information management, and for professionals such as engineers, architects, attorneys and medical professionals in private practice.

Data quality will either make you or break you in the financial services industry. Missing prices, wrong market values, trading violations, client performance restatements, and incorrect regulatory filings can all lead to harsh penalties, lost clients, and financial disaster. This practical guide provides data analysts, data scientists, and data practitioners in financial services firms with the framework to apply manufacturing principles to financial data management, understand data dimensions, and engineer precise data quality tolerances at the datum level and integrate them into your data processing pipelines. You'll get invaluable advice on how to: Evaluate data dimensions and how they apply to different data types and use cases Determine data quality tolerances for your data quality specification Choose the points along the data processing pipeline where data quality should be assessed and measured Apply tailored data governance frameworks within a business or technical function or across an organization Precisely align data with applications and data processing pipelines And more

Learn to conduct financial statement analysis as you review actual financial statements from real companies with Wahlen/Baginski/Bradshaw's FINANCIAL REPORTING, FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS AND VALUATION, 10E. This balanced, comprehensive approach reflects the latest developments in accounting standards, financial analysis and valuation. You apply concepts from economics, business strategy, finance and accounting as you progress through a unique six-step process for analysis and valuation. Quick Checks after each section remind you of key insights. Each chapter includes a continuing example from The Clorox Company so you can apply each step of the analysis and valuation process to real financial statements. Numerous actual examples, problems and cases also include a continuing end-of-chapter case from Walmart. MindTap digital resources and an updated Financial Statements Analysis Package (FSAP) provide an Excel (R) model to make the analysis, forecasting and valuation process more efficient.