Financial Risk Manager Handbook, Second Edition [Paperback]

Philippe Jorion (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 047143003X | ISBN-13: 978-0471430032 | Publication Date: May 2, 2003 | Edition: 2

An essential guide to financial risk management as well as the only way to ace the GARP FRM Exam
The Financial Risk Management Exam (FRM Exam) was developed by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) as a means of establishing an industry standard of minimum professional competence in the field. It is given annually in November for risk professionals who want to earn FRM certification. Authored by renowned financial risk management guru Phillipe Jorion, with the full support of the GARP, this is the definitive guide for those preparing to take the FRM Exam. With the help of questions (and solutions) taken from previous exams, Jorion coaches readers on quantitative methods, capital markets, and market, credit, operational, and risk management concepts and assessment techniques. In addition to being the indispensable guide for those aspiring to FRM certification, Financial Risk Manager Handbook also serves as a valued working reference for risk professionals.
Phillipe Jorion, PhD (Irvine, CA), is a Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Management at UC Irvine. He has also taught at Columbia University, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of British Columbia.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A comprehensive reference and training guide for financial risk management

Risk professionals looking to earn the Financial Risk Manager (FRM™) certification, corporate training programs, professors, and graduate students all rely on one book for the most comprehensive and up-to-date information on financial risk management–the Financial Risk Manager Handbook. Presented in a clear and consistent fashion, this completely updated Second Edition is the best way to prepare for the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) exam and has become the core text for risk management training programs worldwide.

This definitive guide supports candidates studying for GARP’s annual FRM exam and prepares you to assess and control risk in today’s rapidly changing financial world. Financial Risk Manager Handbook, Second Edition summarizes the core body of knowledge for financial risk managers, covering such topics as quantitative methods, capital markets, as well as credit, operational, market, and integrated risk management. It also discusses relevant regulatory, legal, and accounting issues essential to risk professionals.

The FRM is recognized as the world’s most prestigious global certification program–created to measure a financial risk manager’s capabilities. With the FRM exam fast becoming an essential requirement for risk managers around the world, the Financial Risk Manager Handbook, Second Edition focuses on practical financial risk management techniques and solutions that are emphasized on the test–and essential in the real world. Questions from previous exams are explained through tutorials so that you may prepare yourself or your employees for this comprehensive exam and for the risk management scenarios you will face at some point in your career.

About the Author

PHILIPPE JORION is Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California at Irvine. He holds an MBA and a PhD from the University of Chicago and a degree in engineering from the University of Brussels. Dr. Jorion has authored more than seventy publications–directed towards academics and practitioners–on the topic of risk management and international finance. He is Editor of the Journal of Risk and is on the editorial board of a number of other financial journals. He has won the Smith Breeden Prize for research and the William F. Sharpe Award for Scholarship in Financial Research. He has written the first edition of Financial Risk Manager Handbook as well as Financial Risk Management: Domestic and International Dimensions, Big Bets Gone Bad: Derivatives and Bankruptcy in Orange County, and Value at Risk: The New Benchmark for Managing Financial Risk.

Product Details

• Paperback: 832 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (May 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047143003X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471430032
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,244,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 31, 2003

By 

Netman1 (Between Here and There) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Financial Risk Manager Handbook, Second Edition (Paperback)

This book is billed as the "official reference book for GARP's FRM certification program" and "ideal for self instruction and in-house training".

Unfortunately, it falls short on both scores. It is definitely not a book for someone with a basic level of knowledge. Nor does it really seem to be written for the intermediate risk manager/practitioner.

Dr. Jorion undertook a rather ambitious and perhaps thankless task with this book. The subject is quite extensive. There is probably no one person with all the required in-depth knowledge to write the entire book. So there were bound to be areas of weakness. It also appears that he had scant assistance with the book, which placed an enormous burden on him.

As well, the book lacks a consistent pedagogical focus. It is not pitched to the basic student or to the intermediate level practitioner but seems to wander between the two. And therefore is probably not an ideal text for either audience.

If it is intended as a textbook for in-house training or preparation for the FRM exam, then it should be written at a much more basic level with careful ordering of the presentation of the material and fuller explanations rather than the text's at times elliptical and terse ones. For an example of a shortcoming in presentation, in the section on option pricing, the book discusses the Merton derivation (for income generating "underlyings") of the Black Scholes model and then presents a detailed example of the Black Scholes model. It would be more helpful to reverse the order and go from the simpler to the more complex.

Other areas for improvement are the section on statistics, probability, etc. These are at the heart of modern risk management. Sometimes the descriptions seem too terse to convey the material. The tables on the "moments" could be improved by including the denominator to show the exact formula for their calculation.

Notwithstanding the above, there is some very good material in the book - thematic comments on risk management and interactions between various risks and instruments. This "big picture" analysis is good. The discussion of "moments" is well organized though there is a shortcoming in the tables - the denominators are missing and so the student doesn't see the exact formula for each. However, as outlined above, without more detail and more structured presentation, the book's utility for the basic level student is diminished.

One would expect to see more evidence of a strong editor's hand from a book published under Wiley Finance imprint. It is a little acknowledged fact that most authors rely on an editor to catch mistakes and to ensure that the book stays on message. The author's task is even more daunting when preparing such a technical book. And the editor's role then even more critical.

There are some obvious errors in the book. For example, missing information in the sample question 11.4 on page 254. Poor spacing in the answer key to that question on page 260- where the square root of time and the 99% standard deviation factors are conflated. As well, the explanation of the solution could have been expanded to explain exactly what these factors represented and why they were used. This is very important in a basic training book. Also there are several extraneous words between two sentences on the top of page 291. These and others not mentioned here seem to be obvious catches.

Since the subject matter is so extensive and since this is a GARP official publication, GARP should consider enlisting several authors, each of whom could address areas of his/her expertise. Dr. Jorion then could serve as the senior author - providing the logical architecture to link sections together and highlight critical dependencies and linkages. That would improve the book materially.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Bible of Risk Management, April 7, 2005

By 

Ayesha Malik - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Financial Risk Manager Handbook, Second Edition (Paperback)

Having worked on several risk management projects on Wall Street for years, I must admit that this is the best and most comprehensive book on the topic. It covers all the main areas of risk management (market, credit, operational) and saves you countless hours of looking for definitions and derivations of key risk management concepts (not everything is on Google, or at least not yet).