  A data-driven approach called CaNN (Calibration Neural Network) is proposed
to calibrate financial asset price models using an Artificial Neural Network
(ANN). Determining optimal values of the model parameters is formulated as
training hidden neurons within a machine learning framework, based on available
financial option prices. The framework consists of two parts: a forward pass in
which we train the weights of the ANN off-line, valuing options under many
different asset model parameter settings; and a backward pass, in which we
evaluate the trained ANN-solver on-line, aiming to find the weights of the
neurons in the input layer. The rapid on-line learning of implied volatility by
ANNs, in combination with the use of an adapted parallel global optimization
method, tackles the computation bottleneck and provides a fast and reliable
technique for calibrating model parameters while avoiding, as much as possible,
getting stuck in local minima. Numerical experiments confirm that this
machine-learning framework can be employed to calibrate parameters of
high-dimensional stochastic volatility models efficiently and accurately.
