Robots Are Eating Money Managers’ Lunch

Rishi Ganti used to help manage the personal fortunes of hedge fund founders David Siegel and John Overdeck, whose quantitatively driven strategies turned them into billionaires. Ganti, 45, says he’s glimpsed the future of his industry. A wave of coders writing self-teaching algorithms has descended on the financial world, and it doesn’t look good for most of the money managers who’ve long been envied for their multimillion-­dollar bonuses.

On a cold spring day, Ganti, clad in a gray hoodie, takes quick sips of Earl Grey tea at a bakery in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood and explains that many of his peers don’t yet realize their careers won’t last. “Algorithms are coming for your job—they only ask for electricity,” says Ganti, jabbing his finger on a lime-green laminated table. “Algorithms are already reading, processing, and trading the news even before the photons have hit your retina.” Yet few money managers are alarmed by the threat. “They’re anesthetized,” Ganti says.

Read More: Rise of Robots: Inside the World’s Fastest Growing Hedge Funds