MBRM - MB Risk Management

An example of this includes the understanding of losses through our product for Basel II - the MBRM Operational Loss Database (a .NET internet/intranet based Operational Loss Database). The Operational Loss Database offers potential for data-mining of reasons for losing money.

This gives us deeper insight into making future cost savings. It is also a requirement for meeting compliance of Basel II regulations at the Advanced level for operational risk certification.

Our policy over the last 14 years, as set by Dr. Mamdouh Barakat, MBRM's founder and Managing Director, has been to provide flexible dynamic and robust risk management tools at a reasonable cost.

Our company's growth to 30,000 users at thousands of institutions has been dependent on our commitment to intensive research and development whilst in constant dialogue with our users and academics in the field.

We at MBRM are committed to constant and rigorous reviewing and testing of all relevant quant research to insure our upgrades are not just keeping pace but are ahead of the curve.

The following postings in our online Support/Discussion forums mention just SOME of the major recent enhancements [accessible by supported users only; though non-supported trial users can see these features in action when they download the free trial]:

In "UNIVLMM - Universal LIBOR Market Model Add-in" forum :
+ "Ver 8.3b : Genetic algorithm to improve volatility optimization / calibration"
+ "Ver 8.3c : Trigger Dual Knock-In And Knock-Out Swaps & Trigger Inverse Floaters."
+ "Ver 8.3d : New support for Multi-Currency Exotic Instruments"
+ "Ver 8.3e : New support for Callable Accrual Swaps / Notes"
+ "Ver 8.3f : Multicall Quanto Range Accrual/Inverse swaps/notes, Captions & KO Caps"
+ "Ver 8.3g : Improved calculation of Early Exercise Boundary for Bermudan Options"
+ "Moving Skew Calculation for UNIVLMM : new feature in ucms_caplet_skew.xls"
+ "Ver 8.3h : New CEV/CBP support & extra 'volatility factor' Skew parameter input"
+ "Callable Capped FRN with step-up cap strikes using 'ULA_PRICE_ACCRUALSWAP( )'"
+ "Ver 8.4 : Bermudan Callable CMS Spread bonds now supported"

In "UNIVCONV - Universal Convertibles Add-in" forum :
+ "Preview of new version 8.2v of UNIVCONV is now available to our supported users" -- regarding UCA_SET_SHARE_METHOD( ), UCA_INTERPOLATE_SHARE_VOL_CURVE and UCA_EQUITY_TREE_EXPANSION_RATIO
+ "Proposal for enhancement : Restriction of conversion unless parity above a level : Preview of new version 8.2w of UNIVCONV is now available to our supported users"
+ "Preview of new version 8.3 which supports Options on Convertibles"
+ "Options on Convertibles : Additional Discounting Technique added in ver. 8.3a"
+ "New UNIVCONV release 8.3b : 'tree' Delta / Gamma versus 'imputed' Delta / Gamma"
+ "Ver 8.3c : BDT with large vols"
+ "Entering Credit Spread vols for Options on Converts"
+ "New feature in UNIVCONV version 8.3d : Probability of Exercise"
+ "Ver 8.3e : Improved accuracy & smoothness for low number of steps with calls/puts"
+ "UNIX (SUN Solaris / SuSE LINUX) versions of UNIVCONV library"

In "UNIVCMS - Universal CMS & Swaptions Add-in" forum :
+ "New release & CMS Convexity Adjustment when considering Correlation" [ver 8.3]
+ "Implying caplet vols (inc. SMILE) : VERY FAST NEW function =UCMS_CAPLET_VOLS( )" [ver 8.3a]
+ "Moving Skew Calculation for UNIVLMM : new feature in ucms_caplet_skew.xls"
+ "Ver 8.4 : CEV + FULL Swaption Vol grid passed to BDT model without calibration. multicallable amortizing and accreting Swaptions"

In "UNIVSWAP - Universal Swap Add-in" forum :
+ "Preview of new version 8.2L of UNIVSWAP is now available to our supported users : Enhanced Amortizing and Quanto functionality"
+ "Calling the Universal Add-ins from ASP.NET (C# or VB.NET)"
+ "New feature in UNIVSWAP version 8.3a : Implied Volatility for Caps/Collar/Floors"
+ "UNIX (SUN Solaris / SuSE LINUX) versions of UNIVSWAP library"
+ "Ver 8.3b : Enhancement to Futures Convexity Adjustment using USA_FTR_CONVEXITY()"
+ "Ver 8.4 : New Amortizing Swap Rates; New USA_EDATE( ) 500% faster than EDATE( )"
+ "New currency spreadsheet customized for Euronext.liffe's Swapnote Contract"
+ "Update to USASENS.XLS in version 8.4 -- enhanced portfolio IR sensitivity analysis"

