MSC FINANCIAL ENGINEERING

Quantitative Analyst Hones 3 Key Skills with the MSc Financial Engineering: Finance, Mathematics & Programming

Michelle Fu is a quantitative analyst at macro hedge fund Astignes Capital. Her job scope includes but is not limited to developing fixed income and FX derivatives analytics tools, carrying out alternative data analysis and evaluation, backtesting trading strategy and analysing performance.

On a day-to-day basis, she communicates with the investment team to explore opportunities that incorporate quantitative analysis into the trading process, conducts research by reading papers and backtesting, follows news and reports to keep up with market activity, and develops quantitative tools/dashboards that help investment teams to make trading decisions.

A Love for Numbers

Michelle graduated from Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) with a Master of Science in Financial Engineering (MSc Financial Engineering) in 2019. Her first degree, the Bachelor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, also from NTU, enabled her to thrive in the technology department at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. However, she discovered that she wanted to combine technology with a deeper skillset in mathematical and analytical work.

“In hindsight, I realised I’ve been interested in numbers and logical puzzles since childhood,” she says. “At the same time, I wanted to be closer to the core functions of the financial industry, so I decided to steer my career towards quantitative finance. I truly relish the challenges that come with the fluidity of this industry and its fast pace.”

Michelle needed the knowledge and working experience to make a change in her career path, so she embarked on the MSc Financial Engineering. “As quantitative finance is a highly specialised field that prefers a postgraduate qualification, I decided to embark on a fresh start at NTU,” she says.

She describes the learning as “intense and exciting”. For one, the course schedule was fast-moving, and the mini terms meant that there would be a final exam every six weeks. Each term was packed with a good mix of well-designed assignments and projects to provide students with hands-on experience. “I consider myself fortunate to have approachable professors and helpful classmates too, who were all very dedicated,” she says.

Data Skills for High-Technology Finance

Michelle believes in the importance of technology and data science in finance. She explains: “Financial engineering is a combination of financial product knowledge, mathematics and programming. A solid understanding and application of these three areas can create tremendous value in the financial industry.”

The trend is clear: programming and quantitative analysis skills are increasingly being sought after in the industry. “These capabilities play a big role in discretionary trading by increasing efficiency and providing strategic information for critical decision-making,” she says. “They are even more important in systematic trading, as they form the very fundamentals of this area.”

While studying for her master’s degree, Michelle secured a financial quantitative modelling internship at MAF Intelligence. There, she developed quantitative analysis dashboards for a commodity fintech company. “Even though I had only completed one trimester of my studies at the time, I was still able to apply theories like asset allocation, the efficient frontier and knowledge of statistics to my dashboard development work,” she recalls.

Today, as a quantitative analyst at Astignes Capital, Michelle fully witnesses how the skills and knowledge that she has gained from the MSc Financial Engineering are relevant in her work. She notes that modules such as Linear Financial Models, Financial Time Series Analysis and Advanced Statistical Modelling have given her a strong mathematical foundation; while those such as Interest Rate Derivatives and Quantitative Management of Bond Portfolios have equipped her with the necessary product knowledge.

However, work-and-study is not the easiest arrangement. For Michelle, back then, a typical day as an employee entailed getting up at 6.30am, heading to work and staying focused the whole time. By 6pm, she would “transform” into a student, rush to NTU and concentrate on the lectures before finally reaching home at 11pm.

“It will be tough,” she cautions, “but I have no regrets. Getting the MSc Financial Engineering was a really meaningful and fulfilling journey for me.”

Quick Tips

“Two tips:

1. Time management is very crucial to cope with work and study at the same time.
2. Internships offer invaluable experience – during the academic year, I did two part-time internships to accumulate relevant working experiences, which added another dimension to my studies.”

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