Sustainable finance technology solutions provider Arabesque announced a series of high-profile senior appointments today, including the addition of former Deutsche Bank CEO Jürgen Fitschen to the board of AI-based sustainability data and insights services provider Arabesque S-Ray. Additionally, the company has appointed former Allianz COO Dr Christof Mascher and Dr Lars Jaeger, the head of Alternative Risk Premia at GAM Systematic, to the Senior Advisor Committee of AI-based portfolio management tool provider Arabesque AI. "Arabesque is on a path to help transform finance and industry by the intelligent application of market-leading sustainability know-how and innovative technology. It's an approach based on the understanding that ESG and AI will re-shape the global marketplace over the next decade." "I am delighted to welcome Mr Fitschen, Dr Mascher and Dr Jaeger as new Senior Independent Advisors at Arabesque, all three of them global leaders in their field with exceptional careers. Their wealth of experience at the forefront of finance and digital transformation will be invaluable as we grow to become the leading sustainable technology company."

DWS launched an equity fund on 31 March 2021 whose stock selection is largely based on the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The DWS Concept ESG Arabesque AI Global Equity picks up on the three megatrends that DWS has identified for the coming decade: Low interest rates, sustainability and digitalization. The fund is the first joint product of DWS and Arabesque AI, a British company specializing in artificial intelligence with which DWS entered into a strategic partnership at the beginning of 2020. It takes ESG criteria into account, pursues a total return approach and comprises between 60 and 70 stocks from the MSCI World universe. The expected tracking error is between six and seven per cent.

DWS's stake in Arabesque showed how asset management is moving towards AI-powered investing. Artificial intelligence, hailed as investing's next frontier, is already widespread in various forms, but its true potential in portfolio management is still far from being fulfilled. In a study on AI and finance for the Alan Turing Institute, Professor Bonnie Buchanan puts AI's "impressive" growth down to declining processing and data-storage costs, and an immense availability of data. But compared to other fields, the quantity of data or the ability to create and collect new investment data is still not sufficient, despite its abundance, according to Michael Neumann, head of AI quant investing at Arabesque AI in London. Financial data also comes with a lot of'noise', and the definition of success or failure can be more nuanced.

DWS Group (DWS) has acquired a minority stake of 24.9 percent in Arabesque AI Ltd. The UK-based company focuses on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict stock price developments via its proprietary AI engine, combining big data, machine learning, and high-performance computing. In addition, both companies have agreed on a strategic partnership to enhance the capabilities of the AI engine, and to develop sophisticated AI-based investment solutions. Both parties have agreed to maintain confidentiality on the price of the transaction and further financial details. Closing of the transaction has already taken place.