Qube Research & Technologies, one of London’s largest quantitative hedge funds, is doing something that would once have looked heretical for a firm built on code: it is hiring humans to pick stocks.
The move, reported by Business Insider, places the fund alongside a small group of systematic managers that have begun to blend algorithms with old-fashioned conviction.
Qube has spent much of the past year assembling an in-house team of fundamental analysts, according to Business Insider and Hedgeweek. The group is led by Stephen Irvine, a former head of Balyasny’s London office who later founded, and then wound down, his own firm, Lijaro Asset Management.
The analysts are organised by sector, covering consumer, financials, chemicals, technology, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and industrials. Each runs a dedicated “sleeve” of capital worth between $200m and $500m, depending on experience, under Irvine’s oversight.
Qube has recruited at least seven sector specialists for the effort, drawing talent from Millennium, Rokos, BNP Paribas, and Barclays, the reports said. Business Insider, which put the firm’s assets at about $34bn when it detailed the plan, described the first internal team as going live within days of its report.The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
