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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GIC evolves TPA in investment framework overhaul centred on economic drivers and flexibility

GIC evolves TPA in investment framework overhaul centred on economic drivers and flexibility

GIC has further refined its total portfolio approach by moving to a strategic portfolio focused on underlying factors that drive returns. Split between equities, fixed income and real assets, the revision means the fund can move more easily between private and public exposures and nimbly between asset classes.

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Conservative Korea

Korean corporate pension funds have grown more conservative in their investments, increasing already high allocations to guaranteed-insurance contracts (GICs) and term savings, the Towers Watson Korea Pension Report shows. The annual snapshot of the Korean pension market found that 93 per cent of corporate pension-plan assets are allocated to principal-guaranteed products, of which nearly 58

Research questions shareholder voting

Authors Christopher Armstrong from The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania, Ian Gow of Harvard Business School and David Larcker from the Graduate School of Business Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford University, look at the efficacy of shareholder voting. The study examines the effects of shareholder support for equity compensation plans on subsequent chief executive

Wyoming takes
the passive route

Investors are taking an increasingly sophisticated view of their passive equity allocations, aiming to capture the benefits of a range of risk premiums, while also lowering the volatility and improving the risk/adjusted returns – all at a considerably lower cost than active management. Wyoming Retirement System (WRS) turned to risk-premium mandates as part of a

Report reveals Norway’s SWF climate risk

Norway’s 3496 billion kroner (US$582.7 billion) sovereign wealth fund could suffer significant losses in a range of climate-change scenarios if it fails to hedge its risk by investing in climate-sensitive assets, the release of a confidential report shows. Norway’s Ministry of Finance recently released an extensive study by asset consultant Mercer on the effects of

Risk management in commodity derivatives trading

EDHEC-Risk Institute research associate Hilary Till looks at the risk management of commodity derivatives trading and the lessons that can be learned from recent high profile trading debacles. Till, a principal, at Premia Capital Management, LLC, analysed several case studies and looks at risk management at large institutions, proprietary trading firms and at hedge funds.

Risk modelling
requires review

Advocating the use of financial models a six-year-old could understand and warning that the dogmatic belief in overly complex and unrealistic models contributed to the financial crisis were some of the challenging views put to the attendees of the recent CFA Institute’s annual conference. Throwing down the gauntlet was GMO asset-allocation team member James Montier,

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