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The field of socially responsible investment (SRI) has become a central theme in the mutual funds industry. The risk implications associated with this investment approach are less explored. This study further investigates the real contribution to the investor offered by the SRI alternative.The aim of this paper is to throw more light on this debate.

Analyzing a large sample of US companies, this study investigates the tendency to generate risk when the portfolio is built, taking into account SRI. The research is based on the backtest of the real performance obtainable by adopting different investment strategies in which the red line is the selection method based on the principles of corporate social responsibility.

The investor must pay a cost that depends on the degree of rigor in the selection criteria. The risk associated with SRI is influenced by the measure adopted. SRI has a better asymmetric risk behavior than other securities. The results suggest using different selection models according to the investor’s objectives. When the objective is to maximize the average return and the remuneration risk, the SRI selection model should be negative or at least as inclusive as possible. In the event that the investor’s objective is to contain risk indices, a restrictive approach to the selection of investments is advisable.

Academic research has long been investigating the ability to generate profits but often neglects the levels of risk implicit in such investment approaches. The originality of this research consists in the adoption of a model based on the continuous optimization of the portfolio. This approach allows the results to be assessed by the returns actually obtained.

The financial crisis has led the Basel Committee to improve the system of capital requirements for market risks. This paper aims to investigate the effects of different models to estimate the market risk in the management of the trading book. The study takes into account the events occurring in the financial markets and the new prudential rules.

The author compares different models and proposes an opportunity cost function able to evaluate the cost related to capital requirements. He identified seven asset classes and studies the effects of different models for estimating VaR simulating financial portfolios with increasing risk. The series consists of the daily return from 01/01/2002 to 06/30/2012.

The results show that it is possible to identify a wide area between aggressive and conservative approach where the bank management must choose. The regulation does not encourage intermediaries to the use of complex models that could better evaluate the risk in financial markets. The revision of the market risk framework increases the capital requirement and reduces the incentive to use models with more predictive power for regulatory purposes.

The work differs from previous contributions for three characteristics: first, it uses a set of extended data and more consistent with the actual operation. Secondly, the author presents an opportunity cost function in order to evaluate the estimation models. Third, he calculates the effect of stressed‐VaR after a year and a half of adoption.

The recent 2008–2009 financial crisis has led international financial authorities to review the existing regulation; the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has been thus induced to review the pillars of the Basel Accord (Basel II) in order to strengthen the risk coverage of capital framework (Basel 2.5 and III). These reforms will help to raise capital requirements for the trading book, which represents a major source of losses for internationally financial institutions, especially during crisis periods. In particular, the Committee has introduced a Stressed Value-at-Risk (SVaR) capital requirement, as a new methodology to evaluate market risk.

This chapter aims to shed some lights on the issues major banks have to face when calculating SVaR in the context of emerging markets, pointing out the differences in adopting an estimation model with respect to another one. Our results show a considerable increase in capital requirements especially when new rules are applied to financial markets with high-risk parameters, such as emerging markets are. The increased cost due to higher capital requirements could be a disincentive to investment in markets with higher risk profiles than the developed markets, taking also into account that diversification benefits deriving from investing in emerging economies have shown a decrease over time. The reduction of institutional investors can thus represent a brake on the process of innovation and evolution of emerging markets.