AQIF study guide
AQIF · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The AQIF is a professional certification aimed at people who apply quantitative and data-driven methods to investment decisions - portfolio analysts, risk specialists, quantitative researchers, and data scientists moving into asset management. It sits at the intersection of four skill sets that are usually taught separately: statistics and econometrics, market and instrument knowledge, machine learning applied to financial data, and the practical craft of building, backtesting and validating systematic strategies. The AQIF study guide has 6 sections and about 2,015 words.
01Quantitative Methods and Statistics
Be fluent with descriptive statistics (mean, median, variance, skewness, kurtosis), probability distributions, and the difference between population parameters and sample estimates. Know the central limit theorem and why it justifies t-tests and normal approximations for sample means, and understand why standard error shrinks with 1/sqrt(n).
309 words, about 2 min02Financial Markets and Instruments
Equities (common, preferred, ADRs, ETFs), fixed income (government, corporate, money market, repo, floating rate notes), FX (spot, forwards, swaps), derivatives (futures, forwards, options, swaps) and commodities. Know contract specifications: notional, tick size, multiplier, delivery, margin and settlement conventions, and how primary and secondary market structure affects liquidity.
296 words, about 1 min03Data Science and Machine Learning for Investments
Supervised regression and classification, unsupervised clustering and dimensionality reduction, and reinforcement learning. Understand the bias-variance trade-off, regularisation (ridge, lasso, elastic net), tree ensembles, kernel methods and neural networks conceptually, and the role of hyperparameters in controlling model complexity.
283 words, about 1 min04Portfolio Construction and Risk Management
Mean-variance optimisation uses expected returns, a covariance matrix and constraints to trace the efficient frontier; the tangency portfolio maximises the Sharpe ratio. Know factor models (CAPM, multi-factor, commercial risk models), covariance shrinkage and robust estimation, Black-Litterman for blending views with equilibrium, and resampling.
272 words, about 1 min05Systematic Trading, Backtesting and Model Validation
A systematic process converts a hypothesis into a measurable signal, standardises or ranks it, builds a portfolio with position sizing and constraints, and executes with cost-aware trading. Distinguish time-series (absolute) from cross-sectional (relative) signals, and true alpha from risk premia such as value, momentum, carry and quality.
556 words, about 3 min06Ethics, Governance and Regulation
Know fiduciary duty, the duties of loyalty and care, independence and objectivity, and the priority of client interests over personal or employer interests. Cover confidentiality, suitability, fair dealing, best execution, conflicts-of-interest disclosure, and the handling of gifts and entertainment.
299 words, about 1 min