Portrait of Professor Nick Motson

Professor Nick Motson

Associate Dean MSc Programme

Bayes Business School , Finance

Contact

About

Overview

Dr Nick Motson holds a BSc from Bayes Business School, an MSc from London Business School and a PhD from Bayes Business School. Following a 13 year career as a proprietary trader of interest rate derivatives in the City of London for various banks including First National Bank of Chicago, Industrial Bank of Japan and Wachovia Bank. Nick returned to Bayes in 2005 to pursue his doctoral studies. Upon completion of his PhD he joined the faculty of finance full-time in 2008.

Nick's research interests include asset management, portfolio construction, hedge funds, alternative assets and structured products. In 2009 he was awarded the Sciens Capital Award for Best Academic Article, in The Journal of Alternative Investments for his paper Locking in the Profits or Putting It All on Black? An Empirical Investigation into the Risk-Taking Behaviour of Hedge Fund Managers.

From 2016 to 2021 Nick was the Associate Dean for the MSc Programme, responsible for 23 traditional and 1 online masters degrees with a total of over 1,500 students per year. Nick has taught extensively at masters level on alternative investments, derivatives, fixed income and structured products and in recognition of the quality of his teaching he was nominated for the Economist Intelligence Unit Business Professor of the Year Award in 2012 and awarded the Vice Chancellor’s University Education Excellence Award in 2014.

As well as teaching and researching at Bayes, Nick actively consults for numerous banks and hedge funds and has provided research or training clients including ABN Amro, Aon Hewitt, Barclays Wealth, BNP Paribas, CoreShares, Financial Express, FM Capital Partners, Invesco, Insight Investments, NewEdge, Old Mutual, Rosbank. and Societe Generale.

Qualifications

  • PhD, Bayes Business School
  • MSc, London Business School
  • BSc, Bayes Business School

Memberships of professional organisations

  • CAIA, March 2012 - present

Expertise

Primary topics

  • Commodities
  • Derivatives
  • Finance
  • Fund Management
  • Hedge Funds
  • Investment Management
  • Portfolio Choice

Research

Working on the following:
"Factors Affecting the Flow of Funds in UK Equity Funds and it's impact on Returns"
"Misconceptions about Rebalancing Benefits"
“Manager Education and the performance of UK Equity Funds

Research topics

Asset Management

Hedge Funds

Mutual Funds

Derivatives

Commodities

Research students

2ndsupervisor

  • Rob Roy, Research Student

Publications

Conference papers and proceedings (4)

  1. Motson, N. and Clare, A. (2009). Locking in the Profits or Putting it All on Black? An Investigation into the Risk-Taking Behaviour of Hedge Fund Managers. European Financial Management Association Conference Milan.
  2. Motson, N. and Clare, A. (2009). Locking in the Profits or Putting it All on Black? An Investigation into the Risk-Taking Behaviour of Hedge Fund Managers. Financial Management Association European Conference Turin.
  3. Motson, N. and Clare, A. (2009). Risk Taking Behaviour in Hedge Funds. CFA Institute Academic Research Series London.
  4. Motson, N. and Clare, A. (2008). An Empirical Investigation into the Risk-Taking Behaviour of Hedge Fund Managers. State Street European Quantitative Forum London.

Journal articles (5)

  1. Clare, A., Keswani, A. and Motson, N. (2024). The Case for Integrating ESG into Fixed-Income Portfolios. The Journal of Portfolio Management, 50(9), pp. 152-163. doi:10.3905/jpm.2024.1.620

    [publisher’s website]

  2. cuthbertson, K., Hayley, S., motson, N. and Nitzsche, D. (2016). What Does Rebalancing Really Achieve? International Journal of Finance & Economics, 21(3), pp. 224-240. doi:10.1002/ijfe.1545

    [publisher’s website]

  3. Clare, A., Motson, N., Sapuric, S. and Todorovic, N. (2014). What impact does a change of fund manager have on mutual fund performance? International Review of Financial Analysis, 35, pp. 167-177. doi:10.1016/j.irfa.2014.08.005

