Home

Learning Hub

Articles

Understanding Value at Risk (VaR) in Financial Risk Management

Generating high returns and managing the risks are two fundamentals that ensure a successful investment. Also, given that risk is a massive parameter, traders and investors should make well-informed decisions to accept or reject a security or asset.

But when it comes to making any selling or purchasing decision regarding investments or security, the prime focus should be maximising the profit. For this reason, investors need to assess the maximum amount they might lose. In technical terms, this approach is known as value at risk. And you can read further about VaR or value at risk in this post.

Also Read: Financial Analysis, Valuation, & Risk Management

What is Value at Risk (VaR)?

According to the value at risk meaning, VaR, or value at risk, is a tool used for estimating the potential loss of an investment portfolio within a specified time. It assists in assessing the portfolio’s riskiness by considering the possible returns it can generate.

Value at Risk modelling also demonstrates the possibility of loss being assessed and the probability of the defined loss. So, you can measure the amount by determining the overall amount of probable loss, the chance of the loss, and the time period. But you should also note that VaR comes with its share of assumptions and limitations. So, the value at risk formula is:

VaR = Value of amount financial position x VaR (of the log return).

Let’s evaluate its applications and uses below:

Value at Risk (VaR) Uses and Applications

VaR is used by enterprises dealing with dicey investments. What a company does is monitor or control its risk levels. In addition, it also assesses the risk exposure of the company. The reason why firms employ it is to predict the size of forthcoming outlying gains or losses that the portfolios might experience.

Did you know some companies implement VaR to determine the total amount of collateral required from a specific client for a margin loan? This is when the company trades financial instruments. The firm-wide assessment lets a company determine the risks from positions held by various departments and desks within an institution. The following are some of the types of investors/institutes that use VaR.

• Brokers
• Investment & commercial banks
• Mutual funds
• Hedge funds

Key Components of Value at Risk (VaR)

Traditionally, volatility is the traditional measure, and the main objective of investors is the probability of losses. According to the VaR statistics, there are three elements, which are a confidence level, a period, and the loss percentage/amount:

• Confidence level
• Specified loss amount in percentage or value
• Time period where the risk gets assessed

VaR Methods

Value at risk has various applications. It is used for measuring the loss incurred via an investment or project. You can use different methods to calculate the amount, some of which are given below:

• Historical VaR
• Parametric VaR
• Monte Carlo VaR

Also Read More: Top 9 Functions of Financial Management: Roles & responsibilities

Variance-Covariance Method

Also referred to as the parametric method, the variance-covariance method assumes the normal distribution in returns. There are two parameters estimated, which are (1) the standard deviation and (2) the expected return.

This method is best for risk measurement issues where the identified distributions are estimated. This method is unreliable if the sample size tends to be small.

Next comes the Monte Carlo method, where VaR is measured by creating scenarios for any future rate. It uses the non-linear pricing models and estimates the alterations in value for every scenario. After this, the VaR is calculated as per the losses. Note that this method is appropriate for a varying range of issues concerning risk management. It is more evident when dealing with complex parameters.

Historical Method

The last and the final method is the historical method. It is the most straightforward process that helps calculate the value. Here, around 250 days of market data are considered to assess the change in percentage for every risk factor per day.

Then, every percentage change gets calculated with the current market values that give the presentation of 250 scenarios for the forthcoming value. Considering every scenario, non-linear and full pricing models are used. And the third worst day is presumed to 99% of the VaR.

Marginal Value at Risk (MVaR)

MVar is the marginal value. This method calculates the total amount of the additional risk included by new investments in a portfolio. It assists fund managers in understanding the portfolio change owing to an addition or subtraction of any investment.

The investment might have a high-risk value. But when it gets correlated with a portfolio negatively, it gives a lower risk amount.

Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR)

CVaR or conditional value at risk is the presumed shortfall, tail VaR, the risk’s average value, mean shortfall, or mean excess loss. It is the extension of VaR, which calculates the average losses occurring beyond the VaR point in any distribution.

Value at Risk (VaR) Advantages

Here’s a list of advantages of VaR:

• Easily Understandable
  VaR is the single number, suggesting an extent of portfolio risks. Understanding and interpretation of the VaR becomes simpler since it gets assessed in a percentage or value.

• Extremely Applicable
  Did you know that VaR applies to various types of assets? Some of them include shares, bonds, currencies, and derivatives, to mention a few. So it is easily implemented by financial institutions and banks. What it does is assess the risks and probability of various investments, thereby allocating risks depending on the VaR. Another benefit of VaR is that it is used widely.

Discover: 8 Key Scope of Financial Management to know in 2024

Value at Risk (VaR) Disadvantages

Note down the disadvantages of VaR:

• Methods are Different
  There are so many methods to calculate VaR. So, one may get confused when to use which method.

• Large portfolios
  Calculating VaR for the portfolio involves assessing the return and risks of every asset.  The calculation becomes more difficult with more diversity of assets or numbers in a portfolio.

• Complicated Assumptions
  Calculating VaR involves various assumptions. One also needs to use them in the form of inputs. Suppose the assumptions aren’t valid. In such cases, the overall VaR figure will also not be accurate.

Risk Reporting with Value at Risk (VaR)

Share or stock markets happen to be volatiles. So, the possibility of losses is higher here. Without a comprehensive analysis of the price movements and demands, traders or investors cannot proceed further. So, they need to quantify risks by measuring volatility. But this can contribute to indifference in any fluctuation’s direction.

The stock having an increasing pricing trend will be volatile. However, here, the volatility doesn’t make things complicated for investors. When any market or stock follows a decreasing trend, volatility makes traders take impulsive decisions in order to restrict losses. In such circumstances, calculating maximum losses helps investors make well-informed decisions.

You May Like to Read: The Role of Financial Planners: Why to Seek Professional Guidance

Conclusion

So, you have seen the advantages, disadvantages, methods, and applications of Value at Risk in this comprehensive post. Now, you know that it calculates the expected loss on any investment over a period of time. Here, we have also analysed different methods used for calculating value at risk. Thus, this post compiles the basic information on VaR to make you knowledgeable on this front.