HSBC today announced the launch of the AI Powered US Equity Index (AiPEX) family, the market’s first to use artificial intelligence (AI) as a method for equity investing. The AiPEX family of indices was developed by EquBot and leverages the AI capabilities of EquBot and IBM Watson™ to turn Big Data into investment insight.

AiPEX harnesses the power of IBM Watson and EquBot’s AI to ingest and learn from the vast amounts of publicly available and continuously generated data points. Data points could include a company announcement, a tweet, a satellite image of a store parking lot, or even the tone of language a CEO uses during an earnings presentation.

Applying what has been learned through Big Data and AI, AiPEX uses a rules-based process to objectively evaluate each of the 1,000 largest U.S. publicly traded companies and selects those whose stock prices are poised for growth, according to the AI. AiPEX rebalances its portfolio monthly, and to manage short-term volatility, AiPEX reallocates among chosen equity and cash on a daily basis. AiPEX selects companies with stock prices that may be poised for growth according to an objective selection process that is similar to a fundamental equity research approach, only thousands of times faster and broader in scope.

“In today’s markets, investors need strategies that can keep up with the growing amount of data being generated each day,” said Dave Odenath, Head of Quantitative Investment Solutions, Americas at HSBC Global Banking and Markets. “We are now able to offer clients solutions that not only keep up, but thrive in an increasingly complex world of data. AiPEX with Watson simulates a team of thousands of analysts and traders working around the clock to learn from millions of pieces of information and identify potential investment opportunities.”

HSBC is the exclusive licensor of AiPEX, and is offering a variety of investment solutions based on the indices to its clients globally. Athene USA, a leading provider of retirement savings products, now offers AiPEX in its suite of fixed indexed annuities.

“The AiPEX index is the first of its kind to bring artificial intelligence technology to crediting strategies within fixed indexed annuities, offering 100 percent equity exposure,” said Grant Kvalheim, CEO and President of Athene USA. “By partnering with HSBC to bring this groundbreaking index to our product platform, Athene builds on its reputation as a leading provider of unique, value-driven retirement solutions for the retail market.”

Source: HSBC