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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Pensionomics,
a money-go-round

As debate rages in the US about the generous retirement benefits and high cost of state and local defined benefit (DB) schemes, new research sheds light on the role these funds play in stimulating the economy and creating jobs. Pensionomics 2012: Measuring the Economic Impact of DB Pension Expenditures looks at the effect of DB

Total cost shakedown at CalPERS

Up to 8.9 basis points will be slashed from the total cost of managing the CalPERS’ investment portfolio in the next three years, under a new investment resource strategy which could also see internal administration costs increase by $6.5 million next year, and internal staff accountable for internal versus external management allocations. The internal investment

ESG almost an afterthought

Only 26 of 4300 companies surveyed by Governance Metrics International (GMI) have a specific clause that measures executive compensation against a sustainability metric, and institutional investors play a pivotal role in transforming this behaviour. Kimberly Gladman, director of research and risk analytics at the governance research company GMI, says investors should set the expectations that

Broader engagement at UNPRI

The United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (UNPRI) will expand its focus beyond the micro focus of ESG implementation for its signatories to include thought-leadership research and public and policy debate, writes Amanda White. James Gifford, executive director at UNPRI, said the new strategy came out of its board meeting last week in Australia and

Are hedge fund investors getting what they paid for?

Alternative hedge fund beta allows investors to access the returns generated by hedge funds without the pressures of finding alpha, says Fama family professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Tobias Moskowitz. Moskowitz says there are three components to hedge fund returns: unique alpha, traditional market beta, and “something else”,

Fund collaboration first step to joint investment

European pension fund service providers PGGM and PKA have agreed on an innovative knowledge exchange that eventually aims to look for joint investment opportunities as well as improving the way the funds conduct risk management and the benchmarking of investments, costs and socially responsible investing.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

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