The Wall Street Lab

  Salim Ramji is a Senior Managing Director and Global Head of iShares and Index Investments for BlackRock and a member of the firm’s Global Executive Committee. Prior to that he was Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business. Salim joined BlackRock in 2014, serving initially as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Before joining BlackRock, he was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company where he led the Asset & Wealth Management practice areas. He started his career as a corporate finance and M&A lawyer in London and Hong Kong. Salim earned a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from University of Toronto, a law degree from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder. He is also a trustee of Graham Windham, a New York-based child care agency.   This episode is about nothing less than finding one's purpose in life. For Salim that is making investing easier for millions of people. We talk about ETFs, passive, and index investing, new trends in technology, the recent trading boom

Barney Coles is a Managing Director, Co-Head of the Clean Energy team and member of the Executive Committee of Capital Dynamics. He is also a member of the Responsible Investment Committee. He has over a decade of renewable energy financing experience across Europe. Prior to joining Capital Dynamics, Barney spent over six years in energy corporate finance at Ernst & Young in London, working across lead advisory, project finance, and M&A in the clean energy and utility sectors. He also provided transaction advice to both the private and public sector on large-scale clean energy infrastructure procurement processes. Barney has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Cambridge and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.   In this episode we dig deeper into a topic we brushed with Capital Dynamics CEO Martin Hahn before: Clean Energy. Private Investments in renewable energy assets, like wind parks and solar farms all across Europe. We dig into lifecycle of such asset

Rasa Karapandza is a Professor of Finance, Vice Dean of Education, and the Academic Director of the Master in Finance Program at EBS Business School in Germany. He is also a visiting Professor at New York University. He was previously also visiting scholar at UC Berkeley. Additionally, Rasa is a Member of the board of directors and member of the audit committee of RS2, a payment processing company. The general focus of Rasa's research is investments, empirical asset pricing, and portfolio management. He advised members of the US congress on the topics of regulating cryptocurrencies Rasa received his PhD in Economics and Finance from Graduate School of Economics Barcelona (summa cum laude). He holds a Masters degree in Economics and Finance from University Pompeu Fabra and a Bachelors degree in Astrophysics from the University of Belgrade.   In this episode we cover a lot of ground. We get into Rasa's research about empirical asset pricing aka trying to predict future asset prices. We talk about how he utilise

Jens Bernhardt is the Founder and Managing Partner of Bernhardt Advisory, a multifamily office, an M&A service provider, and placement agent for private equity funds in Germany.  Before founding his own company, Jens was Chief Investment Strategist of the family office service provider subsidiary of Sal. Oppenheim, which at the time in 2008, was Europe's largest independent private bank. Jens previously has been a member of the Board of Deutsche Wohnen, a property company listed in Germany's main index, the DAX.    Before that, he was Chief Investment Officer for Germany at Zurich Insurance Group, Switzerland's biggest insurance company. And before that, he was Chief Investment Officer at Skandia Life Insurance. And even before that, Jens was a management consultant and fund manager. Jens holds an MBA from Cambridge and a PhD from the University of Kassel.   In this episode Jens gives us an overview of the Private Wealth space. This includes similarities and differences between Family Offices, Wealth Mana

Jascha Samadi is Co-Founder and Partner at Greenfield One, a Berlin-based early-stage venture fund dedicated to blockchain and crypto. Greenfield One makes long-term bets on early developer teams building towards an open, decentralized and more robust architecture of tomorrow’s web. Prior to Greenfield One, Jascha was Co-Founder and CEO of apprupt, which was acquired by browser maker Opera Software in 2014. He is also Co-Founder of Flux, a scalable open market protocol. Jascha holds a Bachelor and Master of Law from Hamburg University.   This episodes combines two topics we have talked about in the past, Venture Capital and Crypto and how the two can go together. We talk about how crypto VCs invest into new technology, teams, and tokens. We learn how the decision criteria for a crypto VC, the differences, and the similarities between crypto VC and traditional VC. And we learn how the blockchain helps the transparancy on which VCs are all in on the project. Enjoy this deep dive into Web3 Investing. 

