By issuing interest rate derivative contracts, market makers such as large banks are exposed to undesired risk. There are several methods for banks to hedge themselves against this type of risk; one such method is the stochastic programming model developed by Blomvall and Hagenbjörk (2022). The effectiveness of their model relies on accurate pricing of interest rate derivatives and risk factor analysis, both of which are derived from a term structure. Blomvall and Ndengo (2013) present a discretized multiple yield curve framework for term structure measurement that allows for price deviations. The model uses regularization to deal with noise inherent in market price observations, where the regularization counteracts oscillations in the term structure and retains the smoothness of the curve by penalizing the first and second-order derivatives. Consequently, the resulting model creates a trade-off between a smooth curve and market price deviations. Changes in policy rates adjusted by a country’s central bank significantly impact the financial market and its actors. In this thesis, the model developed by Blomvall and Ndengo (2013) was further extended to include these steps in conjunction with monetary policy meetings. Two models were developed to realize the steps in the risk-free curve. The first model introduced an additional deviation term to allow for a shift in the curve. In the second model, the weights in the regularization were adjusted to allow for rapid changes on days surrounding the closest monetary policy meeting. A statistical test was conducted to determine the performance of the two models. The test showed that the model with adjusted regularization outperformed the model with an additional deviation term as well as a benchmark model without steps. However, both step models managed to reduce in-sample pricing errors, while the model with an additional deviation term performed worse than the benchmark model for out-of-sample data, given the current parameter setting. Other parameter combinations would potentially result in different outcomes, but it remains conjectural.

Este trabalho analisa e modela a Estrutura a Termo das Taxas de Juros objetivando ao teste da Hipótese das Expectativas(HE) na ponta curta da curva de juros e a uma aplicação da teoria de Markowitz (1952) no mercado de renda fixa utilizando a estrutura proposta por Caldeira, Moura e Santos (2015). Para estes fins foram utilizados dados dos contratos futuros de 1 dia dos depósito interbancários (DI1) negociados na BMF interpolados em maturidades fixas, sendo utilizados em base semanal quando do teste da HE e em base diária para a construção dos portfólios de mínima variância. Os resultados encontrados para o teste da HE sugerem a invalidade da teoria, uma vez que o prêmio de risco é se mostra ajustável a um modelo GARCH-M e, portanto, variante no tempo. Os portfólios de mínima variância ajustados nas versões irrestrita e restrita (duration máxima de 1 ano) se mostraram consistentes, tendo superado quase a totalidade dos fundos analisados. O portfólio de mínima variância irrestrito obteve o maior Índice de Sharpe no período analisado. / This work analyzes and model the Term Structure of Interest Rates seeking testing Expectation Hypothesis in the short end of the Yield Curve and to apply the portfolio theory to the fixed income context using the framework proposed by Caldeira, Moura e Santos (2015). We used a database of constant maturities interbank deposits’s future contracts. The results suggest Expectation Hypothesis doesn’t hold and risk premium could be modeled by a GARCH-M framework, being time variant. The bond portfolio optimized were, in general, consistent with high sharpe ratio relative to other funds and beated the chosen benchmark during the period analyzed.

