The Latest On Sharath Sury
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Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
“THE BASICS” With Mr. Sharath Sury – part 1 of 10
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Dr. M.B. Sury named Official In-house Expert Contributor for Everything-Finance.net.
Posted by SURYONLINE.NET at 3/31/2010 5:13 AM
Today, Everything-Finance officially announced that Dr. M. Sury, Father of the well-regarded Professor Sharath Sury, will be the exclusive In-House Expert Contributor for http://Everything-Finance.net
The site is scheduled to make an announcement later today regarding its re-vamping process, release dates, and any other updates that have not been released to the public as of yet.
Check back soon for the latest updates and news about Professors Sharath and M. Sury, right here, on suryonline.net!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sharath Sury Wants to Hear From You, Today! Voice Your Opinion and vote!
Posted by SURYONLINE.NET at 3/15/2010 1:19 AM
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Sharath Sury's Headlines of 2010
(Recent and Upcoming Events of Sharath M. Sury in Chronological Order)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Importance of Asset Liability Matching (ALM)
By Sharath Sury
Posted On: About Sharath Sury - News and Events at 3/11/2010 4:33 PM
In recent years, investment, portfolio, and endowment managers have become acutely attuned to the risks of unmatched cash flows in their portfolios. In particular, the ability of assets to generate sufficient cash flows to meet liability funding obligations has waned in the past decade.
As a result, new emphasis has been placed upon so-called "asset liability matching." In this brief, we'll examine one example of the ALM technique. Consider the case of an investment manager that has a series of assets that must fund a series of liabilities. For simplicity, we will assume that the assets consist of fixed income investments with no default risk and the liabilities consist of a known set of payouts to be made in the future.
In any analysis of fixed income (or liabilities), it is important to measure the "duration" of the income (or liability) stream. Duration is the cash-flow adjusted effective term to maturity for a series of given cash flows. Thus, duration is also sometimes referred to as "effective maturity." It is also important to know that the duration of a portfolio of assets (or liabilities) is equal to the weighted average duration of the underlying assets (or liabilities). In addition, the higher the duration of a series of cash flows, the greater its sensitivity to a change in interest rates.
There are a variety of ways to calculate duration that are beyond the scope of this brief; however, most involve either a simple calculation heuristic or an automated spreadsheet. Either way, there is a very important benefit of knowing the duration of a series of cash flows. A bondholder that holds (and reinvests the coupons of) a bond to its duration is effectively "immunized" from interest rate changes and should experience a holding period yield (HPY) that is approximately equivalent to the original yield to maturity on the bond.
Of course, there are several assumptions (e.g., the bond issuer does not default, etc). However, in the base case, this notion can be very valuable to an investment manager that needs a certain cash flow at a certain date and time. This is often the case for endowments that have payout requirements or pensions that have retirement obligations.
If an investment manager can calculate the duration of its assets and the duration of its liabilities, it can make a determination as to the interest rate sensitivity of the portfolio; and thus estimate its ability to meet its future obligations. For example, if the duration of the portfolio assets is greater than the duration of the portfolio liabilities, then the portfolio structure is susceptible to rising interest rates.
This is because the higher duration assets are more sensitive to interest rates than the lower duration liabilities. Should interest rates rise, the assets will decline in value more quickly than the liabilities will. If interest rates remain at that level, there may be a shortfall in funding the liabilities.
One way to mitigate this problem is to rebalance the asset portfolio such that the duration of the assets is equal to the duration of the liabilities, such that any interest rate change has a negligible effect. If, in the case above, the asset portfolio duration is too high, the duration must be reduced.
This reduction may be accomplished by either rebalancing the portfolio with shorter duration assets (e.g., shorter term Treasuries or even cash) or by shorting longer duration assets. The zero coupon market in Treasuries (STRIPS) is often used due to the unique result that zero coupon bonds have durations that are exactly equivalent to their maturities.
When the duration of the portfolio of assets and the portfolio of liabilities is equivalent, changes in interest rates should have a negligible effect on the structure: the portfolio is said to be duration matched. This is a prime example of the benefit of ALM.
Of course, there are risks other than changing interest rates. Furthermore, duration itself is not static, and portfolio rebalancing must be dynamic to account for such changes. However, in principle, this form of ALM can work to help investment managers put some control on at least one form of risk in our ever-more complex investment world.
