Estimation methods for Asian Quanto Basket options

Abstract: All financial institutions that provide options to counterparties will in most cases get involved withMonte Carlo simulations. Options with a payoff function that depends on asset’s value at differenttime points over its lifespan are so called path dependent options. This path dependency impli-cates that there exists no parametric solution and the price must hence be estimated, it is hereMonte Carlo methods come into the picture. The problem though with this fundamental optionpricing method is the computational time. Prices fluctuate continuously on the open market withrespect to different risk factors and since it’s impossible to re-evaluate the option for all shifts dueto its computing intensive nature, estimations of the option price must be used. Estimating theprice from known points will of course never produce the same result as a full re-evaluation but anestimation method that produces reliable results and greatly reduces computing time is desirable.This thesis will evaluate different approaches and try to minimize the estimation error with respectto a certain number of risk factors.This is the background for our master thesis at Swedbank. The goal is to create multiple estima-tion methods and compare them to Swedbank’s current estimation model. By doing this we couldpotentially provide Swedbank with improvement ideas regarding some of its option products andrisk measurements. This thesis is primarily based on two estimation methods that estimate optionprices with respect to two variable risk factors, the value of the underlying assets and volatility.The first method is a grid that uses a second order Taylor expansion and the sensitivities delta,gamma and vega. The other method uses a grid of pre-simulated option prices for different shiftsin risk factors. The interpolation technique that is used in this method is calledPiecewise CubicHermiteinterpolation. The methods (or referred to as approaches in the report) are implementedto handle a relative change of 50 percent in the underlying asset’s index value, which is the firstrisk factor. Concerning the second risk factor, volatility, both methods estimate prices for a 50percent relative downward change and an upward change of 400 percent from the initial volatility.Should there emerge even more extreme market conditions both methods use linear extrapolationto estimate a new option price.