Portfolio diversification is a procedure by which investor allocates and divides his or her funds into different type of securities. Unlike the investing all the funds solely into one security, diversification enables to reduce the risk of an investment by splitting one big risk into several small, unrelated risks. This master thesis examines the problem of diversification during a financial crisis, when usually the risk of an investment and uncertainty of future incomes from investment is relatively higher. The main goal of this thesis is to define whether is it more efficient and beneficial to diversify the portfolio solely from national securities or conversely to diversify internationally. In the theoretical part, it offers literature background on topics related to capital market, fundamentals of portfolio and fundamental analysis. In the empirical part it examines the risk and return of three national portfolios on monthly basis during a 10-year investment period, which is separated into three individual periods, in order to better observe the impacts of crisis. In order to fulfill the main goal of the thesis, composite international portfolio was constructed and observed on the same manner as the three national portfolios. Afterwards the outcomes were compared and conclusions were stated. Internationally diversified portfolio has not achieved remarkably better result than individual national portfolios. Therefore, it may be concluded that there is no strong need for an investor to diversify his or her portfolio internationally, as it does not show better results as nationally diversified portfolios.

This thesis is theresult of a project aimed at developing a tool for allocation of risk capitalin catastrophe excess-of-loss reinsurance. Allocation of risk capital is animportant tool for measuring portfolio performance and optimizing the capitalrequirement. Here, two allocation rules are described and analyzed, Eulerallocation and Capital layer allocation. The rules are applied to two differentportfolios. The main conclusions is that the two methods can be used togetherto get a better picture of how the dependence structure between the contractsaffect the portfolio result. It is also illustrated how the RORAC of one of theportfolios can be increased by 1 % using the outcome from the analyses. / Den här uppsatsen är resultatet av ett projekt som syftat till att utveckla en mjukvara för allokering av riskkapital inom icke-proportionell katastrofåterförsäkring. Allokering av riskkapital är ett viktigt verktyg för att mäta hur väl portföljen presterar samt en grund för portföljoptimering. I den här uppsatsen undersöks två metoder för att allokera riskkapital, Euler-allokering och Capital layer allokering. Metoderna appliceras på två olika portföljer. Slutsatserna är att de två metoderna kan användas tillsammans för att ge en helhetsbild av beroendet mellan kontrakten centralt i fördelningsfunktionen samt ute i svansen. Det visas också hur portföljens RORAC kan höjas med 1 % genom att använda resultaten i uppsatsen.

Title: Risk capital calculation in invesment life insurance Author: Bc. Tomáš Coufal Department/Institute: Department of Probability and Mathematical Statis- tics Supervisor of the master thesis: Mgr. Josef Lukášek Supervisor's e-mail address: Josef.Lukasek@allianz.cz Abstract: Unit linked insurance is a modern and flexible life insurance product. The last decade was marked by the raising popularity of unit linked insurance. The discussions conserning the impact of the new directive Sol- vency II on the life insurance business focus mainly on the traditional life insurance. This paper examines the issue of the calculation of the risk capital for unit linked insurance. Analysis of the impact of different death guaran- tees, forms of premium payment, time to maturity and dynamic policyholder bahaviour on the risk capital is presented. Keywords: Unit linked insurance, Solvency II, Risk capital, Solvency capital requirement