<p>Even though today´s world unwinds on the increasing way of the globalisation, investors are aware of the possibilities the international markets offer and distance is not an issue any more, they are still governed by the “home bias factor“. This phenomenon implies that investors tend to prefer investing in domestic securities rather than entering the global market. Swedish investors are not the exception and the issue of the attraction of foreign fixed income securities is highlighted even more when we have found out there is lack of academic research about the topic from the perspective of Swedish investors. To narrow down the research subject and provide a reader with an interesting approach, we decided to examine the attraction of foreign government bonds from the perspective of Swedish investors.</p><p>At the beginning of the paper we raised three research questions and defined the objective of the paper in questioning the existence of reasons to invest in foreign government bonds. Another research question was defined as identifying our local investor, who is entering the global market and last, but not least, what investing strategy do we recommend him to follow.</p><p>Along the paper we proposed to apply a decent level of informative as well as a scientific approach to provide a reader with a valuable study concerning pre-defined topic. To reach more concrete outcomes of the study we have accepted couple of assumtions which we have identified ourselves with and we have stressed them especially during the theoretical part of the paper.</p><p>After conducting the comprehensive analysis of the Swedish market for government bonds we have identified a huge gap between the demand and supply for such bonds and based on the discussion concerning the opportunities and risks connected with such investments we have defined our investor. Under given assumptions, as the most probable case of occurance we consider a rational investor, who is offsetting the balance of interest rate sensitive assets and liabilities simultaneously looking for the best possible yield, the lowest possible risk and sound level of diversification.</p><p>During the empirical analysis, namely examination of the national yield curves we set first, however very limited investment strategy. After the incorporation of the portfolio theory, currency rate risk and the existence of instruments covering the foreign currency exposure we have come into a conclusion that our investor does not have to necessarily prefer a security from the depicted efficient frontier, but he can employ other securities as well. As a consequence, when using 100% hedging he can use whichever security on the global market.</p><p>At the conclusion, stated findings imply another investigation, since our research was based on very strong assumptions presented during the study. Thus it by far does not provide the reader with a comprehensive investment analysis, which some readers might be interested in. However, even from the beginning we claimed that we do not have such an ambitious goal.</p>

Even though today´s world unwinds on the increasing way of the globalisation, investors are aware of the possibilities the international markets offer and distance is not an issue any more, they are still governed by the “home bias factor“. This phenomenon implies that investors tend to prefer investing in domestic securities rather than entering the global market. Swedish investors are not the exception and the issue of the attraction of foreign fixed income securities is highlighted even more when we have found out there is lack of academic research about the topic from the perspective of Swedish investors. To narrow down the research subject and provide a reader with an interesting approach, we decided to examine the attraction of foreign government bonds from the perspective of Swedish investors. At the beginning of the paper we raised three research questions and defined the objective of the paper in questioning the existence of reasons to invest in foreign government bonds. Another research question was defined as identifying our local investor, who is entering the global market and last, but not least, what investing strategy do we recommend him to follow. Along the paper we proposed to apply a decent level of informative as well as a scientific approach to provide a reader with a valuable study concerning pre-defined topic. To reach more concrete outcomes of the study we have accepted couple of assumtions which we have identified ourselves with and we have stressed them especially during the theoretical part of the paper. After conducting the comprehensive analysis of the Swedish market for government bonds we have identified a huge gap between the demand and supply for such bonds and based on the discussion concerning the opportunities and risks connected with such investments we have defined our investor. Under given assumptions, as the most probable case of occurance we consider a rational investor, who is offsetting the balance of interest rate sensitive assets and liabilities simultaneously looking for the best possible yield, the lowest possible risk and sound level of diversification. During the empirical analysis, namely examination of the national yield curves we set first, however very limited investment strategy. After the incorporation of the portfolio theory, currency rate risk and the existence of instruments covering the foreign currency exposure we have come into a conclusion that our investor does not have to necessarily prefer a security from the depicted efficient frontier, but he can employ other securities as well. As a consequence, when using 100% hedging he can use whichever security on the global market. At the conclusion, stated findings imply another investigation, since our research was based on very strong assumptions presented during the study. Thus it by far does not provide the reader with a comprehensive investment analysis, which some readers might be interested in. However, even from the beginning we claimed that we do not have such an ambitious goal.

