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.

Sponsored Content

Leave a Comment

Michael Pettis on China’s overinvestment paradox, and the Japan-style reckoning still to come

Michael Pettis on China’s overinvestment paradox, and the Japan-style reckoning still to come

China's advanced infrastructure and ballooning debt are two sides of the same story, says Carnegie Endowment nonresident senior fellow Michael Pettis, who compares China's coming consumption-led rebalancing to Japan's in the 1980s. In conversation with Top1000funds.com Asia Pacific correspondent Darcy Song, Pettis unpacks what this means for institutional investors weighing China exposure over multi-decade horizons, and why he remains bearish on the country's outlook.

Sort content by

Invert the business model to focus on members: Ambachtsheer

There is a lot more work to do in raising the quality of governance of pension boards around the world, Keith Ambachtsheer told a conference of Australian superannuation fund trustees and staff last week. “We have to stop thinking about organisational needs and think about member needs. The business model must invert from serving organisational

SSgA focuses on innovation not assets

For Scott Powers, president and chief executive of State Street Global Advisors, assets under management is not a measure of success – the manager is currently the world’s fourth largest with around $2.5 trillion. Instead it is the ability to provide value for clients in meeting their objectives – whether it be matching liabilities, creating

Pension funds put pressure on G20 tax reform

Pension funds are becoming vocal ahead of the G20 leaders summit next week, reiterating the need for action over tax reform, and encouraging world leaders to consider financial reform that encourages long-term investing. The UK’s Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, which is a collaborative shareholder engagement group of 61 local authority pension funds with combined

Concerns over private equity leave pension funds wary

Institutional investors are clearly attracted to private equity, but remain wary of the sector for its perceived lack of transparency and ability to be measured, high fees and a sense that they cannot invest into the sector as truly equal partners. “It’s clear that now is a time with a lot of flux in private

All aboard the change express as Railpen leaves the station

At the end of a corporate review process that lasted eight months, involved 23 meetings of a steering committee and produced 60 working papers, the UK railways pension fund Railpen was left with 422 action items. “We’ve done 224 of them,” Chris Hitchen, Railpen chief executive, told the Fiduciary Investors Symposium (FIS) at Harvard University.

Using a ‘foreign language shield’ to improve investment decision making

Introducing a “foreign language shield” into a decision-making process is a proven way of making better decisions, according to Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsey University Professor at Harvard Law School. Sunstein, a former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), told the Fiduciary Investors Symposium (FIS) at Harvard University that

Previous