Theme: Revenue, VaR and volatility

Revenue, VaR & volatility

• This note seeks to answer two questions: in the post-‘Crunch’ world, have investment banks been able to generate sustainable revenue from ever-diminishing Trading VaR? And, have they increased revenue-vs-VaR despite a decline in market volatility?
• The answer to both questions is ‘yes’. In fact, top-tier banks have vastly improved their returns on Trading VaR in all key product areas; and have adapted to ‘flat’ markets by better monitoring of trading patterns and by successfully internalising trades via their electronic trading units.