This workshop was the first of its kind in bringing together researchers in probability theory, stochastic processes, insurance and finance from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and the United States. In particular, as China has joined the WTO, there is a growing demand for expertise in actuarial sciences and quantitative finance. The strong probability research and graduate education programs in many of China's universities can be enriched by their outreach in fields that are of growing importance to the country's expanding economy, and the workshop and its proceedings can be regarded as the first step in this direction.This book presents the most recent developments in probability, finance and actuarial sciences, especially in Chinese probability research. It focuses on the integration of probability theory with applications in finance and insurance. It also brings together academic researchers and those in industry and government. With contributions by leading authorities on probability theory — particularly limit theory and large derivations, valuation of credit derivatives, portfolio selection, dynamic protection and ruin theory — it is an essential source of ideas and information for graduate students and researchers in probability theory, mathematical finance and actuarial sciences, and thus every university should acquire a copy.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)• Index to Social Sciences & Humanities Proceedings® (ISSHP® / ISI Proceedings)• Index to Social Sciences & Humanities Proceedings (ISSHP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)• CC Proceedings — Engineering & Physical Sciences

This workshop was the first of its kind in bringing together researchers in probability theory, stochastic processes, insurance and finance from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and the United States. In particular, as China has joined the WTO, there is a growing demand for expertise in actuarial sciences and quantitative finance. The strong probability research and graduate education programs in many of China's universities can be enriched by their outreach in fields that are of growing importance to the country's expanding economy, and the workshop and its proceedings can be regarded as the first step in this direction. This book presents the most recent developments in probability, finance and actuarial sciences, especially in Chinese probability research. It focuses on the integration of probability theory with applications in finance and insurance. It also brings together academic researchers and those in industry and government. With contributions by leading authorities on probability theory OCo particularly limit theory and large derivations, valuation of credit derivatives, portfolio selection, dynamic protection and ruin theory OCo it is an essential source of ideas and information for graduate students and researchers in probability theory, mathematical finance and actuarial sciences, and thus every university should acquire a copy. The proceedings have been selected for coverage in: . OCo Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings). OCo Index to Social Sciences & Humanities Proceedings- (ISSHP- / ISI Proceedings). OCo Index to Social Sciences & Humanities Proceedings (ISSHP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings). OCo CC Proceedings OCo Engineering & Physical Sciences. Contents: Limit Theorems for Moving Averages (T L Lai); On Large Deviations for Moving Average Processes (L Wu); Recent Progress on Self-Normalized Limit Theorems (Q-M Shao); Limit Theorems for Independent Self-Normalized Sums (B-Y Jing); Phase Changes in Random Recursive Structures and Algorithms (H-K Hwang); JohnsonOCoMehl Tessellations: Asymptotics and Inferences (S N Chiu); Rapid Simulation of Correlated Defaults and the Valuation of Basket Default Swaps (Z Zhang et al.); Dynamic Protection with Optimal Withdrawal (H U Gerber & E S W Shiu); Ruin Probability for a Model Under Markovian Switching Regime (H Yang & G Yin); and other papers. Readership: Researchers and graduate students in probability and statistics."

This book provides a compact and systematic overview of closure properties of heavy-tailed and related distributions, including closure under tail equivalence, convolution, finite mixing, maximum, minimum, convolution power and convolution roots, and product-convolution closure. It includes examples and counterexamples that give an insight into the theory and provides numerous references to technical details and proofs for a deeper study of the subject. The book will serve as a useful reference for graduate students, young researchers, and applied scientists.

Since 2004, the Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU) has been conducting workshops that serve as a forum for academic researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas and developments in different fields of finance. This book is based on papers presented at the 2014 workshop held in Tokyo, on 6-7 November, 2014. The chapters address state-of-the-art techniques in mathematical finance and financial engineering. The authors share ideas and information on new methods and up-to-date results of their research in these fields. This book is a must-read for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in the fields of mathematical finance, quantitative finance and financial engineering.

Everyone working in related fields from applied mathematicians to statisticians to actuaries and operations researchers will find this a brilliantly useful practical text. The book presents applications of semi-Markov processes in finance, insurance and reliability, using real-life problems as examples. After a presentation of the main probabilistic tools necessary for understanding of the book, the authors show how to apply semi-Markov processes in finance, starting from the axiomatic definition and continuing eventually to the most advanced financial tools.

Valuation and hedging of financial derivatives are intrinsically linked concepts. Choosing appropriate hedging techniques depends on both the type of derivative and assumptions placed on the underlying stochastic process. This volume provides a systematic treatment of hedging in incomplete markets. Mean-variance hedging under the risk-neutral measure is applied in the framework of exponential L vy processes and for derivatives written on defaultable assets. It is discussed how to complete markets based upon stochastic volatility models via trading in both stocks and vanilla options. Exponential utility indifference pricing is explored via a duality with entropy minimization. Backward stochastic differential equations offer an alternative approach and are moreover applied to study markets with trading constraints including basis risk. A range of optimal martingale measures are discussed including the entropy, Esscher and minimal martingale measures. Quasi-symmetry properties of stochastic processes are deployed in the semi-static hedging of barrier options. This book is directed towards both graduate students and researchers in mathematical finance, and will also provide an orientation to applied mathematicians, financial economists and practitioners wishing to explore recent progress in this field.

Credit risk is one of the most important contemporary problems for banks and insurance companies. Indeed, for banks, more than forty percent of the equities are necessary to cover this risk. Though this problem is studied by large rating agencies with substantial economic, social and financial tools, building stochastic models is nevertheless necessary to complete this descriptive orientation. This book presents a complete presentation of such a category of models using homogeneous and non-homogeneous semi-Markov processes developed by the authors in several recent papers. This approach provides a good method of evaluating the default risk and the classical VaR indicators used for Solvency II and Basel III governance rules. This book is the first to present a complete semi-Markov treatment of credit risk while also insisting on the practical use of the models presented here, including numerical aspects, so that this book is not only useful for scientific research but also to managers working in this field for banks, insurance companies, pension funds and other financial institutions.