#UBS making moves in #quantitative #trading space

UBS, as an active banking industry leader in the quantitative space, is considering shifting its stock trading unit to money management division, UBS Global Asset Management.

CFO Tom Naratil told Bloomberg in February that UBS plans to exit the trading business on the investment bank side. But they do think that asset management clients will be interested in the strategies that UBS traders pursue. In the U.S., the bank has to close its proprietary trading operations due to the so-called Volcker rule.

On the other end, UBS just launched an interesting iPad app, the “UBS QUOD Studio”. It is an innovative, cutting-edge and rapid algorithmic design tool that enables clients to design unique, advanced algorithms that can be deployed quickly. Using this proprietary interactive iPad app, the UBS algorithmic trading team will work with clients to design and build custom strategies.

UBS will showcase their strength in developing quantitative strategies at the Trading Show Chicago 2012 event. Mr. David Jessop, Managing Director and Global Head of Equities Quantitative Research, will deliver a presentation on how to use proprietary data to boost quant strategy performance. And Mr. Greg Sterijevski, Director at UBS O’Connor (its hedge fund division based in Chicago), will be leading a workshop on utilizing Independent Component Analysis (ICA).