 Exact factor pricing without a traded risk-free asset

Suppose asset returns have the exact representation $r=a+Bf$, allowing unrestricted long and short portfolios. A position $v$ with $1^{T}v=0$ and $B^{T}v=0$ costs zero and has constant financial payoff $a^{T}v$. Absence of arbitrage therefore forces $a^{T}v=0$, since either sign of $v$ is allowed. The orthogonal complement identity gives $a\in \mathrm{span}(1,\mathrm{col}B)$. Taking expectations proves the displayed pricing relation, with $\lambda$ equal to the coefficients of $B$ in $a$ plus $\mathbb{E}f$. When $[1B]$ has full column rank, ${\lambda }_0$ is the return of a unit-cost zero-exposure portfolio and ${\lambda }_j$ is the expected return of a zero-cost portfolio with exposure one to factor $j$ and zero to the others. Without that rank condition the coefficients need not be unique, and a traded zero-exposure portfolio need not exist.