We look at the upcoming financial quantative strategy conference in London in just a few days,
and ask a basic question; are we getting too complicated now?
It sort of goes without saying that, if analysing information is your business, then go surround
yourself with people who know, and who have the insight that you do not. Sooner or later, you
will come away with random pieces that will make sense, that can plot a way ahead, that can
guide you forward.
Quant Strats is all about guiding you forward. Their website on its immediate home page, talks
about “finding alpha”. With some 50 Speakers, all of whom are expert in their field, and with over
250 specific topics that are up for discussion – this Conference has to be a “must visit” if the
buzzwords of meta data and the balance of AI/ML fit the profile of your own activity.
This is a technical paradise, for people who know. It is not until the outer reaches of the home
page, that you start to see a commercial aspect to this venue, the understanding that for all of the
tech ambience and clever analysis – the world of investment management has to make money for
its practitioners.
And it might surprise you that this revelation, comes not from hallowed cloisters of Bishopsgate
London, but from the chic side streets of Opera, Paris. Jacques Bouyssarie, PDG of the Fitex
organisation, and the man responsible for one of the key social high net worth trade events of the
year – the COSSIOM soiree – concludes that investment companies could lose money, simply
from not monitoring their own usage of purchased of raw data.
And that the answer, may already be easily accessible.
Stephane Pere, former Chief Data Officer of The Economist Newspaper in London, and now MD
of the Evidency legal tech boutique business near Nation, says “We found that we can certify the
usage of the data that investment companies buy in from third parties. Providing a certification of
undisputable legal value ensures that they never pay more than expected, for the data that they
themselves consume”.
Sure, this upcoming Quant Strats is populated by the strategists. But the new focus on multiple
rapid presentations, the vendor involvement with their new disruption, is opening a door to a new
level of tangential thinking – and perhaps a more basic discussion.
We expect to see a much wider focus that will give rise to exploring what we don’t know. Because
after all, it is what we don’t know, that will be your road map for the future, rather than what we
do.
Quant Strats opens on Tuesday 8th October, London.
