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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Do pension funds add value?

Asset owners, on average, add 15 basis points of value above their asset class benchmarks after fees, according to an extensive study by CEM Benchmarking. The survey, which measured 6,666 data points from a global set of defined benefit plans, and some sovereign wealth funds and buffer funds, from 1992-2013. Gross of investment fees, funds

OECD calls for policy solution to long term investing barriers

Governance of institutional investors and the lengthening investment chain causing  bigger distances between assets’ beneficial owners and those involved in executing investment strategies was one of three practical issues raised by the OECD general secretary as a barrier to more investment in long-term investing financing. Speaking at the OECD Project on Institutional Investors and Long-term

2014: the year in words

In 2014 we have delivered to our readers more than 200 in-depth investor profiles, analytical and research-driven stories on the global institutional investment universe.  The most popular investment stories have been about private equity, ESG integration and how to find the ever-elusive alpha. But asset owners have also liked stories on how to improve their

Traditional risk measures flawed

The traditional method of using aggregated monthly data to measure long run risk is flawed and inaccurate, according to important new research by State Street. Co-authors David Turkington, Will Kinlaw and Mark Kritzman have found that there is a huge divergence in risk and return over long periods, which is not visible when using measures

Divestment of fossil fuels inappropriate for Norway’s SWF: expert group

Automatic exclusion of coal or petroleum producers is not an effective way for the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund of addressing climate issues, according the report of the expert group on investments in coal and petroleum to the Norwegian Ministry of Finance. “We believe the use of the Fund as a climate policy instrument beyond what

Rethinking investment performance attribution

As asset owners move away from silo-based investment decision making, their performance attribution systems also need to evolve. The Alberta Investment Management Corporation AimCo, the C$70 billion arm’s length investment manager for public sector assets in Alberta, Canada, has implemented a new performance attribution system based on how managers actually make their investment decisions.  

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