Product Description: This book comprises the papers presented and discussed at the SAA conference, held 24-25 November 2008. It offers an exchange of views on technical and implemental issues of financial models relevant for strategic asset allocation.

Product Description: This edited volume contains essential readings for financial analysts and market practitioners working at Central Banks and Sovereign Wealth Funds. It presents the reader with state-of-the-art methods that are directly implementable, and industry 'best-practices' as followed by leading institutions in their field...read more

Matlab is used within nearly all investment banks and is a requirement in most quant job ads. There is no other book written for finance practitioners that covers thisEnables readers to implement financial and econometric models in MatlabAll central concepts and theories are illustrated by Matlab implementations which are accompanied by detailed descriptions of the programming steps neededAll concepts and techniques are introduced from a basic levelChapter 1 introduces Matlab and matrix algebra, it serves to make the reader familiar with the use and basic capabilities if Matlab. The chapter concludes with a walkthrough of a linear regression model, showing how Matlab can be used to solve an example problem analytically and by the use of optimization and simulation techniquesChapter 2 introduces expected return and risk as central concepts in finance theory using fixed income instruments as examples, the chapter illustrates how risk measures such as standard deviation, Modified duration, VaR, and expected shortfall can be calculated empirically and in closed formChapter 3 introduces the concept of diversification and illustrates how the efficient investment frontier can be derived - a Matlab is developed that can be used to calculate a given number of portfolios that lie on an efficient frontier, the chapter also introduces the CAPMChapter 4 introduces econometric tools: principle component analysis is presented and used as a prelude to yield-curve factor models. The Nelson-Siegel model is used to introduce the Kalman-Filter as a way to add time-series dynamics to the evolution of yield curves over time, time series models such as Vector Autoregression and regime-switching are also presentedSupported by a website with online resources - www.kennyholm.com where all Matlab programs referred to in the text can be downloaded. The site also contains lecture slides and answers to end of chapter exercises