‘Why do traders make particular decisions in times of uncertainty?’

AIFMRM Senior Lecturer Dr Benno Guenther enjoys reflecting on his professional experience, which has taken many different paths to bring him to Cape Town and UCT. “My journey begins in Germany,” Benno says, “in a small town not far from Düsseldorf.”

But it was in the historic university town of Konstanz where he started to see his future more clearly. Here he completed a Master’s in mathematical finance and while writing his dissertation, started his career in equity derivatives sales and trading at BNP Paribas in Paris. His resume grew rapidly: seven years at JPMorgan in London, where he led power and gas structured products and options trading for the EMEA region; followed by stints trading at Mercuria and TrailStone.

Somewhere along the way, Benno’s interests began to shift.

“While on the trading floor, I became fascinated by behaviour – by how traders make decisions under uncertainty. I’d experienced it so many times myself: why, for example, would I close out half of my position when the market has gone up? Shouldn’t I either keep or close out all of it? Why would I keep half a position?”

These questions brought Benno back to academia. Enrolling at the London School of Economics, Benno completed an Executive Master’s in Behavioural Science, which he quickly followed with a PhD in the same subject. His doctoral research examined risk-taking during times of crises, including the behavioural effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

His time in industry, considerable expertise, and research into the psychology of decision-making opened up a new frontier.

“Everything I had learned came together to inform my next step – which was to start my own business, Blue Guardian, in 2022.”

Blue Guardian, is a consultancy specialising in climate finance, carbon markets, derivatives valuation, and risk management. It combines quantitative finance with behavioural research, helping organisations improve trading decisions while supporting the development and evaluation of carbon offset projects and climate-related financial solutions.

It is a full-time gig, but Benno still makes time to take on various roles at academic institutions across the world. He’s a visiting fellow at the LSE, an invited guest lecturer at EGADE in Mexico, and an adjunct Senior Lecturer at AIFMRM.

How did his relationship with AIFMRM come to be?

“I would come to Cape Town to escape the London cold,” he says. “While there, I thought about collaborating with a university. AIFMRM was a natural choice.”

Here, his teaching spans derivatives, behavioural finance, climate finance, banking, and risk management, drawing extensively on his experience as a trader to bridge theory and practice. Recently, Benno hosted a series of lectures on equity valuation with AIFMRM’s MCom in Risk Management of Financial Markets cohort in partnership with Ashburton Investments. Right now, Benno is working alongside AIFMRM Honorary Professor Andrea Macrina on climate finance research.

“What I like about the Institute is its pragmatic, collaborative culture. AIFMRM gives us both the freedom to innovate and the support we need to keep improving our teaching and research. And then, of course, there are the students: it is wonderful to see students from such diverse backgrounds develop so quickly and rise so rapidly into successful careers in finance.”