Risk parity

Risk parity (or risk premia parity) is an approach to investment portfolio management which focuses on allocation of risk, usually defined as volatility, rather than allocation of capital. The risk parity approach asserts that when asset allocations are adjusted (leveraged or deleveraged) to the same risk level, the risk parity portfolio can achieve a higher Sharpe ratio and can be more resistant to market downturns than the traditional portfolio.

Roughly speaking, the approach of building a risk parity portfolio is similar to creating a minimum-variance portfolio subject to the constraint that each asset (or asset class, such as bonds, stocks, real estate, etc.) contributes equally to the portfolio overall volatility.

Risk parity can also be a generalized term that denotes a variety of investment systems and techniques that utilize its principles. The principles of risk parity are applied differently according to the investment style and goals of various financial managers and yield different results.

Some of its theoretical components were developed in the 1950s and 1960s but the first risk parity fund, called the All Weather fund, was pioneered in 1996. In recent years many investment companies have begun offering risk parity funds to their clients. The term, risk parity, came into use in 2005 and was then adopted by the asset management industry. Risk parity can be seen as either a passive or active management strategy.

Interest in the risk parity approach has increased since the late 2000s financial crisis as the risk parity approach fared better than traditionally constructed portfolios, as well as many hedge funds. Some portfolio managers have expressed skepticism about the practical application of the concept and its effectiveness in all types of market conditions but others point to its performance during the financial crisis of 2007-2008 as an indication of its potential success.

Risk parity is a conceptual approach to investing which attempts to provide a lower risk and lower fee alternative to the traditional portfolio allocation of 60% and 40% bonds which carries 90% of its risk in the stock portion of the portfolio (see illustration). The risk parity approach attempts to equalize risk by allocating funds to a wider range of categories such as stocks, government bonds, credit-related securities and inflation hedges (including real assets, commodities, real estate and inflation-protected bonds), while maximizing gains through financial leveraging. According to Bob Prince, CIO at Bridgewater Associates, the defining parameters of a traditional risk parity portfolio are uncorrelated assets, low equity risk, and passive management.

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