Barclays is building a new team intended to tap unconventional data sources to bolster its research department, and it has hired a top data scientist from BuzzFeed to lead the charge.
The British bank announced Thursday that it had hired Adam Kelleher as director and chief data scientist for research, a new role at the bank focused on “sourcing, normalizing, and utilizing alternative data sets to support Barclays’ Research franchise.”
Kelleher, previously a principal data scientist and machine-learning expert at BuzzFeed, will build and lead a global team of data scientists capitalizing on the burgeoning field of alternative data— raw or unstructured sources of information like satellite imagery or weather patterns not found in traditional financial filings or investor presentations.
