BAML hires top machine-learning quant from J.P. Morgan

Bank of America Merrill Lynch hired Rajesh Krishnamachari, formerly a senior quantitative strategist and researcher at J.P. Morgan, as the head of data science for equities in New York last month. BofA's new equities-focused data-science team is using machine learning and artificial intelligence to get insights from proprietary data and develop new products that have an impact on the top and bottom line of the business. A Bank of America spokeswoman confirmed his employment but declined to comment further. Krishnamachari joined J.P. Morgan's equity derivatives quantitative research team in 2014. Primarily using Python, Java and the XGBoost software library, he designed and back-tested systematic options, VIX and equities trading strategies, as well as an ultra-high-frequency execution algorithm for trading VIX futures.