TRAINING ASIAN QUANTS
The University of Chicago opens shop in Singapore.
By Don Durfee

With the world’s financial markets in a tailspin, it’s easy to miss the signs that Asia’s own markets are steadily gaining depth and sophistication. The latest indication: plans by the University of Chicago—known for producing some of the world’s sharpest financial economists—to open a new program in financial mathematics in Singapore.

According to Niels Nygaard, a professor of mathematics and the program’s director, the Singapore curriculum will mirror the school’s U.S. graduate program. The idea is to blend financial theory with the kind of high-level math that physicists use in their work. Such skills are necessary for designing and pricing certain kinds of derivatives.

The choice to establish the first overseas version of this program in Asia is no accident. Most students enrolling in the U.S. program have come from Asia, says Nygaard. A couple of years ago, some University of Chicago professors met with local and foreign banks here, who confirmed an unmet need for quants. “There’s already a lot of trading in exotic derivatives out here and it’s growing faster than in the U.S.,” says Nygaard. “The market for [quantitative financial experts] is going to expand dramatically in the next few years.”

So now banks in Asia will have their own supply of rocket scientists. But how many CFOs will be prepared to understand what their bankers are up to?