Course Content
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT: AN OVERVIEW
This topic is covered in study session 18 of the material provided by the Institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. describe the portfolio approach to investing; b. describe the steps in the portfolio management process; c. describe types of investors and distinctive characteristics and needs of each; d. describe defined contribution and defined benefit pension plans; e. describe aspects of the asset management industry; f. describe mutual funds and compare them with other pooled investment products.
0/6
PORTFOLIO RISK AND RETURN: PART I
This topic is covered in study session 18 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. calculate and interpret major return measures and describe their appropriate uses; b. compare the money-weighted and time-weighted rates of return and evaluate the performance of portfolios based on these measures; c. describe characteristics of the major asset classes that investors consider in forming portfolios; d. calculate and interpret the mean, variance, and covariance (or correlation) of asset returns based on historical data; e. explain risk aversion and its implications for portfolio selection; f. calculate and interpret portfolio standard deviation; g. describe the effect on a portfolio’s risk of investing in assets that are less than perfectly correlated; h. describe and interpret the minimum-variance and efficient frontiers of risky assets and the global minimum-variance portfolio; i. explain the selection of an optimal portfolio, given an investor’s utility (or risk aversion) and the capital allocation line.
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PORTFOLIO RISK AND RETURN: PART II
This topic is covered in study session 18 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. describe the implications of combining a risk-free asset with a portfolio of risky assets; b. explain the capital allocation line (CAL) and the capital market line (CML); c. explain systematic and nonsystematic risk, including why an investor should not expect to receive an additional return for bearing nonsystematic risk; d. explain return-generating models (including the market model) and their uses; e. calculate and interpret beta; f. explain the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), including its assumptions, and the security market line (SML); g. calculate and interpret the expected return of an asset using the CAPM; h. describe and demonstrate applications of the CAPM and the SML. i. calculate and interpret the Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio, M2, and Jensen’s alpha.
0/7
BASICS OF PORTFOLIO PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION
This topic is covered in study session 19 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. describe the reasons for a written investment policy statement (IPS); b. describe the major components of an IPS; c. describe risk and return objectives and how they may be developed for a client; d. distinguish between the willingness and the ability (capacity) to take risk in analyzing an investor’s financial risk tolerance; e. describe the investment constraints of liquidity, time horizon, tax concerns, legal and regulatory factors, and unique circumstances and their implications for the choice of portfolio assets; f. explain the specification of asset classes in relation to asset allocation; g. describe the principles of portfolio construction and the role of asset allocation in relation to the IPS. h. describe how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations may be integrated into portfolio planning and construction.
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INTRODUCTION TO RISK MANAGEMENT
This topic is covered in study session 19 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. define risk management; b. describe features of a risk management framework; c. define risk governance and describe elements of effective risk governance; d. explain how risk tolerance affects risk management; e. describe risk budgeting and its role in risk governance; f. identify financial and non-financial sources of risk and describe how they may interact; g. describe methods for measuring and modifying risk exposures and factors to consider in choosing among the methods.
0/7
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
This topic is covered in study session 19 of the material provided by the institute. After reading this chapter, a student shall be able to: a. explain principles of technical analysis, its applications, and its underlying assumptions; b. describe the construction of different types of technical analysis charts and interpret them; c. explain uses of trend, support, resistance lines, and change in polarity; d. describe common chart patterns; e. describe common technical analysis indicators (price-based, momentum oscillators, sentiment, and flow of funds); f. explain how technical analysts use cycles; g. describe the key tenets of Elliott Wave Theory and the importance of Fibonacci numbers; h. describe intermarket analysis as it relates to technical analysis and asset allocation.
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Portfolio Management
About Lesson

LOS F requires us to:

identify financial and non-financial sources of risk and describe how they may interact

 

Some of the major sources of financial risk are:

1. Market Risk

Market risk is the risk of the value of a firm’s investments going down as a result of market movements. It is also referred to as price risk. It may be due to changes in interest rates, stock prices, foreign exchange rates, commodity prices, etc.

The main drivers of market risk are fundamental economic conditions, industry or company events, etc.

2. Credit Risk

This risk is also called the default or counterparty risk. When there is counterparty failure in performing the repayment obligation on the due date, it gives rise to the low-quality assets, which in turn leads to credit risk.

The main drivers of the credit risk are an economic weakness, drop in demand, etc.

3. Liquidity Risk

Liquidity risk refers to the risk of possible bankruptcy arising due to the inability of the firm to meet its financial obligations. Due to the liquidity risk, the firm may have to sell its assets below the fair price.

The main drivers of the liquidity risk are:

a.  widening bid-ask spread in times of market strain,

b.  changes in market conditions or the market for specific assets,

c.  the size of the position, etc.

Some of the sources of non-financial risk are:

1. Settlement Risk

This risk is also known as Herstatt Risk. This risk arises as a result of a party failing to deliver, even though it has been paid for.

2. Legal Risk

The legal risk mainly arises due to two reasons:

a.  the risk that the enterprise may be sued due to non-legal compliance or any default, and

b.  not being able to make a fair legal argument.

3. Compliance Risk

It is the risk arising due to the inability of the enterprise to meet the regulatory, accounting, or tax compliance. This includes ‘injurious reliance’.

4. Model Risk

A major technology risk faced by financial institutions and firms is that the prices, risk management, and hedges produced by their models (mark-to-model) may be different from the actual market prices (mark-to-market).

The differences are caused by the fact that all models and assumptions are the best estimates of an unpredictable market and these models and assumptions may be invalid during periods of market stresses and the economy in turmoil.

One important type of model risk is the tail risk, where the events in the tail are occurring more frequently than expected by the model.

5. Operational Risk

It is the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people, and systems or from external events. The definition includes legal risk, which is the risk of loss, resulting from the failure to comply with the laws as well as the prudent ethical standards and contractual obligations. 

6. Solvency Risk

It is the risk of running out of cash or being unable to secure financing, or of rolling over debt.

Apart from the financial and the non-financial risks, there are individual risks also. These individual risks may result from the risk of:

a.  Theft

b.  Health

c.  Mortality

d.  Accident

e.  Wealth

 

Interactions Between Financial & Non-Financial Risks

There may be different from of interactions between the financial and non-financial risks, some of the risks may intensify the other risk and others may counter the other risk. Some of the examples of interactions between the financial and non-financial risks are:

a.  The credit risk may be made worse by the market risk, as the market conditions deteriorate.

b.  There may be a concentration of risk resulting from owning a home in a one-factory town while being employed in that factory and holding the company stock in the pension plan. The risk gets so intensified in the event of the factory going out of business.