    [publisher’s website]

  4. Clare, A. and Motson, N. (2009). Locking in the profits or putting it all on black? an empirical investigation into the risk-taking behavior of hedge fund managers. Journal of Alternative Investments, 12(2), pp. 7-25. doi:10.3905/JAI.2009.12.2.007

    [publisher’s website]

  5. Brooks, C., Clare, A. and Motson, N. (2008). The gross truth about hedge fund performance and risk the impact of incentive fees. Journal of Financial Transformation, 24, pp. 31-40

Reports (4)

  1. Clare, A. and Motson, N. (2010). Do UK Retail Investors Buy at the Top and Sell at the Bottom? London: Cass Centre for Asset Management Research, City University London.
  2. Clare, A. and Motson, N. (2010). Comparing the Performance of Retail Unit Trusts and Capital Guaranteed Notes. London: Centre for Asset Management Research, City University London.
  3. Clare, A. and Motson, N. (2008). How Many Alternative Eggs Should You Put in Your Investment Basket? SSRN.
  4. Clare, A. and Motson, N. (2008). Locking in the Profits or Putting it All on Black? An Investigation into the Risk-Taking Behaviour of Hedge Fund Managers. London: Centre for Asset Management Research, City University London.

Thesis/dissertation

Working papers (5)

  1. Cuthbertson, K., Hayley, S., Motson, N.E. and Nitzsche, D. (2015). Diversification Returns, Rebalancing Returns and Volatility Pumping.
  2. Clare, A., Motson, N., Payne, R. and Thomas, S. (2014). Heads We Win, Tails You Lose. Why Don't More Fund Managers Offer Symmetric Performance Fees? London: Cass Business School, City University, London
  3. Thomas, S., Clare, A. and Motson, N. (2013). An Evaluation of Alternative Equity Indices - Part 2: Fundamental Weighting Schemes. London: SSRN
  4. Clare, A., Motson, N. and Thomas, S. (2013). An Evaluation of Alternative Equity Indices - Part 1: Heuristic and Optimised Weighting Schemes. London: SSRN
  5. Clare, A.D., Keswani, A. and Motson, N.E. The Case for Integrating ESG into Fixed Income Portfolios. Elsevier BV.

Education

Course Directorship

- 2011 - present, MSc Finance and Investment, Director & Admissions Tutor

Professional activities

Events/conferences (16)

