I first became interested in Leda Braga after watching a recording of her lecture on data science at the ‘Women in Data Science’ conference at Stanford University in 2018. Braga has been described as ‘the most powerful female hedge fund manager in the world’.[1] After spending 14 years as Head of Systematic Trading at BlueCrest Capital Management, Braga founded Systematica. Unfortunately, there is not a wide range of information readily available surrounding Braga’s leadership style. Therefore, this post will explore her career and the approach of Systematica.
Originally from Brazil, Braga attended Imperial College London where she gained her PhD in Engineering. After working as a lecturer and led research projects for three years she then joined J.P. Morgan as a quantitative analyst in the derivatives division as she was missing commercial pressure. Sources have suggested that Braga’s PhD contributed greatly to her exceptional trading career as she is an ‘active researcher: always looking for better investment opportunities and strategies’.[2]
Braga’s breakthrough year was 2008 during which she brought BlueCrest’s computer-driven fund BlueTrend through the crisis. That year BlueTrend delivered a record 43.3% return while investors elsewhere became increasingly nervous due to the failure of major banks. Braga put her success down to her systematic approach claiming ‘it was clear our algorithm was responding and cutting risk where it needed to…higher volatility does not mean you need to panic’.[3]
Beyond 2008, Braga strongly believes in the benefits of a systematic approach largely due to increasing regulatory pressures and investors’ demands for lower fees. Nicknamed the ‘Queen of Quants’, Braga summarises her approach as articulating the investment process ‘through al algorithms, equations and code which means that the intellectual property exists in its own right’.[4] This passion inspired Braga to start Systematica in 2015 which offers ‘a range of new fee structures, liquidity terms and strategies’, using machines ensures ‘the amount of data you need to capture and process is way beyond the ability of one or two or ten brains’.[5] In spite of the evident advantages of systematic trading, discretionary trading still remains prevalent as research from Wharton suggests ‘people are more likely to lose confidence in the algorithm than the human after they both make the same mistake‘.[6]
The limited information available about Braga suggests that her leadership style entails heavily prioritising innovation while also maintaining a strong emphasis on people. She believes in ‘leading from the front’ and exhibits a strong commitment to diversity claiming ‘women turn up for interviews less than men…less women go into finance in the first place…that needs to change’.[7] Arguably, this commitment goes beyond merely the hiring process as retaining diverse employees and allowing to be who they are at work is a top priority for Systematica. Braga claims it is ‘okay to be the odd person around the table occasionally’ and welcomes a range of perspectives.[8] Ultimately, available resources indicate that Braga puts the importance of people down to the nature of her work describing the hedge fund business as differing from banking as ‘the relationship with investors is deeper… it’s a very personal business’.[9]
[1] Julia La Roche, ‘How the most powerful female hedge fund manager sees trading changing in the next 10 years’, Business Insider (July, 2015). https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-leda-braga-2015-7?IR=T
[2] Azeez Mustapha, ‘Leda Braga: A High Earning Hedge Fund Manager’, ADVFN Financial News (May, 2014). https://uk.advfn.com/newspaper/azeezmustapha/26204/leda-braga-a-high-earning-hedge-fund-manager
[3] Will Wainewright, ‘Trend Setter: EuroHedge meets Leda Braga’, HFM: Euro Hedge (March, 2018). https://hfm.global/eurohedge/analysis/trend-settereurohedge-meets-leda-braga/
[4] ‘Trading Legends: Leda Braga’, https://traderlife.co.uk/series/tradinglegends/trading-legends-leda-braga/
[5] Will Wainewright, ‘Trend Setter: EuroHedge meets Leda Braga’, HFM: Euro Hedge (March, 2018). https://hfm.global/eurohedge/analysis/trend-setter-eurohedge-meets-leda-braga/
[6] Julia La Roche, ‘How the most powerful female hedge fund manager sees trading changing in the next 10 years’, Business Insider (July, 2015). https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-leda-braga-2015-7?IR=T
[7] Will Wainewright, ‘Trend Setter: EuroHedge meets Leda Braga’, HFM: Euro Hedge (March, 2018). https://hfm.global/eurohedge/analysis/trend-setter-eurohedge-meets-leda-braga/
[8] ‘Leda Braga, CEO of Systematica Investments’, Talks at Goldman Sachs (September, 2019). https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/talks-at-gs/leda-braga.html
[9] Will Wainewright, ‘Trend Setter: EuroHedge meets Leda Braga’, HFM: Euro Hedge (March, 2018). https://hfm.global/eurohedge/analysis/trend-settereurohedge-meets-leda-braga/
Financial Institutions 1850-2020 