We consider the problem of exponential utility indifference valuation under the simplified framework where traded and nontraded assets are uncorrelated but where the claim to be priced possibly depends on both. Traded asset prices follow a multivariate Black and Scholes model, while nontraded asset prices evolve as generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. We provide a BSDE characterization of the utility indifference price (UIP) for a large class of non-smooth, possibly unbounded, payoffs depending simultaneously on both classes of assets. Focusing then on European claims and using the Gaussian structure of the model allows us to employ some BSDE techniques (in particular, a Malliavin-type representation theorem due to Ma (2002)) to prove the regularity of Z and to characterize the UIP for possibly discontinuous European payoffs as a viscosity solution of a suitable PDE with continuous space derivatives. The optimal hedging strategy is also identified essentially as the delta hedging strategy corresponding to the UIP. Since there are no closed-form formulas in general, we also obtain asymptotic expansions for prices and hedging strategies when the risk aversion parameter is small. Finally, our results are applied to pricing and hedging power derivatives in various structural models for energy markets.
Insurance companies often include very long-term guarantees in participating life insurance products, which can turn out to be very valuable. Under a guaranteed annuity options (G.A.O), the insurer guarantees to convert a policyholder's accumulated funds to a life annuity at a fixed rated when the policy matures. Both financial and actuarial approaches have been used to valuate of such options. In the present work, we present an indifference valuation model for the guaranteed annuity option. We are interested in the additional lump sum that the policyholder is willing to pay in order to have t…
We study the hedging and valuation of European and American claims on a non-traded asset $Y$, when a traded stock $S$ is available for hedging, with $S$ and $Y$ following correlated geometric Brownian motions. This is an incomplete market, often called a basis risk model. The market agent's risk preferences are modelled using a so-called forward performance process (forward utility), which is a time-decreasing utility of exponential type. Moreover, the market agent (investor) does not know with certainty the values of the asset price drifts. This market setting with drift parameter uncertainty…
The strengthening of capital requirements has induced banks and traders to consider charging a so called capital valuation adjustment (KVA) to the clients in OTC transactions. This roughly corresponds to charge the clients ex-ante the profit requirement that is asked to the trading desk. In the following we try to delineate a possible way to assess the impact of capital constraints in the valuation of a deal. We resort to an optimisation stemming from an indifference pricing approach, and we study both the linear problem from the point of view of the whole bank and the non-linear problem given…
We consider indifference pricing of contingent claims consisting of payment flows in a discrete time model with proportional transaction costs and under exponential disutility. This setting covers utility maximisation as a special case. A dual representation is obtained for the associated disutility minimisation problem, together with a dynamic procedure for solving it. This leads to efficient and convergent numerical procedures for indifference pricing, optimal trading strategies and shadow prices that apply to a wide range of payoffs, a large range of time steps and all magnitudes of transac…
We study the valuation and hedging problem of European options in a market subject to liquidity shocks. Working within a Markovian regime-switching setting, we model illiquidity as the inability to trade. To isolate the impact of such liquidity constraints, we focus on the case where the market is completely static in the illiquid regime. We then consider derivative pricing using either equivalent martingale measures or exponential indifference mechanisms. Our main results concern the analysis of the semi-linear coupled HJB equation satisfied by the indifference price, as well as its asymptoti…
This paper considers the optimal portfolio selection problem in a dynamic multi-period stochastic framework with regime switching. The risk preferences are of exponential (CARA) type with an absolute coefficient of risk aversion which changes with the regime. The market model is incomplete and there are two risky assets: one tradable and one non-tradable. In this context, the optimal investment strategies are time inconsistent. Consequently, the subgame perfect equilibrium strategies are considered. The utility indifference prices of a contingent claim written on the risky assets are computed …
In a Markovian stochastic volatility model, we consider financial agents whose investment criteria are modelled by forward exponential performance processes. The problem of contingent claim indifference valuation is first addressed and a number of properties are proved and discussed. Special attention is given to the comparison between the forward exponential and the backward exponential utility indifference valuation. In addition, we construct the problem of optimal risk sharing in this forward setting and solve it when the agents' forward performance criteria are exponential.