This thesis aims to explore and investigate the state of current investment appraisal practices within Libyan firms. In particular, the thesis attempts to answer four research questions: (1) How do Libyan firms appraise capital investments? (2) Do Libyan firms incorporate risk into their capital investment appraisal processes? (3) Do Libyan firms face capital rationing and, if so, is it externally or internally imposed? and (4) Does the availability of Islamic Finance affect Libyan firms' view of the capital investment appraisal process? This study is based on a qualitative empirical approach, with a subjectivist orientation but a main concern with the sociology of regulation; the interpretive paradigm is employed in this thesis. Rather than simply providing a simple description of the phenomena under investigation, the aim of this thesis is to interpret and understand the issues surrounding the problem being considered. Thus, this study seeks to establish a better understanding about the nature of the capital investment appraisal process in Libyan corporations, and how it differs across Libyan economic sectors. In order to provide evidence and contribute to our knowledge about this topic, two research methods, both compatible with the interpretive paradigm and consistent with the methodology and the researcher’s beliefs about the topic under investigation, are employed. The research methods used are: (i) a semi-structured interviews; then (ii) a questionnaire survey based upon the literature review and on the key results from (i). For the former, 20 interviews were conducted, involving two groups: firm-based interviewees (‘insiders’ working in firms) in five economic sectors with different size and ownership structures and ‘outsider’ interviewees (bankers, academics and chartered accountants). In the second phase, 45 questionnaires were collected from firms which operate in five economic sectors, again with various size and ownership patterns. The main findings indicate that non-financial criteria (e.g. political priorities, State development plan and personal experience) play a more important role than financial factors. While Libyan companies use multiple techniques to appraise capital investments, usage of discounted cash flow techniques (DCF), although increasing is not yet as high as in developed nations, with payback remaining the most popular. The evidence shows that the source of the funding (followed by project size and nature of the project, respectively) also plays a role in choosing the appraisal techniques. Typically, the process of capital investment appraisal in Libya appears to have five stages (determination of budget, research and development, evaluation, authorisation, and monitoring and controlling). Libyan firms consider the first of these as the most important stage. The majority of the respondents employ a post-audit phase of two years or less; about half the sampled firms conduct the post-audit by comparing the actual performance with the feasibility study on which the project was based. The companies consider real options when looking at flexibility, but they have no effect on the choice of the appraisal techniques or the process generally. Similarly, there are no changes in the techniques or the process when advanced manufacturing technology investments are considered. Regarding risk evaluation, this is mostly subjective although scenario analysis and sensitivity analysis are employed to some extent. Around 50% of the firms calculate the cost of capital, but most of these firms do so subjectively (e.g. via interest rate observations), while the rest use CAPM to calculate the cost of capital. Fewer than one in ten of the firms that calculate the cost of capital employ project-specific rates. The majority of the companies noted their experience of capital rationing, mostly of the external variety (primarily reflecting State actions). The majority of the firms claimed to be considering the Libyan Stock Market as source of funding, but not in the near future, essentially because of a lack of knowledge among Libyan companies about its functioning. The findings suggest that use of Islamic finance is not yet common among Libyan firms. However, two thirds of the firms suggested that they would use Islamic financial products to finance their future projects for several reasons; mainly religion, to avoid paying interest or demurrage, plus risk sharing though the use of Islamic financial products such as Musharakah. Those firms, which did not view Islamic finance positively, mentioned the incompatibility of the current products with Islamic Shariah law, suggesting that in reality they are just traditional financial products with Islamic names. Some notable differences between theory and practice emerged in this research. For instance, certain non-financial criteria (e.g. political priorities) were more important than financial factors. Relatedly, there was evidence of external interested parties such as academics seeing practice and ideals differently. This type of finding suggests a key contribution of this study as highlighting the need for contextual specificities to be carefully considered when investigating an issue as (theoretically) straightforward as investment decision-making in practice.

