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British investment management firm From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Winton Group, Ltd (which includes Winton Capital Management) is a British investment management firm founded by David Harding. In the United States, Winton is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment advisor and with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a CTA, and is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. The company trades on more than 100 global futures markets in a wide variety of asset classes and on global equity markets. The firm was launched with $1.6 million in 1997,[3][4] reached a peak of $28.5 billion in assets under advisement,[5] before dropping to $7.3 billion by late 2020.[6] Winton Group has six offices around the world: London, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, and Abu Dhabi.[7]
| |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hedge fund |
| Founded | February 1997 |
| Founder | David Harding |
| Headquarters | , |
| Revenue |  £265 million (2017) £267 million (2016)[1] |
| AUM | US$ 10 billion (as of late 2023)[2] |
Number of employees | 175 |
| Website | www |
In 1996, investment manager David Harding left Man AHL (formerly Adam, Harding and Lueck), a systematic managed futures fund and created Winton.[8][9] Using Harding's middle name,[10] the firm began trading in October 1997.[11] Winton employs statisticians, engineers and physicists, to pursue investment strategies based on scientific research and analysis.[12] According to Harding, Winton had difficulty attracting clients as a commodity trading advisor (CTA), because investors preferred hedge fund strategies that focused on the equity market rather than futures contracts.[10] However, using fees that were different from industry standards, the firm was able to secure investors.[10][13]
David Harding is the company's founder and chief executive officer.[3] Approximately 70% of the firm's employees own shares or share options in the company.[14] Winton employs approximately 175 staff members.[4]
More than 100 of the firm's employees are academics doing mathematical research[14] and studying statistical relationships and trading patterns.[13] These specialists are organized into research teams, which peer review and test new strategies, gather data and identify trends.[11] While quant hedge funds broadly have struggled for several years just following the 2008 financial crisis, Winton remains a top recruit of quantitative minds.[30]
The majority of the firm's clients reside outside the UK and many are from the United States.[8][9]
Since its inception, Winton has traded as a commodity trading advisor (CTA). It is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a CTA[10] and by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. Winton is also registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment advisor.[31]
The firm refers to itself as a "modern investment management company"[32] and employs managed futures strategies using data analysis and modelling to follow trends in global futures markets such as commodities and bonds.[33] After establishing the Winton Evolution Fund and Winton Global Equity Strategy, the firm began offering multi-strategy and equity investment programs that invest in equity markets around the world.[8][34][35]
Winton uses research and quantitative data analysis to identify favourable trends in the market[36][34] and its focus on research differentiates it from its industry companions.[8][36] In recent years, Winton has further developed its statistical research, focusing on big data; according to the Financial Times, in 2013 its machines processed "the equivalent of 30m King James bibles' worth of information every day".[37] In April 2013, Winton was featured in the BBC2 program Horizon: The Age of Big Data for its use of scientific analysis of data, particularly for its capture and processing of large data sets including historical data for the markets that it trades in and newly produced data from thousands of companies.[38]
Winton's trading is automated and systematic and uses computer algorithms[10] to trade futures in financial assets including equities, currencies, bonds, commodities, livestock and energy[19] in over 100 futures markets worldwide.[8] Winton uses a mix of long-term and short-term trading as part of its strategy[8] and combines uncorrelated strategies to maximize their risk-return ratio.[8][34][33] According to the firm, it uses the same mathematical tools, for research, statistical data analysis, stock selection, and futures investments.[39] From around 2008, the Winton Fund has increased its allocation to cash equities.[40][41]
When Winton launched in October 1997, it held $1.6 million in assets.[8] Over the next 3 years the assets held by the firm grew to over $150 million at the end of 2000.[42] By 2004, the firm's seventh year in operation, its assets under advisement reached $1 billion.[43] In the mid-to-late 2000s, the firm experienced large inflows of capital, leading to its assets under advisement increasing rapidly from $4.8 billion in mid-2006,[9][14][44] to $12.4 billion in 2009.[33][45] Between 2010 and 2012, Winton's total assets under advisement increased by almost $15 billion, from $13.7 billion in June 2010 to $28.5 billion in February 2012.[39] As at December 2017, Winton's assets under advisement totaled $28.5 billion.[5] Following a year of significant losses, including more than 20% in their main fund, Winton's assets under advisement dropped to $7.3 billion by late 2020.[6]
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