IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v210y2011i2p410-424.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Robust portfolio optimization with derivative insurance guarantees

Author

Listed:
  • Zymler, Steve
  • Rustem, Berç
  • Kuhn, Daniel

Abstract

Robust portfolio optimization aims to maximize the worst-case portfolio return given that the asset returns are allowed to vary within a prescribed uncertainty set. If the uncertainty set is not too large, the resulting portfolio performs well under normal market conditions. However, its performance may substantially degrade in the presence of market crashes, that is, if the asset returns materialize far outside of the uncertainty set. We propose a novel robust optimization model for designing portfolios that include European-style options. This model trades off weak and strong guarantees on the worst-case portfolio return. The weak guarantee applies as long as the asset returns are realized within the prescribed uncertainty set, while the strong guarantee applies for all possible asset returns. The resulting model constitutes a convex second-order cone program, which is amenable to efficient numerical solution procedures. We evaluate the model using simulated and empirical backtests and analyze the impact of the insurance guarantees on the portfolio performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Zymler, Steve & Rustem, Berç & Kuhn, Daniel, 2011. "Robust portfolio optimization with derivative insurance guarantees," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 210(2), pages 410-424, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:210:y:2011:i:2:p:410-424
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377-2217(10)00625-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. André Lucas & Arjen Siegmann, 2008. "The Effect of Shortfall as a Risk Measure for Portfolios with Hedge Funds," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1‐2), pages 200-226, January.
    2. Harry Markowitz, 1952. "Portfolio Selection," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 7(1), pages 77-91, March.
    3. Howe, M A & Rustem, B & Selby, M J P, 1994. "Minimax Hedging Strategy," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 7(4), pages 245-275.
    4. Laurent El Ghaoui & Maksim Oks & Francois Oustry, 2003. "Worst-Case Value-At-Risk and Robust Portfolio Optimization: A Conic Programming Approach," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 51(4), pages 543-556, August.
    5. Sebastián Ceria & Robert A Stubbs, 2006. "Incorporating estimation errors into portfolio selection: Robust portfolio construction," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(2), pages 109-127, July.
    6. Ravi Jagannathan & Tongshu Ma, 2003. "Risk Reduction in Large Portfolios: Why Imposing the Wrong Constraints Helps," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1651-1683, August.
    7. Merton, Robert C., 1976. "Option pricing when underlying stock returns are discontinuous," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1-2), pages 125-144.
    8. André Lucas & Arjen Siegmann, 2008. "The Effect of Shortfall as a Risk Measure for Portfolios with Hedge Funds," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1‐2), pages 200-226, January.
    9. R.H. Tütüncü & M. Koenig, 2004. "Robust Asset Allocation," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 157-187, November.
    10. Vijay K. Chopra & Chris R. Hensel & Andrew L. Turner, 1993. "Massaging Mean-Variance Inputs: Returns from Alternative Global Investment Strategies in the 1980s," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(7), pages 845-855, July.
    11. Philippe Artzner & Freddy Delbaen & Jean‐Marc Eber & David Heath, 1999. "Coherent Measures of Risk," Mathematical Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 203-228, July.
    12. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-654, May-June.
    13. Karthik Natarajan & Dessislava Pachamanova & Melvyn Sim, 2008. "Incorporating Asymmetric Distributional Information in Robust Value-at-Risk Optimization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(3), pages 573-585, March.
    14. Cees Dert & Bart Oldenkamp, 2000. "Optimal Guaranteed Return Portfolios and the Casino Effect," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 48(5), pages 768-775, October.
    15. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:4:p:1651-1684 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Victor DeMiguel & Francisco J. Nogales, 2009. "Portfolio Selection with Robust Estimation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 57(3), pages 560-577, June.
    17. Merton, Robert C., 1980. "On estimating the expected return on the market : An exploratory investigation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 323-361, December.
    18. Rustem, Berc & Becker, Robin G. & Marty, Wolfgang, 2000. "Robust min-max portfolio strategies for rival forecast and risk scenarios," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 24(11-12), pages 1591-1621, October.