Submitted by Bruno Mota Loyola (brunomobh@gmail.com) on 2013-02-28T21:39:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FUNDAÇÃO GETULIO VARGAS - Dissertação Bruno Loyola vs Final.pdf: 549268 bytes, checksum: 5f82f8ba8e84b9732b06f02d15386fc0 (MD5) / Rejected by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia (suzinei.garcia@fgv.br), reason: Prezado Bruno, Tirar o nome da biblioteca da capa acrescentar o seu nome na capa(1). Seguir as normas da ABNT. Modelos de dissertações na biblioteca. Att. Suzi on 2013-02-28T22:46:07Z (GMT) / Submitted by Bruno Mota Loyola (brunomobh@gmail.com) on 2013-03-01T00:31:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FUNDAÇÃO GETULIO VARGAS - Dissertação Bruno LoyolaVSfinal2.pdf: 548969 bytes, checksum: edb8fd9730b4bab282389726b1e180b5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzinei Teles Garcia Garcia (suzinei.garcia@fgv.br) on 2013-03-01T13:00:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 FUNDAÇÃO GETULIO VARGAS - Dissertação Bruno LoyolaVSfinal2.pdf: 548969 bytes, checksum: edb8fd9730b4bab282389726b1e180b5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-03-01T13:01:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FUNDAÇÃO GETULIO VARGAS - Dissertação Bruno LoyolaVSfinal2.pdf: 548969 bytes, checksum: edb8fd9730b4bab282389726b1e180b5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-01-31 / This article aims to demonstrate how derivatives management and foreign equity affect the cost of capital of companies, and so it will test the impacts on the WACC and TACC, Total Average Cost of Capital Using a database constructed with data from Economatica, as well as information drawn from the financial statements of companies, we estimated two models to explain what are the variables that could be impacting the cost of capital of companies. The first model explained what would impact the WACC (weighted average cost of capital), the second model explained the TACC (total average cost of capital) and the third model explained the difference between the WACC and TACC, when the difference was different than zero. For the WACC, the variable derivative demonstrates that companies with hedges used for protection purposes have reduced cost of capital, though the foreign variable that reflects the presence of foreign capital was not statistically significant. For the TACC the foreign capital variable was not statistically significant and derivative variable was not present. It is understood that this occurs because more conservative firms possess lower cost of capital. / O presente artigo tem por objetivo demonstrar como a gestão de derivativos e a participação de capital estrangeiro afetam o custo de capital das empresas. Para essa finalidade o trabalho irá testar como impactam nos custos de capital WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital) e TACC (Total Average Cost of Capital), ou custo de capital total. Utilizando uma base de dados construída com dados do Economatica, bem como informações retiradas dos demonstrativos financeiros das empresas, estimaram-se três modelos para explicar quais seriam as variáveis que poderiam impactar o custo de capital das empresas. No primeiro modelo explicou-se o WACC (custo de capital médio ponderado), no segundo, o TACC (custo de capital total) e, no terceiro modelo, explicou-se a diferença entre o WACC e o TACC, quando diferente de zero. No caso do WACC a variável de teste derivativo, que demonstra empresas que possuem hedges de proteção, reduz o custo de capital, entretanto a variável estrangeiro que reflete a presença de capital estrangeiro foi estatisticamente não significativa. Já para o TACC a variável de teste estrangeiro não foi estatisticamente significativa e a variável derivativo não esteve presente. Entende-se que isto ocorre pelo fato de empresas mais conservadoras possuírem menor custo de capital.

Credit risk represents one of the most significant risks which a bank must face, and therefore, its intention is effectively manage and measure this risk. However, management and measurement methods are supervised and influenced by national regulators. Banking regulatory supervision plays a significant role among others in determining minimum capital requirements that serve as buffer against losses stemming from credit risk. This thesis provides theoretical foundation of regulatory approaches - standardized and internal rating based (IRB) approach - used for quantification of regulatory capital to credit risk as well as empirical application of such approaches on created portfolio of corporate loans. As a part of IRB method I suggested a model composed of financial ratios estimating probability of default using logistic regression. I founded out that rather the use of combination of financial ratios from different groups of ratios with slight dominance of profitability ratios forms final model. Therefore, superiority of solvency ratios in modelling cannot be proved on my portfolio. After estimating and determining necessary parameters I quantified the minimum regulatory capital requirements to credit risk under standardized and IRB approaches prescribed by Basel III. In the end, the results are...

The diploma thesis describes and defines in theoretical part the entire venture capital system, analyzes the individual elements and inner flows. The thesis contains chapters where the reader can meet the term of venture capital, its history and specifics, and various possible types of investment, subjects at venture capital maktet and the investment process. The second part of the thesis focuses on the issues of the venture capital market in Central and Eastern Europe and in detail in the Czech Republic with particular accent on the last period and the changes caused by the financial crisis and includes the limiting factors for the development of this market.

