Man Group's Man GLG unit has named former Florin Court Capital executive William Ferreira as the company's new head of machine learning. In his new role, Ferreira will be responsible for developing Man GLG's machine learning capabilities, providing the firm's portfolio managers with tools and techniques through which to support their analysis and decision-making processes, the company said in a statement. He will also work directly with Man GLG's teams on the application and interpretation of machine learning techniques in relation to topics such as analyzing news and social media, market events and announcements, and the visualization of complex data. Man AHL has been actively researching machine learning techniques and applying them within its client trading programs for several years, the statement continued, while the firm benefits from its collaboration with University of Oxford's Oxford-Man Institute, which focuses on cutting-edge research into machine learning techniques and data analytics. Before joining Man GLG, Ferreira was a senior quantitative researcher with London-based Florin Court Capital, and beforehand worked as technology manager for Man AHL from 2011 to 2014.

Man GLG, a UK hedge fund overseeing $28.8 billion of assets as of March 31, is embracing machine learning. The group has created a new position titled "head of machine learning." The new role will oversee development of Man GLG's machine learning capabilities involving news and social media analysis, breaking market news, and visualizing complex data. "We believe that machine learning techniques present an opportunity for discretionary investment managers, providing them with analytical tools to complement, and further enhance, their decision making processes," said Man GLG CEO Teun Johnston. "We are continually seeking to develop our offering for our clients and, as the amount of data available continues to expand, these techniques can supplement existing rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis."