Asset allocation strategies in the presence of liability constraints

The performance of portfolio managers is usually assessed by comparing their allocation strategies to a benchmark portfolio. A major issue for portfolio managers of liability driven institutions is that no benchmark is given to them, although they face mid-term objectives with short term constraints. No performance attribution methodology may then be used to serve as a reference. Assessing the performance of the asset manager as an agent, represents a major stake for the institution as a principal delegating a mandate of asset management. We propose an optimal asset allocation approach taking into account liability constraints to build a benchmark. This benchmark will be used to compare the ex-post effective performance of the asset manager to the effective performance of the ex-ante optimal dynamic asset allocation.