Evaluating the performance of the skewed distributions to forecast Value at Risk in the Global Financial Crisis

This paper evaluates the performance of several skewed and symmetric distributions in modeling the tail behavior of daily returns and forecasting Value at Risk (VaR). First, we used some goodness of fit tests to analyze which distribution best fits the data. The comparisons in terms of VaR have been...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Abad Romero, Pilar, Benito Muela, Sonia, Sánchez Granero, Miguel Angel, López, Carmen
Format: report
Publication Date:2013
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repository:Docta Complutense
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/41535
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/41535
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Value at Risk
Parametric model
Skewness t-Generalised Distribution
GARCH Model
Risk Management
Loss function.
Econometría (Economía)
5302 Econometría
Description
Summary:This paper evaluates the performance of several skewed and symmetric distributions in modeling the tail behavior of daily returns and forecasting Value at Risk (VaR). First, we used some goodness of fit tests to analyze which distribution best fits the data. The comparisons in terms of VaR have been carried out examining the accuracy of the VaR estimate and minimizing the loss function from the point of view of the regulator and the firm. The results show that the skewed distributions outperform the normal and Student-t (ST) distribution in fitting portfolio returns. Following a two-stage selection process, whereby we initially ensure that the distributions provide accurate VaR estimates and then, focusing on the firm´s loss function, we can conclude that skewed distributions outperform the normal and ST distribution in forecasting VaR. From the point of view of the regulator, the superiority of the skewed distributions related to ST is not so evident. As the firms are free to choose the VaR model they use to forecast VaR, in practice, skewed distributions will be more frequently used.