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.

Hedge funds have become important players in the U.S. & global capital markets. These largely unregulated funds use: a variety of complex trading strategies & instruments, in their liberal use of leverage, in their opacity to outsiders, & in their convex compensation structure. These differences can exacerbate market failures associated with agency problems, externalities, & moral hazard. Counterparty credit risk mgmt. (CCRM) practices are the first line of defense against market disruptions with potential systemic consequences. This article examines how the unique nature of hedge funds may generate market failures that make CCRM for exposures to the funds intrinsically more difficult to manage, both for regulated institutions & for policymakers. Ill.

This report explores the extent to which hedge funds create or contribute to systemic risk, the role they played in the financial crisis, and whether and how the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 addresses the potential systemic risks posed by hedge funds.

The hedge fund industry has grown dramatically over the last two decades, with more than eight thousand funds now controlling close to two trillion dollars. Originally intended for the wealthy, these private investments have now attracted a much broader following that includes pension funds and retail investors. Because hedge funds are largely unregulated and shrouded in secrecy, they have developed a mystique and allure that can beguile even the most experienced investor. In Hedge Funds, Andrew Lo--one of the world's most respected financial economists--addresses the pressing need for a systematic framework for managing hedge fund investments. Arguing that hedge funds have very different risk and return characteristics than traditional investments, Lo constructs new tools for analyzing their dynamics, including measures of illiquidity exposure and performance smoothing, linear and nonlinear risk models that capture alternative betas, econometric models of hedge fund failure rates, and integrated investment processes for alternative investments. In a new chapter, he looks at how the strategies for and regulation of hedge funds have changed in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

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.

Hedge Funds: Structure, Strategies, and Performance provides a synthesis of the theoretical and empirical literature on this intriguing, complex, and frequently misunderstood topic. The book dispels some common misconceptions of hedge funds, showing that they are not a monolithic asset class but pursue highly diverse strategies. Furthermore, not all hedge funds are unusually risky, excessively leveraged, invest only in illiquid asses, attempt to profit from short-term market movements, or only benefit hedge fund managers due to their high fees. Among the core issues addressed are how hedge funds are structured and how they work, hedge fund strategies, leading issues in this investment, and the latest trends and developments. The authors examine hedge funds from a range of perspectives, and from the theoretical to the practical. The book explores the background, organization, and economics of hedge funds, as well as their structure. A key part is the diverse investment strategies hedge funds follow, for example some are activists, others focusing on relative value, and all have views on managing risk. The book examines various ways to evaluate hedge fund performance, and enhances understanding of their regulatory environment. The extensive and engaging examination of these issues help the reader understands the important issues and trends facing hedge funds, as well as their future prospects.

How to diagnose and monitor key hedge fund operational risks With the various scandals taking place with hedge funds, now more than ever, both financial and operational risks must be examined. Revealing how to effectively detect and evaluate often-overlooked operational risk factors in hedge funds, such as multi-jurisdictional regulatory coordination, organizational nesting, and vaporware, Hedge Fund Operational Due Diligence includes real-world examples drawn from the author's experiences dealing with the operational risks of a global platform of over 80 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, private equity, and real estate managers.