Experienced team launches company with «Quant as a Service» business model
The financial sector is changing. «Open finance» and «open banking» are fragmenting established value chains and opening up opportunities for new market participants. This is where we come in:«Quant as a Service».
We focus on our core competence – the development of quantitative investment solutions. We offer banks, asset managers and professional investors access to the latest technological solutions and assist them in their implementation.
Our journey began in the summer of 2023 – legacy-free, digitally native, and at the forefront of technology. Our backpack is filled with countless ideas and decades of joint professional experience in the development and implementation of quantitative investment strategies.
Answers to frequently asked questions:
You all worked for many years in key positions for an established asset manager. What made you found QuantArea AG?
«We have a long history of working together. We share the same values and agree that a culture of respect, integrity, and transparency is essential for long-term success. We have extensive experience across the asset management value chain. However, our core competence lies in the development of customized investment solutions. With QuantArea, we want to leverage this core competence in a focused and consistent manner. In doing so, we ride the tailwind of digitalization. By outsourcing and co-developing with specialists like us, investors become leaner and more efficient.»
Carmine Orlacchio, CIO
«We have a long history of working together. We share the same values and agree that a culture of respect, integrity, and transparency is essential for long-term success. We have extensive experience across the asset management value chain. However, our core competence lies in the development of customized investment solutions. With QuantArea, we want to leverage this core competence in a focused and consistent manner. In doing so, we ride the tailwind of digitalization. By outsourcing and co-developing with specialists like us, investors become leaner and more efficient.»
Carmine Orlacchio, CIO
Does Switzerland need another FINMA-regulated asset manager?
«We are indeed applying for a FINMA license as an asset manager. This seal of quality is an absolute must. However, our strategy and our services clearly differentiate us from traditional wealth managers. We focus on banks, wealth managers and professional investors. We work with clients to design solutions tailored to their specific needs. We know how to do things that others do as well – except we do them better.»
Claudio Loderer, Chairman of the Board
«We are indeed applying for a FINMA license as an asset manager. This seal of quality is an absolute must. However, our strategy and our services clearly differentiate us from traditional wealth managers. We focus on banks, wealth managers and professional investors. We work with clients to design solutions tailored to their specific needs. We know how to do things that others do as well – except we do them better.»
Claudio Loderer, Chairman of the Board
Why will the Quant as a Service business model succeed?
«Generally, only large banks and specialized asset managers have dedicated quant teams to develop sophisticated investment solutions. With QuantArea, we offer all banks, asset managers and professional investors access to best-in-class investment solutions tailored to their needs while avoiding the fixed costs of an in-house team, IT systems, and data licenses. We do not have investment products of our own and therefore do not compete with our clients, particularly banks and asset managers. While this business model is new in Switzerland, it is well established in the US with major players such as Parametric and Aperio.»
Marcel Masshardt, CEO
«Generally, only large banks and specialized asset managers have dedicated quant teams to develop sophisticated investment solutions. With QuantArea, we offer all banks, asset managers and professional investors access to best-in-class investment solutions tailored to their needs while avoiding the fixed costs of an in-house team, IT systems, and data licenses. We do not have investment products of our own and therefore do not compete with our clients, particularly banks and asset managers. While this business model is new in Switzerland, it is well established in the US with major players such as Parametric and Aperio.»
Marcel Masshardt, CEO
Why quant strategies? Do they achieve a higher return?
«Yes, but ‘quant’ is more than just a means to increase returns. It is an approach – systematic, scientific, automatable – based on data, optimization procedures and machine learning methods. It enables customized investment strategies, reduces process and investment risk, and delivers speed and cost benefits. Moreover, it can also combine multiple investment objectives, such as generating additional returns by capturing factor premia while reducing climate risks by decarbonizing the portfolio.»
Cyril Bachelard, Head of Quant Engineering
«Yes, but ‘quant’ is more than just a means to increase returns. It is an approach – systematic, scientific, automatable – based on data, optimization procedures and machine learning methods. It enables customized investment strategies, reduces process and investment risk, and delivers speed and cost benefits. Moreover, it can also combine multiple investment objectives, such as generating additional returns by capturing factor premia while reducing climate risks by decarbonizing the portfolio.»
Cyril Bachelard, Head of Quant Engineering
Why is the collaboration with Bloomberg relevant?
«In my previous career, I spent a lot of time building and maintaining data pipelines. With Bloomberg ‘BQuant Enterprise’, this is no longer necessary: a huge amount of data is available in real time on a powerful cloud platform, where it can be used directly for modeling. This allows us to be much more responsive and flexible to our clients’ individual needs. These new opportunities open up promising prospects.»
Lorenz Beyeler, CTO
«In my previous career, I spent a lot of time building and maintaining data pipelines. With Bloomberg ‘BQuant Enterprise’, this is no longer necessary: a huge amount of data is available in real time on a powerful cloud platform, where it can be used directly for modeling. This allows us to be much more responsive and flexible to our clients’ individual needs. These new opportunities open up promising prospects.»
Lorenz Beyeler, CTO