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Thursday, March 11, 2010
Risk Measurement - A Multi-Dimensional Concept! By Sharath Sury For the past 50 years, many financial economists and professional investment managers relied upon the concept of "mean variance optimization (MVO)" to design investment portfolios. The principle was simple: maximize mean return subject to a certain variance (risk); or minimize variance subject to a certain mean return. While the MVO technique is well-intentioned, it suffers from an incomplete definition of risk. It has long been known that asset classes can be described using various degrees of specificity, sometimes known as "moments of the distribution." For example, the first moment of the return distribution of an asset class is its mean return. The second moment is known as variance. For a normally distributed asset class with well behaved properties, a variety of analytical techniques can be applied and conclusions drawn based upon these two moments alone (mean and variance). Unfortunately, many asset classes do not behave according to what the normal distribution would suggest. Further, asset classes that exhibit "normality" for one time period may not exhibit it during other time periods. The incorporation of alternative asset classes (e.g., hedge funds, real estate, private equity) increases the likelihood that an overall portfolio will exhibit degrees of non-normality. As a result, it is often important to consider at least two other "higher order" moments of the return distribution. The third moment is known as "skew" or asymmetry. It reflects the degree to which an asset class may have a higher proportion of negative (or positive) returns. Some hedge fund strategies are built and marketed explicitly on this notion: while they may exhibit low levels of variance (or standard deviation), they concomitantly exhibit high levels of negative skew (or returns which are asymmetrically biased to the downside). The fourth moment of a return distribution is referred to as "kurtosis," or more colloquially as "fat tails." Kurtosis reflects the degree to which the return distribution may be subject to extreme events. Thus, the "fat tails" refer to the graphic representation of the returns as exhibiting a higher probability of extreme results than the normal distribution would suggest. As an example, higher levels of geopolitical uncertainty can increase the kurtosis of particular asset classes. Thus, investment managers and asset allocators who rely solely upon the popularly employed MVO techniques may be missing key risk factors that can adversely affect a portfolio and may therefore provide solutions that are incomplete with respect to skew and kurtosis. New methods for dealing with the shortcomings of MVO include the use of other constraints in the optimization. For example, the so-called "mean-conditional value at risk (MCVaR)" is a methodology which seeks to incorporate skew and kurtosis. CVaR essentially relates to the "area of the return profile" below which an investor is "at risk." By maximizing mean return subject to an acceptable level of CVaR, an investment manager may be better able to capture the important risks of the portfolio. Recent (and repeated) empirical research has shown that-in hedge fund portfolios alone-the MVO methodology has underestimated the amount of risk (as defined by CVaR) by as much as 50%! In the past few years, CVaR has been joined by other risk measures, such as "Omega," to help broaden the traditional definition of risk beyond the confines of simple variance or standard deviation. In the end, more complete definitions of risk should lead to more robust portfolio optimization solutions. Sharath Sury was selected as one of the "40 Under 40" professionals to be published and recognized in Crain's Chicago Business List [of outstanding individuals]. Within a few years, S4 Capital, LLC was created by re-branding CACM. Sharath Sury's incredible work ethic led the company to be highly ranked and esteemed in the industry across publications like Bloomberg's Wealth Manager Magazine and Financial Advisor Magazine. Today, Sharath M. Sury has retired from the corporate sector to focus his efforts in academia and research. Professor Sury is the Dean's Executive Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University, and Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of California. Sharath Sury is frequently sought after to moderate panels on highly debated topics for an unbiased view, or to serve as an expert in intricate finance matters. An expert author for multiple, prominent online publications, and Founder of an Initiative for Financial Innovation and Risk Management in Santa Clara, Mr. Sury works to bring together leaders and the new generation of Finance students with close attention to the crisis we presently face. SOURCE: Sury, Sharath "Risk Measurement - A Multi-Dimensional Concept!." Risk Measurement - A Multi-Dimensional Concept!. 10 Mar. 2010 EzineArticles.com. 11 Mar. 2010 <http://ezinearticles.com/?Risk-Measurement---A-Multi-Dimensional-Concept!&id=3905284>.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Posted by SURYONLINE.NET at 3/9/2010 6:47 PM
The Following List Contains Sharath Sury's Tentative Speaking Engagements for 2010:
Sharath Sury to Moderate a Panel Discussion over the "Asset Allocation and Risk" May 12-14, 2010 at the Swissôtel Chicago in Chicago, IL The Asset Allocation and Risk segment is scheduled from 9:45am - 10:45am
segment
Investor and Developer Conference
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Diversification - A Useful Tool, Until You Need It!
By Sharath Sury
We have all been taught about the merits of diversification in investments. It is a variation of the old adage, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
Indeed, professional investment managers are trained to develop portfolios according to the tenets of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT). MPT traces its roots to the work of Harry Markowitz and his seminal writings on "Portfolio Selection." In his pioneering research, Markowitz was able to demonstrate the mathematical basis for diversification.
Essentially, Markowitz showed that selecting assets that have a positive expected return but exhibit low or (preferably) negative correlation to one another produces a combined portfolio that retains the positive expected return properties, but with lowered risk (as defined by variance).