  1. IPE Breakfast Briefing. (Public lecture) London (2014). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Smart Beta in Practice
    Author: Motson N
  2. CFA Society Masterclass. (Public lecture) London (2014). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Masterclass: Cap-weighted indices and simian outperformance
    Author: Motson N
    Co-authors: A. Clare and S. Thomas
  3. Railpen Pooled Funds Trustee Meeting. (Workshop) London (2014). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Smart Beta and Factor Investing
    Author: Motson N
  4. Brunel Research Workshop Series. (Workshop) Brunel (2014). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Equity Indices: Market Cap, Smart Beta and Dumb Monkeys
    Author: Motson N
    Co-authors: A. Clare and S. Thomas
  5. CISI Annual Conference. (Conference) London (2014). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Investment Management: Monkeys vs Humans
    Author: Motson N
    Co-authors: A. Clare and S. Thomas
  6. Cass/AON Smart Beta Conference. (Conference) London (2014). Invited speaker.
    Paper: What keeps me and my Monkeys awake at night when thinking about Smart Beta
    Author: Motson N
  7. Investment Pensions Europe 360. (Public lecture) Egham UK (2013). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Equity Indices: Market Cap, Smart Beta and Dumb Monkeys
    Author: Motson N
    Co-authors: A. Clare and S. Thomas
  8. AON Hewitt Joint Pensions Forum. (Workshop) London (2013). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Equity Indices: Market Cap, Smart Beta and Dumb Monkeys
    Author: Motson N.
    Co-authors: A. Clare and S. Thomas
  9. Unigestion Investor Conference. (Conference) Vevey, Switzerland (2013). Invited speaker.
    Paper: The Risk of "Low Risk": Pitfalls of Low Risk Equity Investing
    Author: Motson N.
  10. Global Absolute Return Congress. (Conference) London (2013). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Equity Indices: Market Cap, Smart Beta and Dumb Monkeys
    Author: Motson N.
    Co-authors: A. Clare and S. Thomas
  11. Cass Consulting Briefing. (Workshop) London (2012). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Is Portfolio Construction Using Diversification Ratio Optimisation Optimal?
    Author: Motson N
  12. Association of Pensions Actuaries. (Conference) London (2011). Invited speaker.
    Paper: How Does The Way A Manager Is Paid Affect Their Risk Taking Behaviour?
    Author: Motson N
  13. CFA Institute Academic Research Series. (Public lecture) London (2009). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Risk Taking Behaviour in Hedge Funds
    Author: Motson N
    Co-authors: Andrew Clare
  14. Financial Management Association European Conference. (Conference) Turin (2009).
    Paper: Locking in the Profits or Putting it All on Black? An Investigation into the Risk-Taking Behaviour of Hedge Fund Managers
    Author: Motson N
    Co-authors: Andrew Clare
  15. European Financial Management Association Conference. (Conference) Milan (2009).
    Paper: Locking in the Profits or Putting it All on Black? An Investigation into the Risk-Taking Behaviour of Hedge Fund Managers
    Author: Motson N
    Co-authors: Andrew Clare
  16. State Street European Quantitative Forum. (Conference) London (2008). Invited speaker.
    Paper: An Empirical Investigation into the Risk-Taking Behaviour of Hedge Fund Managers
    Author: Motson N
    Co-authors: Andrew Clare

Media appearances (30)

  1. (2012) American Public Radio (radio).
  2. (2012) American Public Radio (radio).
  3. (2012) Reuters.
  4. (2012) FT Video.
  5. (2012) CNN.
  6. (2012) www.ft.com (website).
  7. (2012) Reuters.
  8. Today. (2012) BBC Radio 5 (radio).
  9. (2012) BBC Radio 5 (radio).
  10. Banks facing £1bn 'rate-rigging' fines. (2012) Sunday Express (newspaper).
  11. (2012) ITV (television).
  12. (2012) Bloomberg.
  13. (2012) BBC Radio 4 (radio).
  14. The hedge funds that have kept the midas touch. (2011) www.mailonsunday.co.uk (website).
  15. La Cass Business School e stata certifica CAIA. (2011) www.milanofinanza.it (website).
  16. (2010) Fund Strategy.
  17. The risks of staying invested. (2010) Investors Chronicle (magazine).
  18. Chasing Performance Costs More Than 1 Per Cent In Revenues - Barclays Wealth Research. (2010) www.wealthbriefing.com (website).
  19. Market timing errors prove costly. (2010) Financial Times (newspaper).
  20. (2010) Citywire.
  21. Cass Business School Academics Clain Prestigious Award for Alternative Investments Research. (2010) www.pr.com.
  22. On whether hedge fund manager behaviour can be likened to casino gambling. (2010) www.moneyscience.com (website).
  23. (2010) FT Adviser.
  24. Hedge, il rischio al traino delle performance. (2009) www.bluerating.com (website).
  25. Lock in profits or put it all on black? (2009) www.hedgefundjournal.com.
  26. Managers adjust risk based on relative performance to peers. (2009) www.hedgefundreview.com (website).
  27. Hedge fund industry enters time-warp in January 1970. (2008) www.allaboutalpha.com (website).
  28. Voyage a Londres par temps de crise. (2008) La Croix.
  29. The discreet charm of other people's money. (2008) www.forbes.com (website).
  30. The illogic of financial-services compensation. (2008) www.iht.com.