2008年由次貸引爆之全球金融風暴，除造成美國金融機構破產及併購，亦波及製造業，深究其原因，不外乎輕忽風險管理建立與執行之落實，未完整量化與管理企業所能承受之風險；尤其人壽保險業所銷售之保險契約，各國監理機關皆強化壽險業之監管，以風險資本為壽險業評估清償能力之指標。 風險胃納顯示企業對風險基本態度，包括企業承擔風險之意願，風險限額及控管模式，風險容忍度是揭露企業風險管理之量化和質化結果。本研究依風險基礎資本額制度（Risk-Based Capital，RBC）建立公司整體市場風險容忍度之設定，依據風險限額及預警指標建立控管程序，並檢視個案金融機構風險容忍度之擬定流程。 依個案公司風險限額及預警指標之建立流程，並評估該公司於2007-2008年全球金融風暴之實際財務影響，歸納結果如下；(1)除交易單位風險限額外，並應訂定交易商品及交易員風險限額導入前台交易系統；(2)應增計利率風險；(3)除市場風險限額外，應建置信用風險限額、作業風險限額模組，架構公司整體風險胃納及風險容忍度，並執行限額管理；(4) 發展即時監控系統，檢視公司風險承受度。 / In 2008, global financial crisis, inspired by subprime mortgage, not only caused bankruptcy and mergers and acquisitions of U.S. financial institutions but also spread to manufacturing. Taking a close look at the reasons, they are overlooking the establishment and implementation of risk management implementation and incompletely quantitating the risk that the management companies can bear. National supervisory authorities have strengthened supervision of the insurance industry and established risk capital as an indicator for the insurance industry to assess the solvency. Risk appetite shows the company’s basic attitude towards risk, including the willingness to take risks, risk limit, and control mode. Risk tolerance is to expose the results of the company’s risk management of quantitative and qualitative. This study is according to RBC (Risk-Based Capital) to set the company’s overall market risk tolerance and based on risk limit and early warning indicator to set control procedures. Besides, this study surveys the financial institution case whose preparation process of risk tolerance. According to the case’s established procedures of risk limit and early warning indicator, assessing its actual financial impact during global financial crisis from 2007 to 2008, this study summarizes as follows: (1) In addition to the risk limit of the trading unit, front-end trading system of trading goods and traders into risk limits should be established. (2)Increase the caculation of the interest rate risk. (3) Beside the market risk limit, credit risk limit and operational risk limit model should be established. Build the company’s overall risk appetite and risk tolerance, and implement the quota management. (4) Develop the real-time monitoring system and survey the company’s risk tolerance.

Submitted by Cristiane Shirayama (cristiane.shirayama@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T17:02:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100258.pdf: 435959 bytes, checksum: 38184d183556745166251df905a73085 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T17:06:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100258.pdf: 435959 bytes, checksum: 38184d183556745166251df905a73085 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão(vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2011-06-03T17:09:05Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100258.pdf: 435959 bytes, checksum: 38184d183556745166251df905a73085 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-03T19:11:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 66080100258.pdf: 435959 bytes, checksum: 38184d183556745166251df905a73085 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-08 / Large corporations, from both the western and eastern worlds, have been using derivative instruments as a tool to protect their indirect exposure, such as FX risks. This piece aims to study the behavior of the cost of capital of non-financial Brazilian companies when they use derivatives-based financial instruments to protect (or hedge) their cash flow. A sample featuring 877 observations was obtained while working with data collected between 2004 and 2010 at 47 Brazilian companies. The Brazilian market was selected as it is an important emerging economy. The Data Panel methodology (cross section with random effects) was used with the aim of testing the hypothesis that the use of derivatives as a risk management policy tool reduces companies’ cost of capital. The results presented rejected this hypothesis, showing that in Brazil there is a positive relationship between use of these tools and cost of capital. However, there are traces that it might have been changes in the companies’ risk management policies after the financial distress of 2008. Another analysis, for only one specific Brazilian company, based on the TACC (Total Average Cost of Capital) model, indicates the possibility of a reduction in the companies’ cost of capital in presence of a conservative risk management policy. / As grandes corporações, tanto ocidentais quanto orientais, vêm utilizando instrumentos derivativos como ferramenta para proteger suas exposições indiretas, como por exemplo, os riscos cambiais. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo estudar o comportamento do custo de capital de empresas brasileiras não-financeiras na presença da contratação de instrumentos financeiros derivativos como uma proteção (ou seguro) do fluxo de caixa das mesmas. Obteve-se uma amostra com 877 observações considerando os dados coletados entre 2004 e 2010 de 47 empresas. O mercado brasileiro foi selecionado por se tratar de uma economia emergente importante. A metodologia Painel de Dados (Cross-section com efeitos aleatórios) foi utilizada com a finalidade de testar a hipótese de que a utilização de derivativos como ferramenta de proteção na política de gestão de risco reduz o custo de capital das empresas. Os resultados aqui presentes rejeitaram esta hipótese, mostrando que no Brasil, a relação entre a utilização dessas ferramentas e o custo de capital é positiva. No entanto, encontraram-se indícios de que pode ter havido uma mudança de postura na política de gestão de risco das empresas após a crise de 2008. Uma outra análise, realizada com apenas uma determinada empresa brasileira, baseada no modelo TACC (Total Average Cost of Capital), indica a possibilidade de redução do custo de capital caso se adote uma gestão de risco conservadora.

Diploma thesis deals with analysis of investment opportunities in the capital markets. The aim of this thesis is to devise an appropriate investment strategy and financial investment of the company in the capital markets given to the current economic situation. This thesis takes into account the concrete requirements defined by investor.