A Benchmark Approach to Quantitative Finance

The benchmark approach is a framework for financial market modeling that extends beyond standard risk neutral pricing theory. It permits a unified treatment of portfolio optimization, derivative pricing, integrated risk management and insurance risk modeling. The first part of this book describes the necessary tools from probability theory, statistics, stochastic calculus and the theory of stochastic differential equations with jumps. The second part is devoted to financial modeling under the benchmark approach, explaining various quantitative methods for the fair pricing and hedging of derivatives. It aims to be a self-contained, accessible but mathematically rigorous introduction to quantitative finance for readers having a reasonable mathematical or quantitative background. Finally, the book should stimulate interest in the benchmark approach by describing some of its power and wide applicability. A Benchmark Approach to Quantitative Finance is intended for a wide audience including quantitative analysts, postgraduate students and practitioners in finance, economics and insurance.

first and only book presenting the so-called benchmark approach to quantitative finance -provides information and methods for a wide range of professionals, researchers and graduate students -method embedded into a self-contained textbook -modular structure with cross references, so it can also be used as a handbook -self-contained introduction that could be part of a coursework masters or Ph. D program in quantitative finance or Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

Prof. Eckhard Platen holds the Chair in Quantitative Finance at the University of Technology, Sydney. Author of books on numerical methods for stochastic differential equations and recent book on benchmark approach at Springer Verlag. Has written more than 140 papers in finance, insurance and applied mathematics and serves on the editorial boards of five international journals including Mathematical Finance and Quantitative Finance

Klappentext

The benchmark approach provides a general framework for financial market modeling, which extends beyond the standard risk neutral pricing theory. It permits a unified treatment of portfolio optimization, derivative pricing, integrated risk management and insurance risk modeling. The existence of an equivalent risk-neutral pricing measure is not required. Instead, it leads to pricing formulae with respect to the real world probability measure. This yields important modeling freedom which turns out to be necessary for the derivation of realistic, parsimonious market models. The first part of the book describes the necessary tools from probability theory, statistics, stochastic calculus and the theory of stochastic differential equations with jumps. The second part is devoted to financial modeling under the benchmark approach. Various quantitative methods for the fair pricing and hedging of derivatives are explained. The general framework is used to provide an understanding of the nature of stochastic volatility. The book is intended for a wide audience that includes quantitative analysts, postgraduate students and practitioners in finance, economics and insurance. It aims to be a self-contained, accessible but mathematically rigorous introduction to quantitative finance for readers that have a reasonable mathematical or quantitative background. Finally, the book should stimulate interest in the benchmark approach by describing some of its power and wide applicability.

Inhalt
Preliminaries from Probability Theory.- Statistical Methods.- Modeling via Stochastic Processes.- Diffusion Processes.- Martingales and Stochastic Integrals.- The Itô Formula.- Stochastic Differential Equations.- to Option Pricing.- Various Approaches to Asset Pricing.- Continuous Financial Markets.- Portfolio Optimization.- Modeling Stochastic Volatility.- Minimal Market Model.- Markets with Event Risk.- Numerical Methods.- Solutions for Exercises.