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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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

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 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,

Institutional investors fall behind USA Inc

Institutional investors are clearly behind in risk management compared to the innovative techniques implemented in treasury departments of corporate America, chief investment officer of Wurts and Associates, Jeff Scott says. Scott, who spent his career managing the balance sheet at Microsoft, Dow Chemical, the Alaska Permanent Fund and now investment consultant Wurts, says institutional investors

Pipes over promises

The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is shunning European sovereign bonds, with the $152.8-billion fund’s head of investment saying European infrastructure offers far more attractive risk/return opportunities. Mark Wiseman, CPPIB’s executive vice-president of investments, told delegates at last week’s Milken Institute Global Conference 2012 in Los Angeles that the fund had chosen not to

Epic change predicted for investment industry

The investment management industry must address the high fees it charges in relation to the realistic returns it can achieve in the current environment, attendees at the CFA Institute’s annual conference were told this week. As part of celebrations of the 50-year history of the CFA Charter, a panel of eminent institute members discussed the

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