In "UNIVYLD - Universal Yield Add-in" forum :
+ "Preview of new version 8.3 of UNIVYLD is now available to our supported users"
+ "MBS securities with PSA pre-payment rates supported in UNIVYLD version 8.3a"
+ "New Bond Portfolio Scenario Analysis spreadsheet"
+ "New function UYA_TRUE_YIELD_TO_PRICE( ) in version 8.3a of UNIVYLD"
+ "UNIX (SUN Solaris / SuSE LINUX) versions of UNIVYLD library"
+ "Ver 8.4 : new MBS cash flow and amortizing schedule analysis function"

In "UNIVOPT - Universal Options Add-in" forum :
+ "Version 8.3a of UNIVOPT : New function UOA_XARRAY_MULTI_THREAD"
+ "UNIX (SUN Solaris / SuSE LINUX) versions of UNIVOPT library"
+ "Ver 8.4 : UOA_XARRAY_MULTI_THREAD( ) can now also return two TREE based thetas"

In "UNIVEXOT - Universal Exotics Add-in" forum :
+ "Preview of UNIVEXOT version 8.3 which supports additional Basket sensitivities"
+ "UEA_XARRAY( ) : Rho & Phi on Asian [Average Px] Options with a CASH underlying" [ver 8.3a]
+ "Vega of 'compound options' and preview of UNIVEXOT 8.3b [upgrade for Compounds]"
+ "UNIX (SUN Solaris / SuSE LINUX) versions of UNIVEXOT library"

In "UNIVINT - Universal Interpolating Add-in" forum :
+ "New function ULA_SLOPE( ) in version 8.3 of UNIVINT"
+ "UNIX (SUN Solaris / SuSE LINUX) versions of UNIVINT library"

In "UNIVDRV - Universal Derivatives Add-in" forum :
+ "New free sample spreadsheet: Barrier Option Risk Visualization"

In "UNIVCDRV - Universal Credit Derivatives Add-in" forum :
+ "Preview of new version 8.3 of UNIVCDRV is now available to our supported users"
These new functions allow for more complex credit derivative analysis, including :

• Fees can be paid in advance or in arrears
• Different credit spreads for the Fee Receiver(Insurer) and the Fee Payer(Insured)
• Amortization Schedule handles rollercoasters (i.e. irregular & accretion)
• Increased flexibility in the definition of fee payment dates / payment cycles
• Holidays taken into account for fee payment dates and amounts
• Additional accrued types handled
• Additional interest rate interpolation techniques for increased accuracy
• Automatically links to UNIVSWAP currency sheets

In "UNIVCRD - Universal Credit Risk Add-in" forum :
+ "Ver 8.4b : 100x faster ANALYTICAL calculation of Credit Risk of large portfolios"

Data is provided in association with Pro Capital Ltd. (a leading convertible bond specialist dealer). The convertible data is held in the Universal MBRM System's relational database (supporting Access, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase or Oracle) whilst performing scenario and stress analysis of portfolios of convertible bonds in the database application, AND/OR in a linked Excel environment. Ideal for convertible arbitrage funds. Links to back office systems also allow importing of trade positions and prices.

The MBRM Development Partnership Program (http://www.mbrm.com/product_dpp.shtml) may be an ideal choice. The DPP provides clients with an architecture (including an extensive data model) on which customized screens and/or reports can be added by MBRM or the client.

Furthermore, MBRM's constant investment in the system is continuously adding new features (for example, it is especially strong on convertible bond analytics).

MBRM only charge for :
a)   The Universal Add-ins which the system uses for analytics.
b)   Consultancy for the customization, training and support.

To avoid Excel being in a constant recalculation loop, processing is off-loaded to back end servers using XML for the message structure whilst supporting multiple protocols (e.g. SOAP or TCP/IP). This server farm would be especially useful in high volume, processor intensive calculations and risk analysis.

The "MBRM Remote Calculation Server Farm" allows for the calculations to be not only on one machine, but on multiple machines in a server farm without the caller needing to know the topology or nature of the server farm. The caller only sees a single machine. The server farm has the additional advantage that the calling machine need not wait for a result before sending the next call to a Universal Add-in function call -- therefore a user in Excel would still be able to utilize the Excel session (including receiving real-time feed ticks) whilst the multiple function calls are sent to the "MBRM Calculation Server Farm" -- and the user would then see the results update his spreadsheet cells when the server farm completes any of the calculations.

An example of this includes the understanding of losses through our product for Basel II - the MBRM Operational Loss Database (a .NET internet/intranet based Operational Loss Database). The Operational Loss Database offers potential for data-mining of reasons for losing money.

This gives us deeper insight into making future cost savings. It is also a requirement for meeting compliance of Basel II regulations at the Advanced level for operational risk certification.