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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Study finds greenness equals performance

There is a positive correlation between the investment performance of REITs and the “greenness” of their portfolio holdings, according to a new paper by Maastricht University’s Piet Eichholtz, Nils Kok and Erkan Yonder. The paper – Portfolio greenness and the financial performance of REITs – finds that investment performance of REITs is positively related to

Benchmarking ESG changes behaviour

The power of benchmarking funds on sustainability is demonstrated by the fact 171 property companies and funds surveyed in the 2012 GRESB benchmarking report reduced GHG emissions by 6 per cent – this is a reduction of 432,000 metric tons of CO2, the equivalent of removing 85,000 cars from the road. The Global Real Estate

Taking RI from in-house to front of mind

The industry needs to be better at thinking how responsible investing can be accessed by smaller funds or those lacking sufficient internal resources, David Russell, co-head of responsible investment at the UK’s Universities Superannuation Scheme, says. Russell, who will join a panel at the Fiduciary Investors Symposium in Santa Monica produced by Conexus Financial, publisher

In-house not for
every house: WSIB

While the trend for most large institutional investors is to insource asset management, the $85-billion Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) has decided to take a different path. Much-cited CEM Benchmarking research shows that funds with internal-management platforms are better performers after cost, and this is largely driven by the lower costs of internal management. Many

Three-way shift in investor behaviour

There are three major behavioural shifts occurring among investors that will have significant impact on asset allocation in the next 10 years, according to a year-long study by global head of research at State Street’s Center for Applied Research, Suzanne Duncan. An increase in investor sophistication, re-evaluation of the risk/return trade-off and more discernment over

Three-way shift in investor behaviour

There are three major behavioural shifts occurring among investors that will have significant impact on asset allocation in the next 10 years, according to a year-long study by global head of research at State Street’s Center for Applied Research, Suzanne Duncan. An increase in investor sophistication, re-evaluation of the risk/return trade-off and more discernment over

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