Theoretically, this result arises due to the presence of at least two major sources of risk: nonsystematic (or unique) risk and systematic (or market) risk. While it is very difficult to eliminate market risk, it is possible to reduce the risks associated with unique investment assets. By combining investment assets that are subject to certain specific, unique risks with other investment assets that are subject to other unique risks, it may be possible to reduce the overall risk of the combined portfolio.
For the past several decades, this has been the mantra to which all investment managers adhered. Unfortunately, recent experiences in the capital markets have led both academics and professional investment practitioners to rethink portfolio construction. With the increasing interconnectedness of global markets and investment pools, we have seen that correlation structures among various investment assets are not always stable.
In fact, assets that typically exhibit low correlation with one another can dramatically change direction and begin exhibiting increased correlation during periods of market distress. The increased correlation leads to a reduction in the power of diversification and thus to increased risk in the overall portfolio. Unfortunately, this upward shift in correlation happens at exactly the time when an investor needs correlation the most: market distress.
As a result, investment managers need to be exceedingly careful in constructing portfolios that are able to withstand the dynamic nature of correlations, especially as the market experiences large disturbances. These "disturbances" are becoming much more commonplace: the Asian currency crisis of 1997, failure of the major hedge fund "Long Term Capital Management" in 1998, the burst of the "dot-com" bubble in 2000/2001, the terrorist attacks of 2001, the burst of the real estate bubble in 2007/2008, and the credit crisis of 2008/2009. In nearly every case, correlation structures among various assets increased at precisely the time when investors needed protection the most.
The best portfolio construction techniques have an appreciation for the fact that correlation structures may change during different "states of the world" or regimes. By incorporating these state-dependent correlation structures into portfolio design and optimization, investment managers can move to better protect portfolios during times of market distress.
Sharath M. Sury - Founder and Executive Director of the Sury Initiative for Financial Innovation & Risk Management (SIFIRM) at Santa Clara University, Sharath Sury devotes his time and energy to bringing together thought leaders who can address the development of real-world solutions to the current economic climate. Sharath Sury has worked with some of the brightest and most experienced experts in finance and risk management and aims to bring a greater sense of ethics and responsibility to his profession. Through his efforts, Professor Sury has established this invaluable forum for the research and discussion of new developments in the world of economics and finance and has attracted a renewed spirit of innovation to the industry. Sharath Sury also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Economics at the University of California and Adjunct Professor of Finance at DePaul University in Chicago. Sharath Sury's interest and experience in wealth management began as an Associate and later Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. He later founded and worked at S4 Capital, where he earned numerous accolades for his work.
SOURCE: http://ezinearticles.com/?Diversification---A-Useful-Tool,-Until-You-Need-It!&id=3883169
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Analytic Due Diligence Using an Alpha Cost Index
Posted On:
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Sury Initiative for Financial Innovation & Risk Management (SIFIRM) at Santa Clara University in California’s Silicon Valley, Sharath Sury devotes his time and energy to the development of real-world solutions to the current economic climate. Sharath Sury has worked with some of the brightest and most experienced experts in finance and risk management through SIFIRM and aims to bring a greater sense of ethics and responsibility to his profession. Through his efforts with SIFIRM, Sharath Sury has established an invaluable forum for the research and discussion of new developments in the world of economics and finance and has attracted a renewed spirit of innovation to the industry.
Issue
Effective portfolio managers recognize that not all returns are created equally.
Examination
Investment strategies can deliver returns that are the result of systematic (market or beta) exposures, nonsystematic (skill or alpha) exposures, and random variation. The relative proportions of alpha, beta, and randomness vary across strategies and even within strategies as they evolve over time. Historically, most investment products have bundled alpha and beta. However, as low-cost, investable proxies for beta grow more pervasive, it is increasingly important for portfolio managers to consider only those actively managed products that are truly delivering incremental alpha. In this article, we introduce a new measure that adjusts product fees to account for the level of alpha delivered—the Alpha Cost Index (ACI).
Conclusion
The ACI levels the playing field by penalizing products that charge active management fees but deliver the preponderance of their returns from beta exposures; thus serving as a useful ranking tool for due diligence.
Keywords: hedge funds, alpha, beta, fees, due diligence
JEL Classifications: G10, G19
Working Paper Series
Date posted: October 06, 2009 ; Last revised: November 04, 2009
Suggested Citation
Sury, Sharath M. and Sury, Manda B, Analytic Due Diligence Using an Alpha Cost Index (April 16, 2006). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1482904
Contact Information
Sharath M. Sury (Contact Author)
Santa Clara University ( email )
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
United States
HOME PAGE:
University of California ( email )
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
United States
Manda B Sury
DePaul University - Department of Finance ( email )
1 East Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604-2287
United States
Disclosures and References Source: http://www.manyworlds.com/exploreco.aspx?coid=CO31104305960
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