IF YOU CANNOT DO ALL THE QUESTION LEAVE FOR OTHER EXPERTS, DON'T JUST DO ONLY ONE QUESTION. PLEASE GIVE CORRECT ANSWERS...

507.1. According to Malz, each of the following statements is true about the mapping of risk factors to positions EXCEPT which is incorrect?

a) Mapping is the process of assigning risk factors to positions; in order to compute risk measures, we have to assign risk factors to securities

b) When the underlying position and its hedge can be mapped to the same risk factor (or set of risk factors), the appropriate measure value at risk (VaR) is zero

c) Mapping decisions are often pragmatic; for example, fixed-income cash-flow mappings are more accurate than duration mappings, but are more complex and require more risk factors

d) As a practical matter, it may be difficult to find data that address certain risk factors, a problem that may merely mirror the real-world challenge of of hedging or expressing some trade ideas

507.2. About the long-equity tranche, short-mezzanine credit trade in 2005, Malz writes "A widespread trade among hedge funds, as well as proprietary trading desks of banks and brokerages, was to sell protection on the equity tranche and buy protection on the junior mezzanine tranche of the CDX.NA.IG. The trade was thus long credit and credit-spread risk through the equity tranche and short credit and credit-spread risk through the mezzanine. It was executed using several CDX.NA.IG series, particularly the IG3 introduced in September 2004 and the IG4 introduced in March 20052.

The trade was designed to be default-risk-neutral at initiation; by sizing the two legs of the trade so that their credit spread sensitivities were equal. The motivation of the trade was not to profit from a view on credit or credit spreads, though it was primarily oriented toward market risk. Rather, it was intended to achieve a positively convex payoff profile. The portfolio of two positions would then benefit from credit spread volatility. In addition, the portfolio had positive carry; that is, it earned a positive net spread. Such trades are highly prized by traders, for whom they are akin to delta-hedged long option portfolios in which the trader receives rather than paying away time value2"

But, of course, many of these traders suffered large losses. According to Malz2, which of the following was the critical error in the trade?

a) The model ignored correlation altogether

b) The model failed to adequately capture and anticipate individual defaults

c) The model assumed a static implied correlation: deltas were partial derivatives that did not account for changing correlation, which drastically altered the hedge ratio

d) The recovery amount was at risk; in the event of a default on one or more of the names in the index, the recovery amount was not fixed but a random variable

507.3. Among the costliest model risk episodes was the failure of subprime residential mortgage-based security (RMBS) valuation and risk models during the 2008-2009 financial downturn. These models were employed by credit-rating agencies to assign ratings to bonds, by traders and investors to value the bonds, and by issuers to structure them. Consider the following potential model risks:

I. Models neglected off-balance-sheet vehicles altogether

II .Models assumed positive future house price appreciation

III. Correlations among regional housing markets were assumed to be low IV. Undue complexity of models including advanced mathematics that even models' authors

did not understand

V. The heavy reliance on value at risk (VaR) which many practitioners did not realize was

designed for market risk

According to Malz, while the models varied widely, two widespread MODEL defects were particularly important with respect to RMBS during the 2008-2009 downturn. Among the above, which are the two major defects in model assumptions?

a) I. and II.

b) II. and III.

c) III. and IV.

d) IV. and V.

508.1. Which of the following is "the risk of moving the price of an asset adversely in the act of buying or selling it" such that this risk is "low if assets can be liquidated or a position can be covered quickly, cheaply, and without moving the price too much"?

a) Transactions liquidity risk

b) Balance sheet risk

c) Funding liquidity risk

d) Systemic risk

508 2. About the funding liquidity risk of a fractional-reserve bank. Malz asserts each of the following statements as true EXCEPT which statement is not accurate?

a) Funding liquidity risk arises for market participants who borrow at short term to finance investments that require a longer time to become profitable; the balance-sheet situation of a market participant funding a longer-term asset with a shorter-term liability is called a maturity mismatch

b) In theory, the core function of a commercial bank is to take deposits and provide commercial and industrial loans to non-financial firms. In doing so, the bank cames out transformations in liquidity, maturity, and credit: it transforms long-term illiquid assets (e.g. loans to businesses) into short-term liquid ones, including deposits and other liabilities that can be used as money

c) Bank fragility can be mitigated through higher capital (which reduces depositors' concern about solvency, the typical trigger of a bank run), and higher reserves (which reduces concern about liquidity)

d) If a fractional-reserve bank carries out a liquidity and maturity transformation, and has liabilities it is obligated to repay at par and on demand, a properly calibrated asset liability management system can fully immunize (protect) the fractional-reserve bank against a general loss of confidence in its ability to pay out depositors

508 3. Consider investors in the following five asset classes:

i. Leveraged buyout (LBO) investors

ii. Merger arbitrage hedge funds

iii. Mortgage loan (ie., loans collateralized by real estate) investors

iv. Convertible band investors

v. Statistical arbitrage investors

Which of the above is (are) materially or meaningfully exposed to systematic funding liquidity risk?

a) None of the above:

b) I. and II. Only

c) III. and IV. only.

d) All of the above