This book will present a comprehensive view of the risk characteristics, risk-adjusted performances, and risk exposures of various hedge fund indices. It will distinguish itself from other books and journal articles by focusing solely on hedge fund indices and emphasizing tail risk as a predictor of hedge fund index returns. The three chapters in this short book have not been previously published. - Presents new insights about the investability and performance measurement of an investor's final portfolio - Uses most recently developed investable hedge fund indexes to revise previous analyses of indexes - Focuses on 14 distinct types of hedge fund indices with daily data from January 1994 to December 2011

Hedge Funds summarizes the academic research on hedge funds and commodity trading advisors. The hedge fund industry has grown tremendously over the recent years. According to some industry estimates, hedge funds have increased from $39 million in 1990 to about $972 million in 2004 and the total number of hedge funds has gone up from 610 to 7,436 over the same period. At the same time, hedge fund strategies have changed significantly. In 1990 the macro strategy dominated the industry while in 2004 the equity hedge strategy had the largest share of the market. There has also been a shift in the type of investor in hedge funds. In the early 1990's the typical investor was a high net-worth individual investor, today the typical investor is an institutional investor. Thus, the hedge fund market has not only grown tremendously, but the nature of the market has changed. Despite the enormous growth of this industry, there is limited information available on hedge funds. As a result, there is a need for rigorous research from both the investors' and regulators' point of view. Investors need research to better understand their investment and their risk exposure. This research also helps investors recognize the extent of diversification benefits hedge funds offer in combination with investments in traditional asset classes, such as stocks and bonds. Regulators can use this research to identify situations where regulation may be needed to protect investors' interests and to understand the impact hedge funds trading strategies have on the stability of the financial markets. The first part of Hedge Funds summarizes hedge fund performance, including comparisons of risk-return characteristics of hedge funds with those of mutual funds, factors driving hedge fund returns, and persistence in hedge fund performance. The second part reviews research regarding the unique contractual features and characteristics of hedge funds and their influence on the risk-return tradeoffs. The third part reviews the role of hedge funds in a portfolio including the extent of diversification benefits and limitations of standard mean-variance framework for asset allocation. Finally, the authors summarize the research on the biases in hedge fund databases.

Whether already experienced with hedge funds or just thinking about investing in them, readers need a firm understanding of this unique investment vehicle in order to achieve maximum success. Hedge Funds unites over thirty of the top practitioners and academics in the hedge fund industry to provide readers with the latest findings in this field. Their analysis deals with a variety of topics, from new methods of performance evaluation to portfolio allocation and risk/return matters. Although some of the information is technical in nature, an understanding and applicability of the results as well as theoretical developments are stressed. Filled with in-depth insight and expert advice, Hedge Funds helps readers make the most of this flexible investment vehicle.

The ultimate guide to dealing with hedge fund risk in a post-Great Recession world Hedge funds have been faced with a variety of new challenges as a result of the ongoing financial crisis. The simultaneous collapse of major financial institutions that were their trading counterparties and service providers, fundamental and systemic increases in market volatility and illiquidity, and unrelenting demands from investors to redeem their hedge fund investments have conspired to make the climate for hedge funds extremely uncomfortable. As a result, many funds have failed or been forced to close due to poor performance. Managing Hedge Fund Risk and Financing: Adapting to a New Era brings together the many lessons learned from the recent crisis. Advising hedge fund managers and CFOs on how to manage the risk of their investment strategies and structure relationships to best insulate their firms and investors from the failures of financial counterparties, the book looks in detail at the various methodologies for managing hedge fund market, credit, and operational risks depending on the hedge fund's investment strategy. Also covering best practice ISDA, Prime Brokerage, Fee and Margin Lock Up, and including tips for Committed Facility lending contracts, the book includes everything you need to know to learn from the events of the past to inform your future hedge fund dealings. Shows how to manage hedge fund risk through the application of financial risk modelling and measurement techniques as well as the structuring of financial relationships with investors, regulators, creditors, and trading counterparties Written by a global finance expert, David Belmont, who worked closely with hedge fund clients during the crisis and experienced first hand what works Explains how to profit from the financial crisis In the wake of the Financial Crisis there have been calls for more stringent management of hedge fund risk, and this timely book offers comprehensive guidelines for CFOs looking to ensure world-class levels of corporate governance.

