Alpha Exchange

It was a pleasure to welcome Colin Lancaster, Global Co-Head of Discretionary Macro and Fixed Income at Schoenfeld Strategic Advisors, back to the Alpha Exchange. Our discussion focuses on the evolution of the multi-manager model, portfolio construction, and the challenges of navigating today’s macro environment.

 

Colin discusses the importance of systems, data, and risk infrastructure, and why scale has increasingly become a competitive advantage. We explore how firms differentiate themselves through strategy mix, geographic focus, and organizational culture, even as the industry has converged around a similar set of core investment disciplines.

 

A further theme throughout the discussion is talent. Colin outlines his approach to identifying and underwriting portfolio managers, emphasizing self-awareness, intellectual honesty, resilience, and the ability to articulate a sustainable edge. He also discusses the growing importance of managing correlations across strategies, particularly during periods of market stress.

 

Lastly, we turn to the macro backdrop, including inflation persistence, sovereign bond markets, central bank policy, and the changing role of liquidity in financial markets. Colin shares views on crowding, leverage, and the risks associated with concentrated positioning across increasingly interconnected markets.

 

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Colin Lancaster.

It was a pleasure to host a discussion with Ronnie Wexler, Global Head of Equities Distribution at Barclays, and solicit his insights on change – in markets, in client relationships and in the growing role of technology across the financial ecosystem.

We begin with Ronnie’s early years at Goldman Sachs during the final stages of the technology bubble and the sharp market reversal that followed. He reflects on how periods of market stress, from the post-dot-com bear market to the GFC, have shaped his perspective on risk and the importance of being adaptable in markets that are constantly moving.

The conversation then turns to the changing structure of institutional investing. Ronnie discusses the growth of hedge funds in pursuit of industrial-scale alpha generation, highlighting how client needs have become increasingly cross-asset, and solutions-oriented. He explains how a sell-side equities business today functions as an integrated ecosystem that spans prime brokerage, derivatives, electronic trading, and financing.

A major theme throughout the discussion is the accelerating pace of technological change. Ronnie describes recent experiences using AI development tools and outlines how firms are integrating them into workflows ranging from onboarding and automation to research distribution and client analytics.

We also explore the rise of bespoke and OTC solutions, including quantitative investment strategies, custom baskets, and exotic option structures. Here Ronnie emphasizes that these products reflect broader changes in market structure, positioning, and risk transfer across institutional portfolios.

The conversation concludes with thoughts on recruiting, apprenticeship culture, and the need for firms to balance human judgment with increasingly sophisticated technological infrastructure.

I was excited to host this conversation with Rob Flatley, Founder and CEO of TS Imagine, on prediction markets, AI-driven workflows, and the structural changes reshaping financial market infrastructure.

 

We begin with Rob’s path from software engineering into capital markets, including leadership roles at Bank of America and Deutsche Bank during the rise of electronic trading and through the Global Financial Crisis. That experience informs a broader perspective on how market infrastructure evolves during periods of stress and technological transition.

 

The conversation then turns to artificial intelligence and the distinction between large language models and reinforcement learning systems. Rob explains why traditional deterministic workflows in settlement and collateral management create different challenges than probabilistic systems such as risk management. He argues that the next phase of AI adoption will focus less on generating language and more on learning and automating complex workflows across financial systems.

 

We also explore prediction markets, an area where Rob and his team have spent significant time building infrastructure and risk frameworks. He discusses how markets tied to elections, Fed policy, GDP, inflation, and geopolitical outcomes are beginning to move from retail experimentation toward institutional relevance.

 

We also discuss tokenization and settlement infrastructure. Rob outlines how stablecoins, digital ledgers, and atomic settlement could reshape financing, custody, collateral mobility, and the economics of intermediated finance. We discuss the implications for prime brokerage, repo, clearinghouses, and 24-hour trading environments.

 

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Rob Flatley.

It was a pleasure to host a conversation with Hari Krishnan, Head of Volatility Strategies at SCT Capital, on the changing nature of volatility markets, portfolio hedging, and why commodities may offer increasingly valuable diversification in today’s environment.

Hari reflects on his book Second Leg Down, which explores practical approaches to tail-risk hedging and the cyclical nature of volatility. He discusses how investors often ignore protection in calm periods, only to rush toward hedges after markets have already repriced risk. That dynamic leads to a broader conversation on planning, budgeting, and approaching hedging as an ongoing portfolio discipline rather than a reactive decision.

We then turn to option markets more broadly, including volatility risk premium, skew, and the challenge of protecting against fat-tailed outcomes. Hari explains why moderately out-of-the-money options often embed persistent premium, while deeper tail risks can be difficult to price with confidence.

The conversation then shifts to commodities, where Hari sees a differentiated opportunity set. We discuss how producer hedging, end-user demand, and forward-curve dynamics create a very different volatility ecosystem than that in equities. He outlines a strategy focused on gaining long exposure to select commodities while using options structures to reduce carry costs and preserve upside convexity.

We close with a discussion on cross-asset dislocations, the recent divergence between oil, gold, and equities, the role of commodities in a world where bonds may be less defensive, and how AI tools are accelerating research, customization, and hypothesis testing across markets.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Hari Krishnan.

It was a pleasure to welcome Rob Kaplan, Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs, and former President of the Dallas Fed, to the Alpha Exchange.

 

We begin with Rob’s reflections on his time at the helm of the Dallas Fed from 2015 to 2021, a period spanning rate liftoff, fiscal stimulus, and the COVID crisis. He outlines how his perspective as a business practitioner led him to focus on structural forces—demographics, globalization, and technology—rather than relying solely on cyclical data and economic models.

 

We then turn to the current environment, where the Fed faces a more complex trade-off between inflation and employment. Rob highlights the limits of monetary policy, emphasizing that broader economic outcomes are increasingly shaped by fiscal policy, regulation, and structural trends beyond the Fed’s control.

 

The conversation also explores changes in financial markets, including the diminished influence of Fed policy on the long end of the yield curve, the growing importance of supply and demand for Treasuries, and the implications of a more leveraged global economy.

 

We close with a discussion on regulation, private credit, and the impact of geopolitical shocks, as well as how AI-driven disruption is influencing corporate behavior and risk management across industries.

 

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Rob Kaplan.