Webinar: A High-Level Overview of the Applications of Deep Learning-Based Forecasting in Finance

The webinar centred on a high-level overview of the applications of deep learning-based forecasting in finance. A brief description of applications such as asset pricing in portfolio management, fraud and anomaly detection, risk prediction and data-driven financial process optimisation were covered. Critical issues of how deep learning compares when contrasted with traditional statistical approaches of forecasting were interrogated. Focus was also on the toolboxes available in the deep learning space including MLPs, CNNs, RNNs, LSTMs and GRUs, as well as some current research challenges and emerging research areas. The speaker was Professor Terence van Zyl who holds the Nedbank Research and Innovation Chair at the University of Johannesburg in the Institute for Intelligent Systems.