Technology and Innovation Community

Hi everyone, Welcome to our community!

Here's a thread for us to learn more about each other.

Whether  you have a long-standing relationships with CFA UK or just only learning about it, whether you are an experienced practitioner with lots of insights on innovation or someone who would like to upskill and grow in this area, do share a few lines about you, your career journey and your professional points of interest and aspirations. 

Happy networking!

Look forward to seeing you here!

Aya

Hello everyone,

My name is Abubakarr Musa. I am a risk-return investment analyst with an ESG investing certificate and extensive sustainability expertise. 

The Data Science for Investment Professionals certificate from the CFA Institute has given me credible knowledge in AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP), which I hope will be of immense importance to the technology and innovation committee at the CFA Society, UK. 

I also recently passed the level 1 exam of the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) program, a highly revered investment management qualification in the investment Landscape. I am in a transition phase in my career, so please do not hesitate to send out vacancies that might require expertise such as mine.

hope to have meaningful engagements with members and share meaningful perspectives that might be beneficial to colleagues in the community.

Stay Safe and Stay Blessed.

Hi everybody,

My name is Florian Esterer. I have spent most of my professional career in equity investment management, starting as an analyst and ending up leading a sustainable investment organization. During that career, I have built quantitative investment teams twice, one of which was awarded a five-star Morningstar rating for some of their funds. Lately, I have transitioned into a new career and have become a financial accounting standard setter. We are defining the rules by which financial statements and their associated notes need to be prepared. As a result, we are keenly following how the usage of technology is changing how financial information is being used as it might have implications on how we need to define our standards. This is particularly true for the usage of generative AI and its ability to analyse textual and qualitative information at scale.

Looking forward to our discussions,

Flo

Hello, my name is Ying Hoi Kwan (Eric), and I am a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) with over a decade of experience in financial planning, risk management, and investment analysis. Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in Finance at Nottingham University Business School, focusing on the application of artificial intelligence in finance.

In my professional career, I have served as a Manager at a multi-family office since 2012. Recently, I have been applying Local Language Models (LLMs) for investment research in commodities, which has provided valuable insights into market trends and enhanced decision-making processes. My passion lies at the intersection of technology and finance. I am eager to connect with professionals who are exploring the practical applications of AI in the investment industry. My goal is to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world practice, contributing to the advancement of our profession.

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Ying Hoi Kwan (Eric)
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Hello everyone,

I'm Teddy Homsy, currently a Senior Strategic Consultant at FactSet in London. Throughout my career, I've focused on assisting investment analysts and portfolio managers with optimizing their workflows to drive growth and improve efficiency. I've actively engaged with trends in technology and AI on both the buy side and sell side, believing these insights can be valuable to our community's efforts to leverage technological advancements.

I recently earned my CFA Charter (May 2024) and am excited to be part of this community. I look forward to exchanging ideas and insights with all of you.

Hello Florian, Abubakkar, Eric and Teddy!

Thank you for sending a note here and introducing yourselves! You are the pioneers on this platform and i was really delighted to chat with you this week.

I encourage other members to introduce themselves, share insights or ask questions.

We aim to be high gravity and dynamic community bringing your meaningful connection and knowledge!

aya

Hi everyone I am Chi Leung. I am a tech consultant who is specialised at sourcing and implementing portfolio management system, exclusively for private asset managers and owners. I hold both the CAIA and CFA charters, a degree in actuarial science, and the Certificate in ESG Investing. 

I'm happy to share with you the latest development in the portfolio management software, such as the applications of AI and risk modelling in private assets if you are interested. Looking forward to meeting all of you.

Hello everyone,

My name is Venky Ramakrishnan. I am a Senior Portfolio Manager with Citi Global Wealth and working within their Private Bank division. I have over 25 years of investment experience managing multi-asset class portfolios for UHNW clients. Having spent the first 10 years of my career as a developer in Citi Technology building numerous financial applications, I have a passion for coding. I recently obtained my Data Science degree and have been exploring how I can use generative AI in portfolio management.

I am very excited to join this community and looking forward to some interesting interactions.

Hi, Nic Pillow here. I have a background working in and running early-stage tech companies, but for the last 5 years I've been working in venture capital and I'm a director of a listed Venture Capital Trust. We invest in - and support - startup tech businesses at Seed and Series A stage. I therefore have a strong interest in investing in new tech, but also in applying tech to what is currently a very manual process of investing, monitoring and advising businesses. I look forward to all the discussions here.

Hi all, great to be part of this community.

I have been covering global tech for >10 years. As I can speak several languages (Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and German) and most of them are Asian languages, my strength would be Asian TMT and particularly semiconductor.

I do look forward to attending more events of this community ahead.

Hi everyone,

My name is Todor Kostov and I am currently a Board Advisor for a Fintech company that specialises in international payments, FX risk management, treasury cash management and cross-border transactions.

