Media. News and press releases from across Man Group.

25 April 2017

Man GLG, the discretionary investment management business of Man Group plc, announces that William Ferreira has joined the firm as its Head of Machine Learning.

In this newly-created role, William will be responsible for developing Man GLG’s machine learning capabilities, providing the firm’s portfolio managers with tools and techniques through which to support their analysis and decision-making processes. He will also work directly with Man GLG’s teams on the application and interpretation of machine learning techniques in relation to topics such as analysing news and social media, market events and announcements, and the visualisation of complex data.

William will utilise the knowledge and expertise available across Man Group, including working collaboratively with Man AHL’s machine learning team. Man AHL has been actively researching machine learning techniques and applying them within its client trading programmes for several years. Man Group also benefits from its innovative collaboration with the University of Oxford, the Oxford-Man Institute (OMI). Established in 2007, the OMI focuses on cutting-edge research into machine learning techniques and data analytics.

William joins Man GLG from Florin Court Capital, and prior to that worked as Technology Manager for Man AHL from 2011 to 2014. In his role at Man AHL, William acted as Chief Technology Officer for Man Systematic Strategies. Before this, he was an Executive Director at JP Morgan and has previously held roles at firms including Merrill Lynch, GSA and CQS. William holds a PhD in Theoretical Computer Science and an MSc in Computational Statistics and Machine Learning from University College London, where he focused on natural language processing of news article headlines.

Teun Johnston, CEO of Man GLG, said:

“We believe that machine learning techniques present an opportunity for discretionary investment managers, providing them with analytical tools to complement, and further enhance, their decision making processes. We are continually seeking to develop our offering for our clients and, as the amount of data available continues to expand, these techniques can supplement existing rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis. William will work closely with Man GLG’s portfolio managers, as well as leveraging Man Group’s existing machine learning expertise, and I am delighted to welcome him to the firm.”

William Ferreira, Head of Machine Learning at Man GLG, said:

“I am excited about the opportunity to build Man GLG’s machine learning capabilities, developing tools to support the firm’s portfolio managers as they run high-conviction active portfolios. We see many opportunities to utilise machine learning across the diverse data sets available to the discretionary investment business. Man GLG has a collaborative culture, supported by the sharing of ideas and expertise, and I look forward to working closely alongside the investment teams, supported by Man Group’s existing machine learning capabilities.”