"TAIL RISKS" originate from the failure of mean reversion and the idealized bell curve of asset returns, which assumes that highly probable outcomes occur near the center of the curve and that unlikely occurrences, good and bad, happen rarely, if at all, at either "tail" of the curve. Ever since the global financial crisis, protecting investments against these severe tail events has become a priority for investors and money managers, but it is something Vineer Bhansali and his team at PIMCO have been doing for over a decade. In one of the first comprehensive and rigorous books ever written on tail risk hedging, he lays out a systematic approach to protecting portfolios from, and potentially benefiting from, rare yet severe market outcomes. Tail Risk Hedging is built on the author's practical experience applying macroeconomic forecasting and quantitative modeling techniques across asset markets. Using empirical data and charts, he explains the consequences of diversification failure in tail events and how to manage portfolios when this happens. He provides an easy-to-use, yet rigorous framework for protecting investment portfolios against tail risk and using tail hedging to play offense. Tail Risk Hedging explores how to: Generate profits from volatility and illiquidity during tail-risk events in equity and credit markets Buy attractively priced tail hedges that add value to a portfolio and quantify basis risk Interpret the psychology of investors in option pricing and portfolio construction Customize explicit hedges for retirement investments Hedge risk factors such as duration risk and inflation risk Managing tail risk is today's most significant development in risk management, and this thorough guide helps you access every aspect of it. With the time-tested and mathematically rigorous strategies described here, including pieces of computer code, you get access to insights to help mitigate portfolio losses in significant downturns, create explosive liquidity while unhedged participants are forced to sell, and create more aggressive yet tail-risk-focused portfolios. The book also gives you a unique, higher level view of how tail risk is related to investing in alternatives, and of derivatives such as zerocost collars and variance swaps. Volatility and tail risks are here to stay, and so should your clients' wealth when you use Tail Risk Hedging for managing portfolios. PRAISE FOR TAIL RISK HEDGING: "Managing, mitigating, and even exploiting the risk of bad times are the most important concerns in investments. Bhansali puts tail risk hedging and tail risk management under a microscope--pricing, implementation, and showing how we can fine-tune our risk exposures, which are all crucial ways in how we can better weather our bad times." -- ANDREW ANG, Ann F. Kaplan Professor of Business at Columbia University "This book is critical and accessible reading for fiduciaries, financial consultants and investors interested in both theoretical foundations and practical considerations for how to frame hedging downside risk in portfolios. It is a tremendous resource for anyone involved in asset allocation today." -- CHRISTOPHER C. GECZY, Ph.D., Academic Director, Wharton Wealth Management Initiative and Adj. Associate Professor of Finance, The Wharton School "Bhansali's book demonstrates how tail risk hedging can work, be concretely implemented, and lead to higher returns so that it is possible to have your cake and eat it too! A must read for the savvy investor." -- DIDIER SORNETTE, Professor on the Chair of Entrepreneurial Risks, ETH Zurich

Until about twenty years ago, the consensus view on the cause of financial-system distress was fairly simple: a run on one bank could easily turn to a panic involving runs on all banks, destroying some and disrupting the financial system. Since then, however, a series of events—such as emerging-market debt crises, bond-market meltdowns, and the Long-Term Capital Management episode—has forced a rethinking of the risks facing financial institutions and the tools available to measure and manage these risks. The Risks of Financial Institutions examines the various risks affecting financial institutions and explores a variety of methods to help institutions and regulators more accurately measure and forecast risk. The contributors--from academic institutions, regulatory organizations, and banking--bring a wide range of perspectives and experience to the issue. The result is a volume that points a way forward to greater financial stability and better risk management of financial institutions.