Financial Risk Manager Part 1

Financial Risk Manager Part 1

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Alan West, a portfolio manager, created the following portfolio:

SecuritySecurity Weight (%)Expected Standard Deviation (%)
A204
B8010

If the correlation of returns between the two securities is 0.60, then what is the expected standard deviation of the portfolio?

TTanishq



Explanation:

Explanation

The portfolio standard deviation is calculated using the formula for a two-asset portfolio:

Οƒp=wA2ΟƒA2+wB2ΟƒB2+2wAwBρABΟƒAΟƒB\sigma_p = \sqrt{w_A^2\sigma_A^2 + w_B^2\sigma_B^2 + 2w_Aw_B\rho_{AB}\sigma_A\sigma_B}

Where:

  • wA=0.20w_A = 0.20 (20% weight)
  • wB=0.80w_B = 0.80 (80% weight)
  • ΟƒA=0.04\sigma_A = 0.04 (4% standard deviation)
  • ΟƒB=0.10\sigma_B = 0.10 (10% standard deviation)
  • ρAB=0.60\rho_{AB} = 0.60 (correlation)

Substituting the values:

Οƒp=(0.2)2(0.04)2+(0.8)2(0.10)2+2(0.2)(0.8)(0.6)(0.04)(0.10)\sigma_p = \sqrt{(0.2)^2(0.04)^2 + (0.8)^2(0.10)^2 + 2(0.2)(0.8)(0.6)(0.04)(0.10)}

Οƒp=(0.04)(0.0016)+(0.64)(0.01)+2(0.16)(0.6)(0.004)\sigma_p = \sqrt{(0.04)(0.0016) + (0.64)(0.01) + 2(0.16)(0.6)(0.004)}

Οƒp=0.000064+0.0064+0.000768\sigma_p = \sqrt{0.000064 + 0.0064 + 0.000768}

Οƒp=0.007232=0.0850=8.50%\sigma_p = \sqrt{0.007232} = 0.0850 = 8.50\%

The calculation shows that the portfolio standard deviation is 8.50%, which represents the weighted combination of the individual securities' volatilities adjusted for their correlation._

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