I have more than 20 years of executive experience in the Banking, Financial Services and TMT sectors within companies listed on the FTSE 100 and the NASDAQ.

I have been a CFA Charterholder for more than 10 years. I am a FCCA qualified accountant and hold a first-class MBA degree in Finance from Hult International Business School.

Throughout my professional career I have been deeply engaged with the implementation of various technology solutions within the finance and investment field - TBM SaaS applications, IIT portoflio management solutions, Risk & Fraud monitoring tools and Performance Management and Tracking tools.

Most recently, I am extensively focusing on AI and LLMs tools and applications and their successful integration within startup companies.

I look forward to productive discussions with all the members of the community and let's make this place highly engaging for all technology and innovation enthusiasts!

Todor

Hi all, 

I am Sanjan Sarin. I have been working within investment banking for over a decade. I am currently part of the FX and interest rate hedging solutions desk at Nomura in London. I have previously worked in equities and M&A.

I am a technology enthusiast and interested in how we can apply the latest advancements in finance and beyond. Will be interesting to hear about new projects that people are working on. Happy to connect and collaborate. Cheers

Hi everybody, my name is Kara Byun. I am Head of Fintech for HSBC Asset Management and run a venture fund making venture/early stage growth investments. My team spends an overwhelming amount of effort bringing the benefits of technologies and platforms to stakeholders and creating active partnerships. Prior that I ran the strategic investments portfolio for the capital markets business of HSBC. Prior that I ran trading desks at HSBC, Goldman and was portfolio manager on the buy-side (hedge funds) in NYC, Tokyo and Hong Kong. I believe innovation is for everybody, not just for people with innovation job hats, but oftentimes people need some help. I hope to contribute to this community with knowledge, know-how and insights.

Hi- I am Sumit. I currently head the AI Research team at Mosaic Smart Data. We launched our fintech venture back in 2014/ 2015 with an aim to bringing in the advancements in AI/ML into fixed income capital markets. 

My background is - I have worked in various fixed income front-office Quant roles across Commerzbank, Dresdner & Deutsche Bank - for over 20 yrs, before embarking on this entrepreneurial venture.

Eager to connect with people involved in the fixed income Sales & Trading especially around bringing in the exciting innovations in the technology world into our business.

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Sumit Sengupta
Head of AI, Mosaic Smart Data
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Hi everyone, 

I am Areeb Khan. I am a senior analyst at S&P Global Ratings, structured finance division. I hold a quantitative role, building methodologies and models in the credit risk space. I am also part of our internal teams on incorporating AI into our workflow as well as part of the Climate research group and recently published an article on climate transition risk. 

Excited to meet other people involved in the quantitative side of things here!

Hi all, my name is Ivan and it's lovely to meet everyone online. What a great diversity of backgrounds! I am a credit analyst at UBS Wealth Management, so not a quant or a tech background, but rather I am interested in tech's impact on investment management business and the way we work. I am always on the lookout for latest advancements in tech and ways to implement them, to stay ahead of the curve. In the past I have contributed to the development of analytical tools that improve the processes and people's experience with data.

Excited to be part of the community and I look forward to learning and growing together!

Ivan

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Ivan Tiutiunnikov, CFA
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Hi,

My name is Mike and I used to work in bank as fund accountant then moved to the Buyside (risk and operation) before doing my MBA in London and now I am founding a start-up (entertainment tech).

Glad to see that there is a different side of the CFA Society in the UK for tech and innovation (not everyone in the society is for large institutions only) and I would love to meet more CFA in VCs or working in startups.

See you around and don't be a stranger! :)

Mike

Hi All,

Lovely to meet everyone. Im Phil Atkinson a Sector Analyst at Third Bridge covering Software, Payments, and FinTech. I'm at a bit of an earlier stage of my career than those I've seen post but looking forward to engaging with and learning from everyone's discussions. I mostly conduct research into Credit and Equity names with a smidge of thematic PE 

Look forward to connecting and getting to know everyone

.

Hi everyone

I am a bit late in formally joining the community, even though I am aware of its existence for a while.

I have been a CFA charterholder since 1998. I started as a derivatives and risk management specialist in HSBC Asset Management, and then became an solution specialist for private banks and wealth managers. I have been running my own consulting company since 2020, where I and my colleagues offer different investment support services to institutional investors and professional advisers.

With an engineering background, I am very keen to know more about innovation and financial technology. Automation, better support in compliance and risk management, and other technology solutions are important, not just for making investment decisions but also on the entire business workflow.

I am also keen to exchange and learn ideas with other community members. We should demonstrate our integrity, critical thinking and professionalism to the public, whose opinion is often led by less clued up commentators on the social media.