L'ORSA Own Risk Solvency and Assessment est un ensemble de règles définies par la directive européenne Solvabilité II. Il est destiné à servir d'outil d'aide à la décision et d'analyse stratégique des risques. Dans le contexte de l'ORSA, les compagnies d'assurance doivent évaluer leur solvabilité future, de façon continue et prospective. Pour ce faire, ces dernières doivent notamment obtenir des projections de leur bilan (actif et passif) sur un certain horizon temporel. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous nous focalisons essentiellement sur l'aspect de prédiction des valeurs futures des actifs. Plus précisément, nous traitons de la courbe de taux, de sa construction et de son extrapolation à une date donnée, et de ses prédictions envisagées dans le futur. Nous parlons dans le texte de "courbe de taux", mais il s'agit en fait de construction de courbes de facteurs d'actualisation. Le risque de défaut de contrepartie n'est pas explicitement traité, mais des techniques similaires à celles développées peuvent être adaptées à la construction de courbe de taux incorporant le risque de défaut de contrepartie / The Own Risk Solvency and Assessment (ORSA) is a set of processes defined by the European prudential directive Solvency II, that serve for decision-making and strategic analysis. In the context of ORSA, insurance companies are required to assess their solvency needs in a continuous and prospective way. For this purpose, they notably need to forecast their balance sheet -asset and liabilities- over a defined horizon. In this work, we specifically focus on the asset forecasting part. This thesis is about the Yield Curve, Forecasting, and Forecasting the Yield Curve. We present a few novel techniques for the construction, the extrapolation of static curves (that is, curves which are constructed at a fixed date), and for forecasting the spot interest rates over time. Throughout the text, when we say "Yield Curve", we actually mean "Discount curve". That is: we ignore the counterparty credit risk, and consider that the curves are risk-free. Though, the same techniques could be applied to construct/forecast the actual risk-free curves and credit spread curves, and combine both to obtain pseudo- discount curves incorporating the counterparty credit risk

Este trabalho analisa e modela a Estrutura a Termo das Taxas de Juros objetivando ao teste da Hipótese das Expectativas(HE) na ponta curta da curva de juros e a uma aplicação da teoria de Markowitz (1952) no mercado de renda fixa utilizando a estrutura proposta por Caldeira, Moura e Santos (2015). Para estes fins foram utilizados dados dos contratos futuros de 1 dia dos depósito interbancários (DI1) negociados na BMF interpolados em maturidades fixas, sendo utilizados em base semanal quando do teste da HE e em base diária para a construção dos portfólios de mínima variância. Os resultados encontrados para o teste da HE sugerem a invalidade da teoria, uma vez que o prêmio de risco é se mostra ajustável a um modelo GARCH-M e, portanto, variante no tempo. Os portfólios de mínima variância ajustados nas versões irrestrita e restrita (duration máxima de 1 ano) se mostraram consistentes, tendo superado quase a totalidade dos fundos analisados. O portfólio de mínima variância irrestrito obteve o maior Índice de Sharpe no período analisado. / This work analyzes and model the Term Structure of Interest Rates seeking testing Expectation Hypothesis in the short end of the Yield Curve and to apply the portfolio theory to the fixed income context using the framework proposed by Caldeira, Moura e Santos (2015). We used a database of constant maturities interbank deposits’s future contracts. The results suggest Expectation Hypothesis doesn’t hold and risk premium could be modeled by a GARCH-M framework, being time variant. The bond portfolio optimized were, in general, consistent with high sharpe ratio relative to other funds and beated the chosen benchmark during the period analyzed.

Este trabalho analisa e modela a Estrutura a Termo das Taxas de Juros objetivando ao teste da Hipótese das Expectativas(HE) na ponta curta da curva de juros e a uma aplicação da teoria de Markowitz (1952) no mercado de renda fixa utilizando a estrutura proposta por Caldeira, Moura e Santos (2015). Para estes fins foram utilizados dados dos contratos futuros de 1 dia dos depósito interbancários (DI1) negociados na BMF interpolados em maturidades fixas, sendo utilizados em base semanal quando do teste da HE e em base diária para a construção dos portfólios de mínima variância. Os resultados encontrados para o teste da HE sugerem a invalidade da teoria, uma vez que o prêmio de risco é se mostra ajustável a um modelo GARCH-M e, portanto, variante no tempo. Os portfólios de mínima variância ajustados nas versões irrestrita e restrita (duration máxima de 1 ano) se mostraram consistentes, tendo superado quase a totalidade dos fundos analisados. O portfólio de mínima variância irrestrito obteve o maior Índice de Sharpe no período analisado. / This work analyzes and model the Term Structure of Interest Rates seeking testing Expectation Hypothesis in the short end of the Yield Curve and to apply the portfolio theory to the fixed income context using the framework proposed by Caldeira, Moura e Santos (2015). We used a database of constant maturities interbank deposits’s future contracts. The results suggest Expectation Hypothesis doesn’t hold and risk premium could be modeled by a GARCH-M framework, being time variant. The bond portfolio optimized were, in general, consistent with high sharpe ratio relative to other funds and beated the chosen benchmark during the period analyzed.

