At a high level, I think that most teams are pretty excited about the prospects of AI and the opportunities that it presents. Certainly we see very good usage among our teams. Despite this, there are certain concerns, understandably, and hallucination is certainly a topic that people are aware of. But at the end of the day, before trust comes education. It’s about helping folks understand where these models can add value right now and where they can’t.    

A lot of the wariness also comes because AI models are known not to be good at certain tasks and this taints opinion when it comes to others. For example, AI models are not good at math – that’s just not what they’re trained to do. The key is to educate [our] internal users and explain that they shouldn’t get spooked because, when it comes to the analytical path, the potential is there.   

How is AI already having a positive effect on trading processes? 

The traditional ChatGPT system, similar to our design internally, is focused on quick questions and quick answers. It aims to save people 20 to 30 minutes, on average. The deep research system we are working on allows one to rigorously research complex questions for results that can potentially save people 3 to 5 days.

AI has the ability to unlock a lot of productivity for investment professionals, allowing those within capital markets to discover and digest information even faster than they were previously able to do.

You could either be the fastest or you can be best, and we all want to do both but there are a lot of factors to consider.

How are firms across the industry adapting their teams to be more AI-focused?

In the future, our firm, and others, will want every team to effectively be an AI enabled team. At this point in time, however, what is of most benefit to organisations is to take a centralised approach. We have a team that is dedicated to AI as a centre of innovation – with technical expertise, doing research and building tools, but as importantly, looking for opportunities within the firm.   

A lot of my role and the role of my team is connecting the dots and finding commonalities across teams at Balyasny. If something is working really well in one team or one vertical, it then becomes about translating that. It’s never a direct translation but taking the lessons about what’s working well somewhere and then adopting it somewhere else allows us to achieve more scale within the firm.

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Hong Kong-based Marwat previously worked at Credit Suisse, focused on AES, algorithmic, and direct market access (DMA) trading, before joining Balyasny Asset Management in 2021 as a trader. 

His career also included a stint at AlphaSights as a junior associate for the APAC region.

Millennium has had a stellar year, named Trading Desk of the Year Hedge Fund at The TRADE’s Leaders in Trading event last week.

Read more: The TRADE announces Leaders in Trading 2023 award winners

Earlier this month, Jefferies’ Dan Childs departed his role as managing director, head of European prime services sales, EMEA to join Balyasny Asset Management.

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Jennifer Pyrka Turner moved to Instinet to take up the reins as head of Americas execution sales, according to an announcement on social media.  The move followed a 19-year stint at Credit Suisse, most recently as managing director, head of AES sales Americas at Credit Suisse. In this new role, Pyrka Turner is based in New York and continues to operate across the Americas region. 

Dan Childs departed from his role as managing director, head of European prime services sales, EMEA to join Balyasny Asset Management, taking on the role of head, cash and liquidity management at the hedge fund. Childs previously spent almost three years with Jefferies after co-founding treasury technology start-up Kayenta in 2018. Prior to this, Childs spent the bulk of his career at Citadel, his final role as international COO after previously heading up treasury and operations. He began his career as a software developer before joining RBC and then Societe Generale.

Cboe Global Markets appointed leading industry figure Natan Tiefenbrun president of North American and European equities as part of the leadership changes announced last month, The TRADE revealed. The new role expands on his previous position as president of Cboe Europe, now also overseeing North American cash equities. This took effect as part of broader leadership changes announced by Cboe in October, which included Adam Inzirillo, previous head of North American equities being appointed the new global head of data and access solutions. Additionally, New York-based Oliver Sung was named head of North American equities in his stead, reporting into Tiefenbrun.

Janus Henderson promoted from within for its new head of equity trading for EMEA with Glen Pattison to take up the role in December after five years at Janus Henderson, having joined in 2018 as a senior trader. Prior to that he spent 11 years at Instinet. Pattison replaces departing Richard Worrell who is set to join the London Stock Exchange Group as its new head of secondary markets sales and business development, as revealed by The TRADE in October. 

FlexTrade Systems appointed Michael Kovach Americas head of fixed income sales in a move set to further drive the growth and adoption of FlexTrade’s fixed income EMS, FlexFI. In his new role, Kovach is set to be based out of New York and leverage his experience in electronic trading solutions. Prior to this appointment Kovach was lead relationship manager at BlackRock Aladdin, and before that spent four and a half years with Liquidnet, most recently as head of fixed income sales US.

Credit Suisse’s global head of FX, John Estrada, is set to leave the bank after 12 years, according to an announcement on social media. Estrada was promoted to co-head of FX last July, before becoming the sole head. Prior to that, he held various senior positions including global head of e-macro and global head of eFX trading. Estrada has previously worked at BNP Paribas and Sun Trading as eFX trader and financial engineer, respectively, and before that worked as a trader for Lehman Brothers. So far Estrada’s next step is unconfirmed.

The post People Moves Monday: Balyasny Asset Management, Nasdaq, Instinet and more… appeared first on The TRADE.

The 20-year industry executive has taken on the role of head, cash and liquidity management at the hedge fund.

Childs had spent almost three years with Jefferies after co-founding treasury technology start-up Kayenta in 2018.

Prior to this, Childs spent the bulk of his career at Citadel, his final role as international COO after previously heading up treasury and operations.

He began his career as a software developer before joining RBC and then Societe Generale.

Childs recently contributed to The TRADE’s outsourced trading handbook, stating: “Over the last few years, we have seen wholesale change and increased adoption and engagement from the buyside toward outsource trading. Where hedge funds were the traditional users, we now see a far more diverse group of players, including managed accounts, allocators, insurance firms, family offices and sovereign wealth managers, to name but a few.”

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Balyasny Asset Management appointed Harrison Chesterton as associate director within its equity finance trading division. According to an update on his social media, Chesterton joined Balyasny from Capstone Investment Advisors after nearly a year and a half, most recently serving as vice president, portfolio finance and treasury trading. Before joining Captsone Investment Advisors, Chesterton spent almost eight years at Barclays Corporate and Investment Bank. Most recently he served as vice president of delta 1 and equity financing – a role he was promoted to after holding the position of assistant vice president for three years.

Electronic market maker Optiver selected Philippe Rizzo to join its institutional sales team, effective from 9 October. Rizzo’s new role will be focused on cash equity sales in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Rizzo will join Optiver from Instinet, where he previously served as a global equity sales trader. Prior to that he held a similar role at Goldman Sachs, based in London. Elsewhere in his career, Rizzo served as a senior global equity trader at Comgest.

Axis Capital Markets appointed Lewis Jones in an institutional sales and trading role. According to an update on social media, Jones joined Axis Capital Markets from IBP Markets, where he served as an equity sales trader for nearly three years. Prior to that, Jones held a corporate broker and equity sales position at ETX Capital. Elsewhere in his career, Jones was self-employed as an options trader at Delta Capital Management; a corporate broking consultant at Turner Pope Investments; and as a proprietary trader at Schneiders Trading Association.

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According to an update on his social media, Chesterton joins Balyasny from Capstone Investment Advisors after nearly a year and a half, most recently serving as vice president, portfolio finance and treasury trading.

Before joining Captsone Investment Advisors, Chesterton spent almost eight years at Barclays Corporate and Investment Bank.

Most recently he served as vice president of delta 1 and equity financing – a role he was promoted to after holding the position of assistant vice president for three years.

Chesterton initially joined Barclays Corporate and Investment Bank as an analyst within delta 1 and equity financing.

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