The New Science of Risk Management: Value-at-Risk

1230 Words3 Pages

The purpose of this article is to gain a concrete understanding of the perception of Value at Risk, its strengths and weaknesses, and controversies related to its use in managing risk. Two articles will be used to help with the understanding of VaR, “An Irreverent Guide to Value at Risk,” by Barry Schachter and “Subjective Value-at-Risk,” by Glyn Hoyt. These articles will give us some background by describing VaR, understanding its limits, and its developing role in risk management.

Article 1 “An Irreverent Guide to Value at Risk

Value at Risk has been called the “new science of risk management.” Around the world, organizations are sprinting to implement the new technology.

Because of its technical being, I would first like to give you 3 equal definitions of VaR given by the author.

1. A prediction of a given percentile, usually in the lower tail of the distribution of returns on a portfolio over some period; similar in principle to an estimate of the expected return on a portfolio, which is an estimate of the 50th percentile.
2. An estimate of the level of loss on a portfolio which is expected to be equaled or exceeded with a given, small probability.
3. A number invented by purveyors of panaceas for pecuniary peril intended to mislead senior management and regulators into a false confidence that market risk is adequately understood and controlled.

This is a statistical method used to calculate and specify the level of financial risk within a firm or investment portfolio over a limited time frame. The risk manager's task is to guarantee that risks are not taken beyond the level at which the firm can absorb the losses of a likely worst outcome. VaR is just a number created to give senior management false certa...

... middle of paper ...

...utcomes can further provide information on expected losses over a given time period. Stress testing is used as a supplement for VaR analysis. “Because VaR does not capture all relevant information about market risk, its best use is as a tool in the hands of a good risk manager.”

There is a reason to be skeptical of both its quality as a risk management instrument and its use in decision making.

Article 2 “Subjective Value-at-Risk”

Value-at-Risk is becoming extremely popular and is being bandied by pundits into measuring other risks such as credit and operational risk, and many believe that all risks of a company should be computed with a single risk measure. The author believes that if this were so there would be a lot of backlash due to VaR being controversial and that it still may be ineffective for analyzing these other risks as well as market risk.

Open Document