John Fawcett: Disrupting the secretive world of quants

I chat with John, the founder of Quantopian, on how he got started in quantitative finance, where he sees the industry evolving and how he created a global community of intrinsically motivated coders to create unique solutions to the greatest intellectual game on earth.

Nothing on this podcast is to be considered investment advice or a recommendation. No investment decision or activity should be undertaken without first seeking qualified and professional advice.

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Beyond asset classes: Active credit becomes the test case for Florida’s portfolio evolution

Beyond asset classes: Active credit becomes the test case for Florida’s portfolio evolution

Florida State Board of Administration has built an active credit portfolio spanning public and private markets, CIO Lamar Taylor says the initiative could be the first step in a broader shift away from traditional asset-class investing towards a framework centred on return drivers and risk exposures.

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Asset managers can’t have it both ways on sustainability

Asset managers have recently been trying to show that they could cater to all sides, from asset owners that have spent years integrating sustainability into their investment strategies to anti-ESG elected officials in states like Texas. But Hugues Létourneau writes that they can't have it all.

AP4: Why a dynamic, shorter term allocation is paying off

Volatile markets have provided a rich hunting ground and opportunistic best ideas have come thick and fast for AP4’s new five-pronged global allocation made up of systematic equity, currency and rates, asset allocation, hedge funds/external mandates and analysis. Magdalena Högberg explains the risks and opportunities of the best ideas allocation.

Why investors must engage on the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance

Will antimicrobial resistance derail decades of medical and economic progress, or can coordinated action avert a global crisis? Anastassia Johnson, researcher at the Thinking Ahead Institute, examines the growing threat of drug-resistant infections and the role investors can play in driving sustainable solutions.

University of California: Less is more and simple is better in investing

Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the CIO who oversees the University of California's $198 billion in pension and endowment assets, says that he wants to keep investment simple as the fund removed its hedge fund allocation completely, conceding "it’s not one of the things we are good at doing".

New study flags risk in Dutch pensions’ concentrated stock strategy

Under strict ESG guidelines and pressure to closely engage with their investee companies, Dutch pension funds have developed an affinity for concentrated equity allocations with some owning as few as 65 stocks in their entire portfolio. But the Erasmus University flagged the diversification risk and higher volatility the strategy introduces.

Change management in action: CalSTRS lays out how it’s integrating AI

In a recent board meeting, CalSTRS staff outlined how they are integrating AI into the investment process in line with its commitment to be an early adopter of the technology, including writing a set of generative AI policies and guidelines, conducting a cost-benefit analysis and identifying scalable use cases.

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