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FinMA-ES: Risk Measures & Bilingual LLM

Updated 21 November 2025
  • FinMA-ES is a dual-concept framework that defines scenario-based expected shortfall risk measures under Swiss regulation and a Spanish-English financial LLM.
  • It utilizes multi-scenario stress testing, coherent risk measures, and advanced backtesting techniques like multinomial VaR and e-backtesting.
  • The approach employs a Kusuoka-type representation to ensure coherence while the bilingual LLM enhances performance in Spanish-English financial NLP tasks.

FinMA-ES refers to scenario-based Expected Shortfall methodologies and regulatory frameworks underpinned by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FinMA), centering on stress-tested, multi-scenario risk measures for banking market risk. This concept, formalized by Wang & Ziegel and later embedded in Swiss and Basel III/IV supervisory practice, also interfaces with backtesting (including multinomial and e-backtesting designs) and, in a parallel but unrelated context, denotes a Spanish-English bilingual financial LLM. The primary focus is the rigorous mathematical and regulatory specification of scenario-based ES for risk measurement, capital calculations, and backtesting.

1. Formal Definition and Structure of Scenario-Based ES

Let (Ω,F,P)(\Omega, \mathcal{F}, P) be a probability space and Q={Q1,,Qn}P\mathcal{Q} = \{ Q_1, \ldots, Q_n \} \subseteq \mathcal{P} a finite family of scenario probability measures. For a random variable XX and confidence level p(0,1)p \in (0, 1),

  • The Value-at-Risk under QQ is VaRqQ(X)=FX,Q1(q)VaR_q^Q(X) = F_{X,Q}^{-1}(q).
  • Expected Shortfall is ESpQ(X)=11pp1VaRqQ(X)dqES_p^{Q}(X) = \frac{1}{1-p} \int_p^1 VaR_q^Q(X) \, dq.

Max-ES (stress-adjusted ES) is defined as:

MESpQ(X)=supQQESpQ(X).MES_p^{\mathcal{Q}}(X) = \sup_{Q \in \mathcal{Q}} ES_p^Q(X).

Average-ES is

AESpQ(X)=1ni=1nESpQi(X).AES_p^{\mathcal{Q}}(X) = \frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=1}^n ES_p^{Q_i}(X).

General Q\mathcal{Q}-mixture of ES takes the form:

ρ^(X)=i=1nwi01ESpQi(X)dhi(p),\hat{\rho}(X) = \sum_{i=1}^n w_i \int_0^1 ES_p^{Q_i}(X) \, dh_i(p),

with wi0w_i \ge 0, wi=1\sum w_i = 1, hih_i cumulative functions on [0,1][0,1].

Integral Max-ES and Replicated Max-ES augment this family:

  • iMESpQ(X)=11pp1MVaRqQ(X)dqiMES_p^{\mathcal Q}(X) = \frac{1}{1-p}\int_p^1 MVaR_q^{\mathcal Q}(X)dq
  • rMESpQ(X)=ESpP(maxi=1,,nXi)rMES_p^{\mathcal Q}(X) = ES_p^P\left( \max_{i=1,\ldots,n} X_i \right), XiiidFX,QiX_i\overset{iid}{\sim}F_{X,Q_i}

2. Axiomatic Foundations and Coherence Properties

Key risk measure properties:

  • Cash invariance: ρ(X+c)=ρ(X)+c\rho(X + c) = \rho(X) + c
  • Monotonicity: XY    ρ(X)ρ(Y)X \le Y \implies \rho(X) \le \rho(Y)
  • Positive homogeneity: ρ(λX)=λρ(X)\rho(\lambda X) = \lambda \rho(X), λ>0\lambda > 0
  • Subadditivity: ρ(X+Y)ρ(X)+ρ(Y)\rho(X + Y) \le \rho(X) + \rho(Y)
  • Comonotonic additivity: For comonotonic X,YX,Y, ρ(X+Y)=ρ(X)+ρ(Y)\rho(X+Y) = \rho(X) + \rho(Y)

A risk measure is coherent iff it is cash-invariant, monotone, homogeneous, and subadditive.

Within the multi-scenario framework, Q\mathcal Q-based means:

X=dQiY  i    ρ(X)=ρ(Y).X \stackrel{d}{=}_{Q_i} Y \; \forall i \implies \rho(X) = \rho(Y).

Summary of major scenario-based risk measures:

Risk Measure Coherence Comonotonic Additivity
MESpQMES_p^{\mathcal Q} Yes No
MVaRpQMVaR_p^{\mathcal Q} No Yes
AESpQAES_p^{\mathcal Q} Yes Yes
iMESpQiMES_p^{\mathcal Q} No Yes
rMESpQrMES_p^{\mathcal Q} Yes Yes

For all XX:

AESpQ(X)MESpQ(X)iMESpQ(X)rMESpQ(X).AES_p^{\mathcal Q}(X) \le MES_p^{\mathcal Q}(X) \le iMES_p^{\mathcal Q}(X) \le rMES_p^{\mathcal Q}(X).