The valuation process that economic agents undergo for investments with uncertain payoff typically depends on their statistical views on possible future outcomes, their attitudes toward risk, and, of course, the payoff structure itself. Yields vary across different investment opportunities and their interrelations are difficult to explain. For the same agent, a different discounting factor has to be used for every separate valuation occasion. If, however, one is ready to accept discounting that varies randomly with the possible outcomes, and therefore accepts the concept of a stochastic discou…
In this article, we show how the scaling symmetry of the SABR model can be utilized to efficiently price European options. For special kinds of payoffs, the complexity of the problem is reduced by one dimension. For more generic payoffs, instead of solving the 1+2 dimensional SABR PDE, it is sufficient to solve $N_V$ uncoupled 1+1 dimensional PDE's, where $N_V$ is the number of points used to discretize one dimension. Furthermore, the symmetry argument enables us to obtain prices of multiple options, whose payoffs are related to each other by convolutions, by valuing one of them. The results o…
The aim of this article is to provide a systematic analysis of the conditions such that Fourier transform valuation formulas are valid in a general framework; i.e. when the option has an arbitrary payoff function and depends on the path of the asset price process. An interplay between the conditions on the payoff function and the process arises naturally. We also extend these results to the multi-dimensional case, and discuss the calculation of Greeks by Fourier transform methods. As an application, we price options on the minimum of two assets in Lévy and stochastic volatility models.
Exponential Lévy processes have been used for modelling financial derivatives because of their ability to exhibit many empirical features of markets. Using their multidimensional analogue, a general analytic pricing formula is obtained, allowing for the direct valuation of multi-asset options on $n \in \z^+$ risky assets. By providing alternate expressions for multi-asset option payoffs, the general pricing formula can reduce to many popular cases, including American basket options which are considered herein. This work extends previous results of basket options to dimensions $n \geq 3$ and mo…
A version of indifference valuation of a European call option is proposed that includes statistical regularities of nonstochastic randomness. Classical relations (forward contract value and Black-Scholes formula) are obtained as particular cases. We show that in the general case of nonstochastic randomness the minimal expected profit of uncovered European option position is always negative. A version of delta hedge is proposed.
We consider the problem of ESO valuation in continuous time. In particular, we consider models that assume that an appropriate random time serves as a proxy for anything that causes the ESO's holder to exercise the option early, namely, reflects the ESO holder's job termination risk as well as early exercise behaviour. In this context, we study the problem of ESO valuation by means of mean-variance hedging. Our analysis is based on dynamic programming and uses PDE techniques. We also express the ESO's value that we derive as the expected discounted payoff that the ESO yields with respect to an…
This paper analyzes a novel type of mortality contingent-claim called a ruin-contingent life annuity (RCLA). This product fuses together a path-dependent equity put option with a "personal longevity" call option. The annuitant's (i.e. long position) payoff from a generic RCLA is \$1 of income per year for life, akin to a defined benefit pension, but deferred until a pre-specified financial diffusion process hits zero. We derive the PDE and relevant boundary conditions satisfied by the RCLA value (i.e. the hedging cost) assuming a complete market where No Arbitrage is possible. We then describe…
Game contingent claims (GCCs) generalize American contingent claims by allowing the writer to recall the option as long as it is not exercised, at the price of paying some penalty. In incomplete markets, an appealing approach is to analyze GCCs like their European and American counterparts by solving option holder's and writer's optimal investment problems in the underlying securities. By this, partial hedging opportunities are taken into account. We extend results in the literature by solving the stochastic game corresponding to GCCs with both continuous time stopping and trading. Namely, we …
In this paper, we are concerned with the valuation of Catastrophic Mortality Bonds and, in particular, we examine the case of the Swiss Re Mortality Bond 2003 as a primary example of this class of assets. This bond was the first Catastrophic Mortality Bond to be launched in the market and encapsulates the behaviour of a well-defined mortality index to generate payoffs for bondholders. Pricing these type of bonds is a challenging task and no closed form solution exists in the literature. In our approach, we express the payoff of such a bond in terms of the payoff of an Asian put option and pres…
In this paper, we are concerned with the valuation of Guaranteed Annuity Options (GAOs) under the most generalised modelling framework where both interest and mortality rates are stochastic and correlated. Pricing these type of options in the correlated environment is a challenging task and no closed form solution exists in the literature. We employ the use of doubly stochastic stopping times to incorporate the randomness about the time of death and employ a suitable change of measure to facilitate the valuation of survival benefit, there by adapting the payoff of the GAO in terms of the payof…
We investigate a statistical-static hedging technique for pricing assets considered as single-step stochastic cash flows. The valuation is based on constructing in a canonical way a European style derivative on a benchmark security such that the physical payoff distribution coincides with the (corrected) physical asset price distribution. It turns out that this pricing technique is economically viable under some natural cases. The fundamental properties of the pricing rule arising in this way are investigated here. This gives rise to a novel way of estimating state price density. Our approach …