Our guest today is Mohnish Pabrai. Mohnish is a legendary investor, a shameless cloner and an effective philanthropist. He is both, the author and the subject of several books. Mohnish is the founder and Managing Partner of Pabrai Investment Funds, Founder and CEO of Dhandho Funds, Founder of the Dakshana Foundation. He is the author of "The Dhandho Investor" and "Mosaic: Perspectives on Investing". In this episode we talk about how Mohnish cloned his investment style from legends like Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffet, and Charlie Munger. Mohnish shares lessons from his book about businesses and investing. We talk about deep value investing, great compounders and the difference in mindset those styles require. We get into his investment funnel, investing mindset, and what Mohnish focuses his attention on. We talk about other great investors like Nick Sleep, Zak Zakaria, and more. Mohnish shares investing lessons from the sitcom "Seinfeld" and fantastic advice on personal and career development. 

Our guest today is Laurie Menoud. Laurie is a Partner at At One Ventures, a VC that finds, funds, and grows deep-tech startups to catalyze a world where humanity is a net positive to nature. Laurie also joined the board of directors of several Startups, and is a multi board observer. Throughout her career Laurie was a Microbiologist, a Biochemist, and Biotechnologist. She was involved in the characterization of the giant virus, “Mimivirus,” at the French national laboratory, which shed new light on the origins of life and optimized new biological processes for wastewater treatment. All that, before she turned to VC, where she co-founded A DOZEN! deep-tech startups related to computer vision, Natural Language Processing, diagnostics and robotics during her time at SRI International and later as Co-lead of BASF's North America Venture Capital efforts. In this episode we talk about Deep Tech VC Investments. We learn how to invest in Biotech, robotics, AI, and much more. Laurie tells us how her background in rese

Our guest today is Luis García Álvarez. Luis is an Equity Portfolio Manager at MAPFRE Asset Management. MAPFRE is the world's largest Spanish insurance company and the second largest insurance group in Latin America.   Luis has recently received the 'Fund Manager of the Year' award at the Third Edition of the RankiaPro Awards. The economic-financial publication has recognized Luis as "anticipating volatility and creating a portfolio consistent with the long-term view" in an adverse context in financial markets such as that experienced since March 2020.   Luis is also the Co-Director and Professor at the Executive Program in Value Investing and Behavioural Finance at ICADE Business School.   Since 2013 Luis is a CFA Charterholder. Luis also has co-authored several papers on the field of finance which he has presented at the University of Warsaw, University of Munich, Humboldt University of Berlin, the European Central Bank and the Spanish Finance Association. Before joining MAPFRE, Luis worked at Banco Santan

Alina Sychova has more than 18 years of experience in Investment Banking. Currently as the head of capital markets origination at Sova Capital, a UK based Broker specializing in Emerging Markets. Previously, Alina was a managing director and the head of equity Capital markets at Gazprom bank. And before that, the head of ECM origination in Russia and CIS that's the Commonwealth of independent states at City. Alina clan the ranks at Bank of America Merrill Lynch from an Analyst to Director. All those jobs have a strong focus on investment banking for emerging markets across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Alina holds a master's degree in finance from London Business School, a bachelor's degree in finance, and a bachelor's degree in international finance, both cum laude from pyramidal College of New Jersey. In this episode we deep dive into Investment Banking, more specifically into IPOs. Alina leads us through the entire process a company does from deciding to go public, to the first days of trading on an

Michael Berns is Director for AI & FinTech at PwC. Michael has a broad background across blue chip names such as Morgan Stanley & Moody's as well as a range of smaller innovative AI Firms. Michael has been a Mentor and Judge for organizations like Startup Bootcamp, Virgin Money Startup, Cocoon Network, Level 39, MIT Inclusive Innovation Competition and the United Nations World Food Program. Michael is als a guest lecturer at London Business School and Mannheim Business School. Michael holds an Executive MBA from London Business School.  In this episode we revisit AI in Finance and Banking and we are busting some myths about common misconceptions people have about it’s adoption. We also get into the difference in AI adoption across several regions across the world. We talk about regulation, use cases, and much more. Michael also gives some advice on getting your career path right and resources on how to start with AI.

