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Which interviews were most popular in 2022? Here is a rundown of the three most-read print interviews followed by the three most listened-to podcasts this year.
1. Ewan Kirk on the future of quant
The founder of quant firm Cantab Capital Partners, bought by Swiss manager GAM in 2016, spoke to AFI in his first industry interview since leaving the company in March 2021.
Despite describing himself as a tech lover and “total gadget and programming geek,” he says the easy-money tech boom went too far. “Not everything is a technology company. Look at WeWork. It was a shared office with beer taps. I think we are at the end of a period where we thought technology can be the solution to absolutely everything.”
2. Dave Fishwick on global macro’s rebound
Resilience, patience and sticking to a long-established strategy — Fishwick has managed $4bn Episode in the offshore product since 2005, and internally since 1999 — have paid off this year.
“It felt at times like this moment would never come,” says Fishwick in a candid interview which speaks to the rebound experienced by many macro managers after this year’s return to proper macro volatility.
3. How BlueBay’s macro product trades political ups and downs
For Russel Matthews, lead portfolio manager for BlueBay Asset Management’s Global Sovereign Opportunities Fund, politics is primary.
“We have a strong belief there is a big inefficiency in the market in terms of the understanding of policy and politics and how that will develop through time.”
Matthews runs the macro strategy alongside BlueBay CIO Mark Dowding, who leads Mayfair’s best-networked hedge fund team in the halls of power in Westminster and beyond.
Podcasts
1. CFM chairman Jean-Philippe Bouchaud
Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, co-founder and chairman at $10bn quant firm Capital Fund Management, was the guest on episode 10 of the AFI podcast.
A physicist by training and a pioneer in the world of quantitative finance, Bouchaud has overseen the growth of Paris-based CFM to one of the world’s largest quant hedge funds.
2. Stuart Fiertz, Cheyne Capital co-founder
Stuart Fiertz, co-founder and president at $10bn London firm Cheyne Capital Management, discussed his firm’s post-2008 strategy shift and the outlook for alternatives on episode 9 of the AFI podcast.
Fiertz is one of the leading figures in the European alternatives industry, having co-founded Cheyne Capital with Jonathan Lourie in 2000.
3. Renaissance veteran and venture capitalist David Magerman
David Magerman, a venture capitalist with Differential Ventures and former quantitative hedge fund manager with Renaissance Technologies, was the guest on episode five of the Alternative Fund Insight podcast.
Magerman joined Renaissance in 1995 and helped found the equities trading group. He spent about two decades during two spells at Jim Simons’ firm, widely seen as the most successful quantitative hedge fund in history, until 2017.