(Wang et al., 2018)

3. Representation Theorems and Mathematical Characterization

Suppose Q\mathcal{Q} is a finite collection of mutually singular, atomless measures. Then ρ:XR\rho: \mathcal{X} \to \mathbb{R} is coherent and Q\mathcal Q-based if and only if it can be written as a supremum of Q\mathcal Q-mixtures of ES:

ρ(X)=supαAi=1nwiα01ESpQi(X)dhiα(p).\rho(X) = \sup_{\alpha \in A} \sum_{i=1}^n w_i^\alpha \int_0^1 ES_p^{Q_i}(X) \, dh_i^\alpha(p).

This statement, a Kusuoka-type representation, guarantees all coherent scenario-based risk measures permissible under the FinMA-ES regime are supremums over mixtures of scenario-wise ES functionals (Wang et al., 2018).

4. Implementation in Market Risk Regulation (FRTB and FinMA)

The Swiss implementation under FRTB (Basel III/IV) uses the following operational steps:

  1. Stress Adjustment:
    • Identify a reduced risk-factor set RR and compute a scaling factor θ=max{1,ESpfull(X)/ESpR(X)}<4/3.\theta = \max\{1, ES_p^{\rm full}(X)/ES_p^{R}(X)\} < 4/3.
    • Calculate ESR,S(X)=maxQQstressESpQ(iRXi).ES_{R,S}(X) = \max_{Q \in \mathcal Q_{\rm stress}} ES_p^Q(\sum_{i \in R} X_i).
    • Set ES~(X)=θ×ESR,S(X).\widetilde{ES}(X) = \theta \times ES_{R,S}(X).
  2. Dependence Adjustment:
    • Group risk factors into classes C1,...,CkC_1, ..., C_k.
    • For each class, ES~Cj(X)=MESpQ(XCj)\widetilde{ES}_{C_j}(X) = MES_p^{\mathcal Q}(X_{C_j}).
    • Aggregate: ES~C(X)=j=1kES~Cj(X)\widetilde{ES}_C(X) = \sum_{j=1}^k \widetilde{ES}_{C_j}(X).
  3. IMCC (Internal Model Capital Charge):

IMCC(X)=λES~(X)+(1λ)ES~C(X),λ=0.5.IMCC(X) = \lambda \widetilde{ES}(X) + (1-\lambda) \widetilde{ES}_C(X), \quad \lambda = 0.5.

Each operation (max, sum, convex combination) preserves coherence due to the supremum-of-mixtures representation (Wang et al., 2018).

5. Backtesting Methodologies for Scenario-Based ES

Two prominent families of ES backtesting are intertwined with FinMA-ES adoption:

a) Multinomial VaR Backtesting:

Using the approximation

ESα1(1α)Nj=1NVaRuj,ES_\alpha \approx \frac{1}{(1-\alpha)N} \sum_{j=1}^{N} VaR_{u_j},

multinomial exception testing across NN quantiles replaces traditional binomial exception tests. Pearson, Nass, and likelihood-ratio tests are evaluated. For N=4N=4–$8$, the power to detect misspecification is markedly superior to N=1N=1, as established on real-data backtests (e.g., SP500 crisis data). A traffic-light system (green/yellow/red) guides escalation and capital adjustment (Kratz et al., 2016).

b) E-backtesting:

A model-free, sequential, anytime-valid mechanism based on e-processes is employed:

  • The unique backtest e-statistic:

epES(x,r,z)=(xz)+(1p)(rz),z<r,e_p^{ES}(x,r,z) = \frac{(x-z)_+}{(1-p)(r-z)}, \quad z < r,

with supermartingale properties under H0H_0 (forecast is not understated); reject if the capital process MtM_t exceeds 1/α1/\alpha.

  • GREE, GREL, and GREM strategies adapt the betting fraction using either past e-values, losses under current forecasts, or mixtures.
  • Extensive simulations confirm high detection power and low type I error in realistic GARCH scenarios with roll-forward windows (Wang et al., 2022).

6. Integration in Practice and Regulatory Significance

FinMA-ES, as implemented in Swiss market risk regulation, operationalizes the scenario-based ES concepts underpinning FRTB. Regulatory guidelines require:

  • Systematic stress scenario selection and recomputation,
  • Bucketed risk-factor dependency aggregation,
  • Coherent risk aggregation across variant risk landscapes,
  • Explicit deployment of scenario-based ES and corresponding backtest regimes.

The mathematical underpinnings, notably the Kusuoka-type representation, guarantee adherence to the coherence axiom and formal justification of stress-testing procedures. The methods have enabled regulators and institutions to transition from VaR-centric to ES-centric market risk capital frameworks, incorporating real-world scenario diversity and robustness (Wang et al., 2018).

7. Contextual Remarks and Bilingual Model Homonym

The term "FinMA-ES" also appears in recent literature as the name for a Spanish-English financial LLM, unrelated to the risk-measure context discussed above. This usage refers to a 7B-parameter LLaMA2 derivative instruction-tuned on balanced Spanish/English financial datasets and evaluated on the FLARE-ES benchmark. It achieves state-of-the-art performance on Spanish financial NLP tasks and reduces the multilingual performance gap in practical applications, but is distinct from the scenario-based ES methodology foundational to FinMA regulatory frameworks (Zhang et al., 2024).

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