    19. A. Ben-Tal & A. Nemirovski, 1998. "Robust Convex Optimization," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 769-805, November.
    20. D. Goldfarb & G. Iyengar, 2003. "Robust Portfolio Selection Problems," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 1-38, February.
    21. Dong‐Hyun Ahn & Jacob Boudoukh & Matthew Richardson & Robert F. Whitelaw, 1999. "Optimal Risk Management Using Options," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(1), pages 359-375, February.
    22. Frank Lutgens & Jos Sturm & Antoon Kolen, 2006. "Robust One-Period Option Hedging," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 54(6), pages 1051-1062, December.
    23. Dimitris Bertsimas & David B. Brown, 2009. "Constructing Uncertainty Sets for Robust Linear Optimization," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 57(6), pages 1483-1495, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alireza Ghahtarani & Ahmed Saif & Alireza Ghasemi, 2021. "Robust Portfolio Selection Problems: A Comprehensive Review," Papers 2103.13806, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    2. Frank Fabozzi & Dashan Huang & Guofu Zhou, 2010. "Robust portfolios: contributions from operations research and finance," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 191-220, April.
    3. Alireza Ghahtarani & Ahmed Saif & Alireza Ghasemi, 2022. "Robust portfolio selection problems: a comprehensive review," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3203-3264, September.
    4. Maria Scutellà & Raffaella Recchia, 2013. "Robust portfolio asset allocation and risk measures," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 204(1), pages 145-169, April.
    5. Kolm, Petter N. & Tütüncü, Reha & Fabozzi, Frank J., 2014. "60 Years of portfolio optimization: Practical challenges and current trends," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 234(2), pages 356-371.
    6. Plachel, Lukas, 2019. "A unified model for regularized and robust portfolio optimization," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    7. Panos Xidonas & Ralph Steuer & Christis Hassapis, 2020. "Robust portfolio optimization: a categorized bibliographic review," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 292(1), pages 533-552, September.
    8. Erindi Allaj, 2020. "The Black–Litterman model and views from a reverse optimization procedure: an out-of-sample performance evaluation," Computational Management Science, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 465-492, October.
    9. Zhilin Kang & Zhongfei Li, 2018. "An exact solution to a robust portfolio choice problem with multiple risk measures under ambiguous distribution," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 87(2), pages 169-195, April.
    10. Gianfranco Guastaroba & Gautam Mitra & M Grazia Speranza, 2011. "Investigating the effectiveness of robust portfolio optimization techniques," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(4), pages 260-280, September.
    11. Goh, Joel Weiqiang & Lim, Kian Guan & Sim, Melvyn & Zhang, Weina, 2012. "Portfolio value-at-risk optimization for asymmetrically distributed asset returns," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(2), pages 397-406.
    12. Jang Ho Kim & Woo Chang Kim & Frank J. Fabozzi, 2014. "Recent Developments in Robust Portfolios with a Worst-Case Approach," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 103-121, April.
    13. Dai, Zhifeng & Wang, Fei, 2019. "Sparse and robust mean–variance portfolio optimization problems," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 523(C), pages 1371-1378.
    14. Jongbin Jung & Seongmoon Kim, 2017. "Developing a dynamic portfolio selection model with a self-adjusted rebalancing method," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(7), pages 766-779, July.
    15. Steve Zymler & Daniel Kuhn & Berç Rustem, 2013. "Worst-Case Value at Risk of Nonlinear Portfolios," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 172-188, July.
    16. Mainik, Georg & Mitov, Georgi & Rüschendorf, Ludger, 2015. "Portfolio optimization for heavy-tailed assets: Extreme Risk Index vs. Markowitz," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 115-134.
    17. Huang, Dashan & Zhu, Shushang & Fabozzi, Frank J. & Fukushima, Masao, 2010. "Portfolio selection under distributional uncertainty: A relative robust CVaR approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(1), pages 185-194, May.
    18. Selim Mankai & Khaled Guesmi, 2014. "Robust Portfolio Protection: A Scenarios-Based Approach," Working Papers hal-04141326, HAL.
    19. Somayyeh Lotfi & Stavros A. Zenios, 2024. "Robust mean-to-CVaR optimization under ambiguity in distributions means and covariance," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(7), pages 2115-2140, July.
    20. Kouaissah, Noureddine, 2021. "Robust conditional expectation reward–risk performance measures," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:210:y:2011:i:2:p:410-424. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.