Sadly I am travelling on business today and can't join the online coffee catch up. But I look forward to seeing all of you, virtually or in person, in future events.

Yours sincerely,

James Chu CFA

HI, my name is Jonathan Philp and I currently work for NTT DATA, a global technology services firm. My career has focused on the application of technology to the financial services industry, and in particular to the investment discipline and the front-to-back institutional investment management business processes. I look forward to engaging in this community. 

Hello Everyone,

My name is Ansh Bhimrajka, and I am a final-year student pursuing a BSc Hons in International Business, Finance, and Economics at the University of Manchester. I am currently preparing for the CFA Level 3 exam and working towards the CAIA certification.

With a limited professional background, I am eager to learn and grow in the field. I look forward to connecting with experienced professionals in this group, exchanging ideas, and broadening my understanding of the evolving financial landscape.

I am actively seeking opportunities to start my career in finance and gain hands-on experience in the industry. I would appreciate any leads and would be very happy to connect with all of you on LinkedIn, and contribute to potential projects, internships, or roles within the UK.

Excited to be part of this community and eager to learn from you all!

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/anshbhimrajka/

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Ansh Rahul Bhimrajka
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Hi all,

Great to join!

My name is Sam Livingstone. I am currently the Head of Quant Strats for Ambienta. Profile is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slivingstone/

Looking forward to meeting everyone!

Helloworld

Looking forward to share myinsights on GenAI applied to asset management and learn from the community.

I am the CTO of H2O Asset Management, with 15 years of experience at the firm across roles in quantitative research, volatility trading, and in-house software development.
Driving the development and implementation of innovative technology solutions, I have recently been focusing on exploring the potential of generative AI to transform the Asset Management industry.

Profile is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothee-consigny/

Hi Everyone, I work at Citi Global Wealth in the Chief Investment Office. My team is referred to as the "Investment Lab" and we are responsible for offering investment insights designed to help our clients navigate markets and manage risks. 

I really enjoy programming and keen to share learnings as well as hear about how others are innovating in investment and asset management.  

Hello everyone,

My name is Ram Goel. I have recently passed my CFA Level 3 exam. But I am not from the financial industry and currently working as a software engineer. 

Looking forward to leverage my experience in technology and knowledge acquired through CFA program to further my career in financial industry.

Thanks,

Ram Goel

Hello everyone,

I'm Liudmila, a CFA full member with over a decade of experience in value creation, product adoption, and tech-enabled service operations across global and growth-stage businesses. I've held C-level and transformation roles driving operational scaling and automation.

I currently head operations at Palindrome, where we've built agentic AI for wealth management enabling advisors and firms to automate complex workflows while staying client-centric. I'm always keen to exchange best practices on scaling, innovation, and operational excellence in finance so drop me a line.

Looking forward to future events!
Liudmila Mironosetskaya

Welcome to the community Luidmila. I work at NTT DATA focused on the application of AI to banking and investment use cases. Lots of interesting topics under discussion and events to join, I look forward to meeting you at an event soon. 

Hello Everyone,

My name is Harish C Gottipati. I'm an experienced Data Solutions Consultant (Freelancer/Contractor) helping financial firms fixing their (client data/analytics) data by providing solutions (front/middle office). I have extensively worked on the implementation of portfolio management systems/related target systems (CRM, Anaplan, or any inhouse systems), working with 3rd party data providers (S&P, Factset etc..), TAs and custodians etc.) architecting the process flows adding value to the business. Most of my experience is within Asset management/Asset owners space (buy side) which I enjoyed (still enjoy!) the most. 

After those years of experience, I felt there is a gap in my knowledge and that made me to look at CFA. Currently, I'm working on my CFA level 1 in parallel to finding the next role. 

Thank you for reading. 

Regards

Harish CG

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Guillaume RUQUILLA

Guillaume RUQUILLA | LinkedIn

gruquilla (Guillaume RUQUILLA) - GitHub
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Hi all,

I'm Taimoor - a recently chartered CFA based in London. I work at Bank of America in a front office technology role supporting trading desks across rates, credit, commodities, and structured products, which has given me broad exposure to capital markets.

I'm now focused on transitioning into portfolio management and am looking forward to connecting with others who have navigated a similar path or are working in the space.

Happy to be part of this community!

Taimoor

Hi everyone,

I'm Van Nguyen, a final-year Business with Finance student at Bayes Business School in London and a CFA Level II candidate.

Originally from Vietnam, I studied in New Zealand before moving to London. I developed an early interest in finance through accounting and financial operations work in a family business, and I'm now particularly interested in the intersection of finance and technology, especially data and machine learning.

I'm currently exploring graduate and early-career opportunities in banking, and finance-focused analytical roles.

Look forward to learning from the community and connecting with others here.

Best,
Van

Website | Linkedin