Lutfey is a Visiting Professor-in-Practice (IDEAS - "Ranked #1 university-affiliated think-tank 2020") at LSE, the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he also is aMember of Scientific Advisory Board at the LSE Systemic Risk Centre. At LSE he is also Co-investigator of the Inclusion Initiative, a Former member of the LSE Court of Governors & Investment Committee. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore, where he also is part of the Advisory board of the Centre for Governance & Sustainability.  Furthermore, Lutfey is a Member of the Global Agenda Council or Global Future Council of the World Economic Forum. He is also a member of the Bretton Woods Committee and on several more boards.  Previously Lutfey was the Global Head of Emerging Markets (FX, Rates & Credit) and Founding Head of the Knowledge Network at UBS, where he also was a Sustainability Council & Opinion Leader. Before that, Lutfey was the Head of FX Distribution & Corporate Risk

Robert Almgren is the Chief Scientist and co-founder of Quantitative Brokers. Rob was previously a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, the University of Toronto, and currently teaches High-Frequency Markets at Princeton University. Prior to QB, Robert was a Managing Director and Head of Quantitative Strategies in the Electronic Trading Services group at Bank of America until 2008. Robert Almgren completed a B.S. in physics and a B.S. in mathematics at MIT, then an M.S. in Applied Mathematics at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied and Computational Mathematics from Princeton University. In this episode we nerd out a bit: We get deep into the weeds of optimal trade execution, particularly in Fixed Income and Futures markets. We talk about the history, theory, and practice of minimizing trading costs by minimizing slippage in fixed income markets. We learn why trade execution is an important topic to think about, how to measure optimal trade execution and what research is done to f

Hello and Welcome to another episode of the Wall Street Lab Podcast.  I am currently in the offices of Solactive in Frankfurt. The second in person interview in a very long time. With me is today's guest: Timo Pfeiffer. Timo is the Chief Markets Officer of Solactive and in charge of Research, Sales, and Communications. He joined in 2017 as Head of Research & Business Development, after working for more than 15 years at Deutsche Bank, where he has held various management positions in London and Frankfurt. Most recently, he served as Managing Director in charge of Structured Products distribution in Europe. He holds a bachelor's degree from the Berufsakademie in Mosbach.  In this episode we explore the world of indices. You all have heard of the biggest indices, use them probably every day, but how much do you know about their origin, creation, administration? This is our topic for today. We look at the life of an index from beginning to end. Who comes up with the idea? How does the creation process work? W

Our guest today is Michaela Walsh. Michaela is an activist, scholar, mentor, educator, and author. She was the Founding President of Women’s World Banking. Women’s World Banking is the global leader in women’s financial inclusion. Prior to that, Michaela served as a Project Director for the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and as a Program Associate with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Michaela also was a pioneer woman manager with Merrill Lynch in Beirut, Lebanon, in the ’60s, and the first woman Partner of Boettcher & Company in the ’70s, and in 1980.  This episode is a rare one. Michaela at 86 years old has a treasure trove of experience and is a true force of nature. We talk about the founding idea of women's world banking, the issues it wanted to solve, the story how it came into existence. We talk about Michaela’s experience in female financial inclusion and the positive effects of it. We talk about how WWB financed over 100 million women over the years and became one of the most i

Daniel Faggella is the Founder, CEO, and Head of Research at Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research. He is also a Member of the OECD Network of Experts on AI, a Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Daniel previously founded Science of Skill, CLVboost, and Black Diamond Mixed Martial Arts Academy, so we have someone with a very specific and similarly broad experience set. Dan also hosts a total of 3 podcast: The AI in Business Podcast, The AI in Consulting Podcast, The AI in Financial Services Podcast. Dan holds a Masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Positive Psychology and a bachelors in Psychology and Kinesiology with a Minor in business. In this episode, we get into AI for financial services. Daniel talks about the true distribution of AI funding for banks, how one needs to cut through the tweets and press releases to check where money in AI is actually flowing. We talk about how to research AI use cases, and how to think about investing in AI as a bank. How to thin

