Knowledge Base Articles
Part I - Introduction to Artificial Neural Networks
In this article series, we present a machine learning-based approach to solving a common problem in financial modelling where one is faced with the task of estimating the value of a function which requires a significant amount of computation to evaluate. More specifically, a function that corresponds to a so-called nested simulation aimed at, for example, estimating a capital requirement for a financial institution or the risk associated with a structured product for a retail investor.
Part III - Portfolio Construction - The Real World Analysis
In the third and the final part of our “Portfolio Construction” article series, the findings of the previous sections are applied to a broader and more realistic set of assets to evaluate the performance of the proposed methods against more conventional techniques.
Part II - Portfolio Construction - Sampling & Optimisation
The second part of the “Portfolio Construction”-series explores whether introducing parameter uncertainty to the model would improve the out-of-sample performance of the optimal portfolio. Additionally, the article proposes and tests two adjustments to regular utility optimisation.
Part I - Portfolio Construction - Parameter & Model Uncertainty
There is a number of challenges associated with portfolio construction based on historical data. This three-part article series explores some of the most common issues attributed to the model-based portfolio optimization: the sensitivity to changes in data, large variations in portfolio weights and the bad out-of-sample performance.
Blog Posts
Cloud-native technology: you can bank on it!
Let’s look at one area of banking: customer journeys in retail (and private) banking. This is an arena where all six challenges can be observed and addressed. Many customers have multiple relationships with their bank, but these are distributed over different platforms and devices. A customer may go to a website to look at bank accounts, another for their mortgage, an app for investments and a portal for an automotive or business loan. However, there is no tool in which the customer can see his or her total net worth. The disjointed way customers experience their banking journey reflects the legacy systems upon which banks were developed.
Is Your Robo Advisor Fit for The Job?
Amidst the strategic decisions and the fears of a mysterious AI stealing the jobs of financial advisors, we believe one important detail remains overlooked. Do we properly understand the machines that are to automate an essential part of our value chain or that may become an alternative to our human operators?
Navigating the Modern Financial News Feed
Regardless of your level of professionalism as an investor, having access to relevant news with different perspectives on your assets is valuable. However, although useful for some, the high volume of the accessible news can be exhausting for non-professional investors. That is why we decided to discuss the way of delivering news in a concise and intuitive manner. Rather than having a large set of news titles summarizing your portfolio, it can be neatly compressed by using natural language processing. To explain, NLP is used to model human language and transform spoken words into written text, translate languages, answer questions and even generate synthetic text pieces. Using technological progress as a tool to increase the value for the client isn’t necessary insignificant as it indeed serves a purpose of delivering information in a way which engages the end user.
How to Build the Future of Wealth
Social distancing has pressured wealth managers and credit providers to accelerate the digitalisation of their workflows. Our blog post focuses on how they could choose to do that. First, by developing the IT infrastructure on their own, companies aren’t choosing the “be all and end all” approach, as the strategic direction remains in the hands of the firm. Second, as nascent firms drive innovation, it can be difficult for in-house teams to build competitive technology consistently. That is why outsourcing is another potential option. Third, while both building in-house and full outsourcing have their perks, another strategy displays linking the two together and introducing APIs as a solution – an approach favoured by many incumbent financial organisations. Such a process is allowing the infrastructure provider to build world-class tech while letting the business serve its clients with optimal solutions.