The acquisition is part of Amexs goal to expand its quantitative capabilities, said James Cracchiolo, CEO of American Express Financial Advisors. Amex will use the quantitative models developed by Dynamic Ideas in its retail mutual funds and separate and institutional account portfolios. The models focus on trading, tax-awareness and other investment decisions.
Dynamic Ideas four employees, Gina Mourtzinou, Steve Kokkotos, George Vetoulis and Thurston Towle, will join Amex as a team responsible for managing the U.S. equity portion of its AXP Managed Allocation Fund, as well as incorporating Dynamics models into the management of new proprietary separate account strategies and mutual funds.
Dynamic Ideas co-founder and senior partner Dimitris Bertsimas will serve as a consultant to Amex. He will maintain his position as the Boeing professor of operations research at the Sloan School of Management and the Operations Research Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.