Tuesday, June 26, 2018

"Commerzbank Replacing Human Research Analysts With Artificial Intelligence"

Sorry, that's a bridge too far, it's time to smash the looms 'puters.
(metaphor party mix)

From ZeroHedge:
Commerzbank is hoping that computers will soon be able to do at least as good a job writing its equity research reports as the armies of junior analysts that the big banks are no doubt looking to trim thanks to expensive MifidII regulations and restrictions that have cut funding costs for research departments.
Even as its captured the attention of bank executives, automated and computerized equity analysis has, for the most part, been a disaster over the last couple of years. While some larger firms may use algorithms and some automation to crank out macro economic reports, and while computers may be getting better at scraping and reporting data (without actually analyzing it), performing equity analysis requires a deeper look behind the numbers and its simply not a task optimized for automation.

However, we are apparently at that stage in the cycle where cutting costs becomes far more important then being productive or effective, particularly since MiFid II is forcing a race to bottom as investment banks seek out deep cuts in their research departments, driven by a drop in revenue that has accompanied being forced to charge a separate, optional, rate for research instead of bundling those costs with trading fees.

One of these competitors, Germany's second largest bank has decided that the time has come to automate some of its equity analysis, and according to the Financial Times "Commerzbank is experimenting with artificial intelligence technology that automatically generates sports reports to see if it can write basic analyst notes, as Mifid II forces banks across the world to trim research costs."
The German bank is working on the project with Retresco, a content automation company in which it invested two years ago through its fintech incubator unit. The project is still at an early stage and could take years to produce reports that banks would be happy to send to their clients, but the notion of AI replacing human research analysts is already attracting attention from senior bankers....
...MORE

As noted back in 2016's:

Artificial Intelligence and the Role Of the Literary Critic

First they came for the literary theorists and I did not speak out because--well, you know the drill.* 
*First they came for the journalists and I did not speak out-
Because I was not a journalist.

Then they came for the ad agency creatives and I did not speak out-
Because I was not an ad agency creative. (see below)

Then they came for the financial analysts and I
said 'hang on one effin minute'.