Introduction and what your role is at EQ
My name is Antonio Alves, 29 years old, and I work as a Lead Analyst – Investment Trust Specialist at EQ RD:IR. As a Lead Analyst I carry out share register analysis for a range of clients, prepare reports, and work with client managers to help maintain and strengthen relationships with existing clients. As an Investment Trust Specialist, the work I do focuses on EQ RD:IR’s Investment Trust market data – analysing trends, identifying insights, and monitoring activist activity on our clients’ registers. I provide the wider analytics team with relevant information and news updates, helping them better understand the sector and deliver more insightful analysis to our Investment Trust clients.
What office are you located at?
I work in the London office. It is ideally located in the heart of Europe’s largest financial centre, just a short walk from many financial institutions – many of which are our clients.
What’s happened in your career up to this point?
My professional journey so far has largely been shaped by my time at EQ. I have been with the company for over five and a half years, having joined just before lockdown in 2020 as part of the Analytics Administration Team (AAT). Since then, I have progressed to Lead Analyst, where I have focused on analysing clients share registers and supporting client managers in maintaining relationships with existing clients.
Just over a year ago, I took on the Investment Trust Specialist role, which has been an insightful experience so far – with Saba certainly keeping things challenging and interesting along the way.
What do you like about EQ?
EQ is a place where I work alongside talented and supportive colleagues. The management team values our input, listens to new ideas, and acts on them when it makes sense. It is an environment where you can make a real impact and where collaboration and helping one another come naturally.
What's your biggest EQ achievement?
I believe that the work I have done around Saba Capital has been one of my biggest achievements at EQ so far. Having access to EQ RD:IR’s extensive Investment Trust data gave me the opportunity to explore trends and uncover interesting insights. This process allowed me to write a couple of papers on this topic, and it has been rewarding to see that work recognised by both clients and colleagues.
What are you looking forward to in the future at EQ?
I’m really looking forward to seeing how my role continues to develop at EQ and hopefully getting the chance to engage more with clients through the work I do. Right now, I think my colleagues see me as the go-to person when it comes to Investment Trust data, and my goal for the near future is to build on that so that clients see me in the same way. Further to that, I think the future in this role for me involves working with my managers Ian Smith and Daren Norman to maximise the commercial value of the work I produce.
Do you have a fun fact to share?
I like finding restaurants with food challenges and rocking up with a few friends to take them on as a group. It’s always fun when people we don’t know stop by to watch us take on the feast!
A big thank you to Antonio for sharing his thoughts with us.
To learn more about the work Antonio does here, you can read these two articles which were both written by Antonio.
• The Rise of Activists in the UK Investment Trust Market
• A Case Study: Ballie Gifford Trusts