Hugo Bongers is the Head of ABN Amro Ventures, the 150 million Euro Corporate Venture Capital fund of Dutch Bank ABN Amro. His mission is to make strategic investments in early-stage (series A and onwards) tech and fintech companies which are relevant for the bank. His job is to scout for innovative companies, invest in them, connect them with relevant stakeholders within the bank. Hugo is on the board of a lot of startups, like solarisbank, penta, crosslend, just to name a view. Hugo has a background in acquisition finance and private equity. Hugo holds Masters degrees in law and economics from Utrecht University. In this episode we talk about the Corporate Venture Capital arm of ABN Amro. We talk about how Hugo sources his deals, his decision criteria on when to invest in startups. His value proposition to startup founders and how he deals with internal and external stakeholders of the bank. We go into the latest market developments, the recent rise in valuations even in early stages before hitting a positi

Colin Lancaster is a 25-year Wall Street professional. He has run two of the highest profile global macro businesses for the top-performing hedge funds in the world and has worked directly for a number of the icons in the investing world. Most recently he was Head of Global Macro Strategies at Citadel and prior to that he was Head of Global Macro at Balyasny Asset Management. He has managed investment operations in London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chicago, and San Francisco. Colin is a graduate of Princeton University and is a lawyer by training. Colin is also the author of the book "Fed Up! - Success, Excess and Crisis Through the Eyes of a Hedge Fund Macro Trader". It tells the story of a global macro trader working amidst the greatest market panic we have seen since the Great Depression. In this episode we talk about hedge funds, and Global macro especially. We get into how the field has changed over the years. We also talk about Colin’s experience about modern financial markets chronicling the men

Jean-Christophe or JC de Swaan is a lecturer in the economics department at Princeton University, where he is affiliated with the Bendheim Center for Finance.  He teaches courses on ethics in finance and on Asian capital markets to undergraduate and graduate students.  He also teaches at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge.  In the past he has taught at Yale University, Hong Kong UST, and Cheung Kong Business School in Beijing. Separately, JC de Swaan is a Partner at Cornwall Capital, an investment fund based in New York.  Prior to Cornwall, he was a senior advisor on China at a global macro fund and an investment professional at an Asia-dedicated hedge fund.  Prior to that, JC de Swaan worked at McKinsey & Company. JC de Swaan received his B.A. from Yale University in Political Science, an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School.  He is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a

Patrick Lowry is the CEO and Managing Partner of Iconic Holding. Iconic Holding is a global crypto asset management group that started in 2017 with Iconic Lab, a global crypto VC and accelerator. Iconic also launched a series of crypto asset index vehicles under the Iconic Funds brand. Patrick is also the CEO of Cryptology Asset Group. Cryptology is a Malta based investment company investing in crypto assets and companies around the world with portfolio companies including Block.one, nextmarkets and Iconic. Cryptology is the largest publicly traded holding company for blockchain companies and crypto assets. Previously, Patrick was an auditor at PwC and worked many years in private equity and in venture capital, most notably for the German stock exchange, Deutsche Börse. He holds an MBA degree, a BS in Finance and Accounting and a CPA license. In this episode we revisit the crypto space. Patrick walks us through his first experiences in crypto, his view of the crypto winter and how it was to start a crypto com

Bashar Al-Natoor is Fitch Rating’s Global Head Islamic Finance. Bashar is responsible for coordinating all Islamic Finance activities across Fitch’s Sovereign, Financial Institutions, Corporate, Structured Finance, Infrastructure and Insurance teams. Bashar has more than 16 years’ experience in the Islamic Finance market. Prior to joining Fitch, Bashar spent seven years at the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in key roles. Bashar graduated with an MSc in banking and financial studies from the Arab Academy for Finance and Banking Science and a BS in finance and banking from Amman University. Bashar is also a Certified Bank Auditor (CBA), a Certified Risk Professional (CRP), a Chartered Market Analyst (FAD-CMA), and a Certified Risk Analyst (CRA). In this episode, we dig into an entirely new topic that we never covered before with Fitch Ratings’ global head of Islamic finance, Bashar Al-Natoor. We are given an introduction to the Islamic Finance industry, a topic that hasn’t received much attention in the western