Comparative analysis of Spanish Banks’ Standalone credit profile

The paper studies the relationship between four differently rated bank’s financial profile and their standalone credit rating issued by Moody’s. The comparative analysis shows an example that despite their pricing power and geographical coverage, larger banks do not necessarily have better credit ratings. Instead, business model and risk appetite seem to be the defining factors of banks’ vulnerability to shocks, such as the Spanish real estate crisis. The risk-return relationship is also identified in the banks’ fundamentals meaning that while expansionary strategy in riskier asset classes enhances margins, it also potentially distorts the credit risk profile.

A comparative review of risk based portfolio allocations: An empirical study throughout rising yields

Since the financial crisis, risk based portfolio allocations have gained a great deal in popularity. This increase in popularity is primarily due to the fact that they make no assumptions as to the expected return of the assets in the portfolio. These portfolios implicitly put risk management at the heart of asset allocation and thus their recent appeal. This paper will serve as a comparison of four well-known risk based portfolio allocation methods; minimum variance, maximum diversification, inverse volatility and equally weighted risk contribution. Empirical backtests will be performed throughout rising interest rate periods from 1953 to 2015. Additionally, I will compare these portfolios to more simple allocation methods, such as equally weighted and a 60/40 asset-allocation mix. This paper will help to answer the question if these portfolios can survive in a rising interest rate environment.

Carry and trend-following strategies

Recent research has shown that carry and trend strategies when combined lead to significant risk-adjusted returns that can be very attractive to investors, at a low cost with small and positive skewness. This study proposes to combine both carry and trend-following, considering a data set of ten years (09/2005-09/2015), within a portfolio composed by three major asset classes: currencies, commodities and equity indices. Following a futures-based methodology, the obtained results show that, indeed, the strategy results inevitably in higher returns and greater sharpe ratios for every asset class in study. This outcome results from the fact that trend proved to provide a significant hedge to the downside risk that carry is exposed to.

Cidadania pós-nacional

In the midst of changes of the world political order fostered mainly by the very debated phenomenon of globalization, the nation-state is confronted with new paradigms regarding their identification with society. Citizenship, as was defined up to the latter decades of the last century, rooted in nationalist ideals that tend to condition it full exercise on exclusionary policies oriented criteria, is not consistent with the human needs of present days. One can observe, mainly in Europe with the establishment of European citizenship, certain propensity towards a relative detachment between nationality and citizenship. It is expected with the present research to expose some of the arguments invoked by those who defend the possibility of a post-national conception of citizenship, i.e., decoupled from the concept of nationality and national boundaries, in order to develop a grounding for a necessary re-articulation of this institute. This assumption is based mainly on the movement of universal human rights and the revaluation of human dignity, especially through participatory policies on citizenship and respect for ethnic and cultural diversity.

How to invest as a private equity

This work project presents a road map for making deals under the umbrella support of a private equity investor. Fundraising, investment analysis, asset monitoring, and divestment are stages in the process that are covered in-depth and clarified in terms of action plan and procedures. Moreover, private equity brings tangible and intangible efficiency to the economy and companies, not only by providing finance to grow and expand but also by forcing superior organizational organics that foster sustainable business positions. In a world domain, Europe as been a second liner as compared to US in terms of size within the private equity sector, but it is quickly maturing and converging to US numbers. In this sense, Portugal has been improving in both numbers and regulations in order to leverage on its strategic location and position itself as a key player to address future business challenges coming from emerging markets such as Africa and Latin America.