The Curious Quant

The Curious Quant series, hosted by Michael Kollo, is a discussion between technically-minded professionals in the financial services, technology and data science fields. It carefully examines the application of new data and new methodologies to common problems in financial markets. The aim is to promote better discussions about these emerging areas, and a better understanding of new technologies.

 

 

Michael Kollo is a seasoned investment professional with a deep passion for the pragmatic discussion and application of quantitative models to solve problems. His PhD in Finance is from the London School of Economics where he lectured in quantitative finance in addition to Imperial College and at the University of New South Wales. He has created models and led quantitative research teams at Blackrock, Fidelity and Axa Rosenberg in the UK before more recently moving to Australia where he established the quantitative team for the $50 billion industry superannuation fund, HESTA. Kollo is an experienced speaker, author, mentor, a keen student of philosophy and more recently, a podcaster. The Curious Quant is a series of conversations with market leaders, deep thinkers and practitioners who deal with the wonder and frustrations of these models and who are on the front line of AI innovation.

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Life’s a beach for hedge funds in Caymans

The US-based Hedge Fund Association, which last year opened a UK chapter in competition with the established Alternative Investment Management Association, has now started a Cayman Islands offshoot. HFA announced this week that the new chapter was a response to demand from Cayman-based hedge fund participants and reflected the importance of the zone as a

Corporate governance program victim of new allocation model at CalPERS

CalPERS’ outperforming internal corporate governance investments program will be challenged by the fund’s new capital allocation model, according to a review of the program by consultant Wilshire.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

As hedge funds recover lost ground, the big are getting bigger

The hedge fund industry has taken a well-publicised caning over the past few years but, as the dust starts to settle on the global financial crisis, some interesting and probably long-lasting trends are emerging. Principle among these is a massive increase in concentration of mandates among the larger hedge funds.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Investor behaviour erodes performance

Performance is eroded by institutional investors’ decisions around hiring and firing managers according to the preliminary results of a behavioural study by Boston University that links qualitative factors such as committee characteristics with earlier empirical research on performance.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Investors win with new hedge fund fee model

Hermes BPK, the hedge fund-of-funds (HFoF)  provider majority-owned by Hermes Fund Managers (which itself is fully-owned by the UK’s largest pension fund, the BT Pension Scheme), has completed work on an innovative performance fee model which will allow investors to clawback any unearned performance fees.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Tips for DC plan design

As more plan sponsors consider introducing defined contribution plans, Towers Watson encourages the deliberation of plan design, with the ideal scheme encouraging engagement, managing savings rates and investment elections as well as expenses and communication.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

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