Led by Jaco Van der Walt, Managing Director & Global Head of Quantitative Research & Investment, our RBC Quantitative Investments Team has members in both Toronto and Vancouver, Canada. The team is comprised of investment professionals with a diverse range of skills, specializing in both quantitative research and portfolio management. We look at an enormous amount of data across many different investment signals, applying a proprietary approach to factor construction and risk modelling that is executed in a disciplined and consistent manner. Our portfolios are designed to achieve the optimal risk-return profile, backed by empirical research.
Our process
- Our investment process is rooted in company-by-company factor analysis. The process is disciplined and repeatable. To optimize our portfolios, we incorporate stock, sector and country forecasts.
- We use proprietary quantitative modeling to build portfolios that seek to deliver consistent, positive incremental returns over the long term.
Evolving with thought
In this video we share how the RBC Quantitative Investment team is evolving, including:
- how we are evolving the way we blend human and machine with developments in alternative data and machine learning,
- how we have evolved our investment process to integrate environmental, social and governance considerations, and
- why we are placing even greater emphasis on portfolio engineering to ensure we evolve our investment processes with rigour.
Portfolio management
This group is responsible for the efficient implementation of the investment decisions that are generated from our quantitative models, working closely with the trading desk.
- They are at the coal face, constantly monitoring the performance of our funds in real time and are on the look-out for information that is not captured in our models but affect stock prices, such as M&A activity, that may require them to take action to control risk.
- Part of their role is to evaluate the performance of our funds to see if the process is delivering what it says on the tin, using our proprietary tools that have been developed in-house.
Research
Research is a key part of what we do. We are committed to the continuous improvement of our quantitative models, which lie at the heart of our process and capture our best thinking.
- The role of the research team is to develop, continuously enhance and assess these models, challenging the existing setup and testing whether new ideas can improve investment outcomes.
- The entire quant team is involved in generating new ideas, which are carefully evaluated and prioritized to ensure that our research is action-oriented and has impact.
- The team is constantly involved in developing new tools and using new methods to improve our implementable models and assess their performance.
Systems
Just like our models, our systems are custom-built. Technology is integral to quant investing and we have a dedicated team of Quant Developers that maintain and enhance our proprietary systems.
- This includes operationalizing the tools and dashboards that are developed by the research team.
- Our systems are being enhanced with the ultimate goal of having a system that serves as a virtual lab for accelerated research, and is fully integrated with the quant portfolio management platform.
Benefit from a quantitative discipline and proprietary quantitative modeling that seeks to deliver consistent positive returns with low volatility over the long term.
Our low-volatility funds may be suitable for conservative investors looking for diversification, income and moderate returns.