Global risk analysis gets an artificial intelligence upgrade with GeoQuant

The global risk analysis used by big banks, hedge funds, and governments to inform their decision-making around everything from foreign currency investment to foreign aid is getting the machine learning treatment with the launch of the new startup GeoQuant. In the months since the company launched its service, GeoQuant has accurately predicted increasing political stability in Italy and Mexico before a corresponding rise in the value of those countries' capital markets and a collapse in political stability in Brazil before markets fell in that country, according to chief executive Mark Rosenberg. "Large asset managers and large corporations increasingly recognize that political risk is a growing factor in this investment climate," says Rosenberg. The former head of product development at the global risk consulting firm, The Eurasia Group, Rosenberg had long wanted to come up with a simpler measurement tool for gauging political risk, but felt it would have eroded much of the value in the bespoke reports that companies like the Eurasia Group rely on for income. Like many entrepreneurs before him, Rosenberg thought the process could be automated with a bit of technology.