Risk Management
Last year’s headline-grabbing stories of the notorious bailout of Long-Term Capital Management and the 1.4 billion credit loss for BankAmerica opened the eyes of the investment world. These turbulent times have meant increased awareness of risk management and have lead to late breaking developments in new research, techniques, and theories in the field. Given the high stakes in today’s business world with financial dealings in the billions (e.g., derivatives), it’s easy to see why risk management has become the key buzzword on Wall Street. While Jorion focuses strictly on market risk, today’s financial professionals are also evaluating credit risk and operational risk. Managing Risk provides a comprehensive description and analysis of modern risk management, including the regulatory aspects, organizational issues, potential problem areas, and tools to control and manage the many different kinds of risks: market risk, credit risk, and operational risk. It also discusses: structuring and managing the risk management function in a firm; practical measurement issues in the field; risk management in both financial and non-financial institutions.
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Important stuff but hard slogging
This is an encyclopedia, and reading such things is not what most people, even when deeply interested in the subject are likely to do. It does provide a fair reference for specific topics, but this is not a subject one can really pick and choose.
VAR is the ususal starting point, and its famous authors (one of whom I hired for his skill in these matters) cover most of the bases in an interesting way.
5 Stars Don’t miss it
I think it the best book about Risk management I read so far. I was impressed even by the way they treat market risk although it does not seem their main interest. The chapter on VaR is much better than a whole book on it. Great!!! Everyone should have a copy…
4 Stars Covers a lot; hard to read
I work in the area of Risk Management for over 8 years and I find this book still covers a lot of what someone in the area needs to know. I think it is rather a reference book, better written than the Bessis book on RM in banking and covering more things on Credit Risk, but still … it is not a book one can read from start to end. It is good to keep on the shelf and read a chapter on a specific topic when necessary.
5 Stars Comprehensive and excellent
This book is the most comprehensive treatment I’ve seen of financial risk management, particularly from a banking perspective. It covers both the regulatory and practitioner perspectives of modern risk management — it’s a veritable encyclopedia.
It’s drawn from the wealth of experience of the authors, who are well known in both the academic world and on Wall St.
I guess what I like most about the book is the inside look it provides at the various aspects of financial risks — no other book does it better, and I found the discussion enthralling.
While mainly geared toward banks, the book also includes a fascinating chapter on risk management in regular corporations. I think the book would serve equally well as a textbook for a risk management course or a handbook for the risk management practitioner.
3 Stars Good book on risk management, February 4, 2002
I bought this book because some readers highly recommended it. I’m a financial derivatives strategist and risk management consultant. When a reviewed the book I disappointed in five main particular points: 1) The chapter on VaR is unsatisfactory and insufficient. The authors discuss this subject in a general approach. From my view point I have a preference for Jorion’s Value At Risk. 2) There is no discussion about GARCH models, which decrease the importance of this book. I recognise “Risk Management” is a great book. It’s a vast encyclopaedia of risk. 3) There’s a great discussion of all types of risk, but without any practical solved case. This particular point demerit the seriousness and greatness of the book. 4) The level of mathematics in the book is a little advanced and without any support en practical cases, these poor numerical exercises and calculus tools are useless. 5) Montecarlo simulation approach is bad. There is a great discussion on this subject in Hull’s Options, Futures and other derivatives, where the theme is practical, objective and concise. Finally and taking into account these five particular disadvantages, I’ll give my rating to this book: 3 stars.
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