Identify the financial risks to which your high net worth client would have exposure if invested in this structured financial product
The Purpose
Knowledge in the following:
1) an understanding of and ability to identify the financial risks faced by individuals and corporations.
2) an ability to undertake statistical analysis, including calculation of individual and portfolio statistics in Excel
3)familiarity with the construction of tables and graphics and their integration into written reports; and high-level written communication skills.
Information:
Your has been asked to provide analysis for and advice to an Australian-based, high net worth (HNW) client, who is considering the purchase of a structured financial product (SFP) issued by a US-based investment bank. Your client wishes to be advised on the financial risks to which they would be exposed in association with investment in this SFP. You have the following information on this SFP, •The face value of the SFP is USD 25,000 •The payoff is due in two years•Payoff at maturity is max{USD 25,000, [(SP500T/SP5000)x USD 25,000]}•SP500T represents the value of the S&P 500 Index at maturity of the investment product and SP5000 the value of the S&P 500 Index at inception of the SFP(i.e., the end of June 2019)•Discount rate (% p.a.) = 2-yr spot + 2-yr spread –120 bp •2-yr spot is the 2-year spot rate on US Government liabilities, 2-yr spread is the difference between the yield on 2-year US Treasury Bonds and US BBB-rated corporate bonds •The 2-yr spread at the end of June 2020 was 1.1 per cent, while the historical default rate on BBB-rated corporate bonds is 0.9 per cent
You also have other information on key financial variables (as of the end of June 2020, the date you will assume as ‘now/today’for undertaking your calculations):•You have been provided with time series data in the form of the yield on U.S.government bonds (% p.a.), the USD/AUD exchange rate, and the value of the S&P 500 Index (see the spreadsheet provided with the orderData.xlsx).USD/AUD represents the US dollar/Australian dollar exchange rate (price of AUD 1 in USD).Note: Not all information given above can be used in this your calculations. Some are not appropriate to use and/or incomplete. A part of the assessment is to identify which pieces of information/data should be used.
The Task
Prepare a brief (of no more than 3 pages) report in which you need:
(a)Identifies the financial risks to which your HNW client would have exposure if invested in this SFP. (Hint:you should tabulate the different financial risks to which an investor would be exposed if they bought the SFP and the sources of each financial risk.)
(b)Quantitatively analyse the risk factors for which you are given data. Analyse individual risk factors and the relationship between these risk factors.(Hint: For quantitative analyses, you should focus on the characteristics of the risk factors.Quantitatively establish how a risk factor affects the SFP is not strictly required. At minimum, you should calculate the mean, standard deviation and correlations of the risk factors.)
(c)Discuss how each risk factor may impact the return of the SFP, including the risk factors you have not quantitatively analysed. Given your analysis of the data available to you, which financial risks do you think are likely to be of most concern to the client? Provide a brief justification/support for your answer.
(d) An Excel file for calculation references