Robust Portfolio Optimization by Applying Multi-objective and Omega-conditional Value at Risk Models Based on the Mini-max Regret Criterion

To produce a proper reaction when confronted with market uncertainties (booms and busts), before making any investment decisions, investors and financial institutions tend to obtain some level of assurance about the market’s future and also the market’s probable feedback on their performance in the future. This study seeks to identify optimized robust portfolios with the best performance in the face of market uncertainties than can minimize the investors’ regret about their portfolio selection.

To create optimal portfolios, in the study, scenarios pertaining to various market situations based on daily returns of the Tehran Stock Exchange Price Index (TEDPIX) were designed, and the particle swarm optimization algorithm and minimax regret criterion were applied. This study also explored the application of multivariate objective functions and the Omega Conditional Value at Risk ratio as the fitting functions in particle mass optimization. To calculate optimal portfolios, the data from 50 companies on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) from 2009 to 2016 were analyzed. Also, the data from the year 2017 were evaluated as out of sample data.

Research findings indicated optimized robust portfolios in monthly periods had higher information ratios and lower tracking errors than the benchmark portfolios.

Making market scenarios and applying the minimax regret criterion improves the performance of optimized robust portfolios. Additionally, compared with the semi-variance benchmark model, applying the multi-objective function and Omega-Conditional Value at Risk ratio in portfolio optimization leads to improve performance of the robust portfolios.