Submitted by Leonardo Medina (leo.medina@bol.com.br) on 2013-08-22T04:02:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Modelagem Paramétrica de Curvas de Crédito no Mercado Brasileiro.pdf: 1313931 bytes, checksum: bc46547efe94768915a9df1505ed510f (MD5) / Rejected by Vitor Souza (vitor.souza@fgv.br), reason: Falta a folha de aprovação assinada pela banca. on 2013-08-22T13:56:58Z (GMT) / Submitted by Leonardo Medina (leo.medina@bol.com.br) on 2013-08-23T03:38:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Modelagem Paramétrica de Curvas de Crédito no Mercado Brasileiro.pdf: 1349748 bytes, checksum: 1ddbd179f3eda6f4f272dc54002f83d5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2013-09-10T13:27:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Modelagem Paramétrica de Curvas de Crédito no Mercado Brasileiro.pdf: 1349748 bytes, checksum: 1ddbd179f3eda6f4f272dc54002f83d5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-09-19T18:32:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Modelagem Paramétrica de Curvas de Crédito no Mercado Brasileiro.pdf: 1349748 bytes, checksum: 1ddbd179f3eda6f4f272dc54002f83d5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-25 / Após a crise financeira de 2008, é perceptível a intensificação de esforços globais para aperfeiçoar métodos de avaliação de risco e ajuste de exposição de capital para tornar o sistema financeiro mundial mais sólido e consistente. O objetivo deste trabalho é propor um modelo de estimação de curvas de crédito privado no Brasil, aplicando a modelagem paramétrica de Nelson & Siegel (1987) a uma amostra de preços de debêntures. Os resultados obtidos poderão ser utilizados para auxiliar reguladores e profissionais de mercado com análises de risco, apreçamento de ativos ilíquidos e percepção de expectativas. / After the last financial crisis in 2008, global efforts to improve methods of risk analysis and capital exposure adjustment were intensified in order to make the global financial system more strong. This work proposes a model to estimate spread curves in Brazil, applying the Nelson & Siegel parametric model (1987) to a sample of debentures. These results may help regulators and market professionals with risk analysis, valuation of illiquid bonds and forecasts.

This diploma thesis deals with a new discord in the Austrian economic theory about the effects of maturity mismatching practiced by banks on the shape of the yield curve and defines the not yet established concept of the natural yield curve. The conflicting contributions of Austrian authors are compared for that purpose. Based on this comparison, a coherent theory of the effects of maturity mismatching is presented in a framework of the loanable funds market. A definition of the natural yield curve is then produced by a synthesis of the above-mentioned findings and the Austrian theory of the natural rate of interest. Theoretical research leads to the conclusion that one form of maturity mismatching inevitably results in an Austrian business cycle. The empirical section examines the question of yield curve´s behavior under the influence of maturity mismatching. An explanation concerning the selected hypotheses and their lack of confirmation is given.

The goal of this thesis is to analyze the mathematical apparatus of the most widespread methods used for the yield curves construction. It aims to introduce not only the various of construction models but also to describe the whole process of creation, while discussing the advantages and disadvantage of individual methods. The first chapter focus on the general theory and the use of the term structure of interest rates in practice. The second part deals with the construction process itself and describes the most frequently used methods. The last chapter then shows the real application of selected methods on given data set and the use of the constructed yield curves for interest rate derivative valuation too.