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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Focusing on the long term: asset owners need to step up

Asset owners must step up and “join the fight” to end the focus on short-term results by companies and investment firms. Four practical steps to make this happen are outlined by president and chief executive of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Mark Wiseman, and global managing director of McKinsey, Dominic Barton, in the most recent

Free advice: Mercer’s 10 tips for DC plans in 2014

As the growth of defined contribution plans continues to outpace the defined benefit sector, the focus for those running defined contribution plan sponsors should be on meeting objectives, good governance and investment risk management. Consulting firm, Mercer, has some advice for the DC sector. According to Mercer establishing best practices across all areas of defined

Cardano and Monty Python collaborate on the crisis

Chief executive of Cardano UK, Kerrin Rosenberg, is a Monty Python fan. In the same eccentric vein as the famous satirists he has a healthy disrespect for the status quo and a quirky view of how pension assets should be managed, which for most funds includes a radical change in asset allocation. In 2010 Cardano,

New era for Barra risk modelling

MSCI’s risk management tool, BarraOne incorporated 31 private real estate models and a macro-factor asset allocation model in 2013 and this year will add global private equity analysis giving it coverage across all asset classes. BarraOne, which is widely used among investors for risk analysis and management, started as an equities analysis tool, but now

A new model of liquidity

The risk-adjusted benefit of being able to rebalance a portfolio is worth tens of basis points, according to new research that assigns risk and return measures to liquidity so it can be analysed alongside other portfolio decisions. The award-winning research is now being used by large sovereign wealth funds, to determine the value they should

Did they say that? CIO quotes from 2013

Each year conexust1f.flywheelstaging.com interviews CIOs and executive staff of the world’s largest asset owners, gaining insight into their investment strategy, asset allocation and demands from managers. In 2013 funds were focused on costs, increased portfolio look-through, “partnering” with managers and how to position fixed income exposures. This selection of quotes from CIOs of some of

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