hard · FRM Part 2 Market Risk

A desk is using a Gaussian copula to model the joint default of two high-yield issuers. During a market crisis, the realized joint defaults far exceed the model's predictions. The desk head proposes increasing the correlation parameter ρ from 0.3 to 0.7 to fix the model.

What is the structural flaw in this proposal?

  1. The proposal fails because the correlation between high-yield issuers is mean-reverting and will likely fall after the crisis.
  2. Raising the correlation parameter increases the risk of the equity tranche but does not address tail dependence.
  3. The Gaussian copula assumes marginals are normal, which is the primary cause of the joint default underestimation.
  4. Increasing correlation will decrease the probability of joint default, making the model even less conservative.

Sign up free to see the explanation and track your rank →

More FRM Part 2 Market Risk practice

KomFi: Test Prep Made Easy

KomFi: Test Prep Made Easy — free adaptive practice for GMAT, GRE, SAT, ACT, National Real Estate Exam, Investment Banking, and finance with full explanations.

KomFi Academy is free GMAT prep and personalized GMAT help built as a training platform: 77,800+ practice questions, 26,500+ flashcards, on-demand video lectures, podcasts, and 4K slide decks. Flagship tracks: Free GMAT Prep, Free GMAT Resources, National Real Estate Exam Prep, Investment Banking Prep, Finance Prep, GRE, SAT, ACT, LSAT, MCAT, Financial Accounting, Private Equity, Private Credit, and Quantitative Finance.

Free GMAT Prep & Personalized GMAT Help

What's inside

Topics

View pricing · Read testimonials