Yiannis Ritsios, CFA
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Athens, Central Athens, Greece
Toptal member since February 11, 2019
Yiannis is an experienced investment professional who manages assets for institutional investors globally and has extensive experience in financial analysis, valuation, equity research, and investment management. He has worked on M&A projects for large corporations and startup funding for the European Commission. With an MBA from Imperial College London, Yiannis began freelancing to help top management, investors, and entrepreneurs create value and sustainable growth.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Industry Expertise
Other Expertise
Work Experience
Finance Expert
European Commission
- Evaluated funding proposals of highly innovative small and medium enterprises and startups in the fields of fintech, smart housing, internet of things (IoT), and construction innovation.
- Assessed business plans to identify the most disruptive and scalable businesses.
- Identified disruptive ideas to help startups access funding for prototype development of up to EUR 50,000, or go-to-market funding for EUR 1-2 million.
Managing Director | Member of the Board
NBG Asset Management Luxembourg
- Oversaw the delegated investment management of the Luxembourg domiciled UCITS, SICAV, and FCP funds.
- Monitored the investment strategies and portfolios operations. Engaged with portfolio management teams in the areas of performance, risk, and compliance.
- Acted as interim CFO; built a model for internal projections, analyzed profitability, cut costs, and prepared the 5-year budget.
Head of Discretionary Asset Management
National Bank of Greece Asset Management
- Managed EUR 800 million in assets under management, primarily from pension funds, investing in European and US equities and fixed income. Outperformed relative benchmarks in all portfolios.
- Developed the investment strategy based on a top-down approach for asset allocation and a bottom-up approach for stock selection, using macro, fundamental, quantitative, and technical analysis.
- Led a team of two buy-side equity research analysts. Conducted equity research, including financial statement analyses, DCF valuation, and comparable company analyses.
- Built detailed financial models for the companies in the investment universe. Projected revenues, costs, and cash flows and analyzed profitability, liquidity, and economic added value.
- Researched and developed systematic investment strategies based on valuation, factor analysis, trend following, and risk parity using Excel, VBA, MATLAB, and R.
- Worked on M&A projects, conducted due diligence and valued companies; analyzed business models, growth drivers, and financial statements; built financial models; and projected P&L and cash flow. Valued the companies using DCF and comparables.
Head of Alternative Investments
National Bank of Greece Asset Management
- Chose hedge funds (HF) based on qualitative and quantitative analysis. Conducted due diligence on HF manager with on-site visits and interviews in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Cyprus. Evaluated HF's investment philosophy, strategy, risk, and return.
- Constructed portfolios of hedge funds with risk and return optimization and higher-order statistics (i.e., skewness and kurtosis) using the AlternativeSoft hedge fund optimizer.
- Replicated hedge fund returns through econometric and quantitative models using AlternativeSoft.
- Developed and back-tested systematic investment strategies based on trend following and risk parity and pitched them to the investment committee. Developed the strategies using Excel, VBA, MATLAB, and R.
Portfolio Manager and Investment Analyst
National Bank of Greece Asset Management
- Headed the buy-side investment research, conducted equity research, constructed equity portfolios, and proposed strategic and tactical asset allocation.
- Conducted financial statement analyses and company valuation using DCF valuation, residual income, and comparable company analyses.
- Built detailed financial models for the companies in the investment universe. Analyzed the business model, identified growth drivers, projected revenues, costs, and cash flows, and analyzed profitability, liquidity, and economic added value.
- Constructed risk-return and optimized equity portfolios by blending fundamental expected returns and risk metrics to derive efficient portfolios using MATLAB and VBA.
- Co-managed AuM of EUR 270 million of the major Greek state pension funds, investing in Greek equities and government bonds with a well-proven track record of outperforming the benchmark.
- Prepared requests for proposals (RFPs) and pitched them to prospective institutional clients.
Equity Research Analyst
P&K Securities (Acquired by National Bank of Greece in 2007)
- Conducted sell-side equity research, including an industry and company analysis, a financial statement analysis, a DCF valuation, and a comparable valuation.
- Developed the detailed projections of the P&L, balance sheet, and cash flows; prepared the three-statement operating model and evaluated economic profitability.
- Covered energy, materials, food, utilities, technology and communication companies.
- Prepared the investment case, explained the risk factors, and advised institutional clients.
Financial Analyst
Heineken (Athenian Brewery)
- Gained experience as a management trainee with on-the-job training in marketing, sales, production, logistics, and finance.
- Prepared revenues and cost analysis, profitability analysis, and financial statements analysis. Contributed to the budgeting and consolidation.
- Built valuation models for the potential acquisition of breweries in south-eastern Europe.
- Developed and restructured the financial analysis and reporting models, using advanced financial modeling with excel and VBA coding.
Education
Executive Course in Global Investments in Global Investments
INSEAD - Fontainebleau, France
Postgraduate Certificate in Asset Management and Financial Engineering in Financial Asset Management and Engineering (FAME)
Swiss Finance Institute, University of Lausanne - Lausanne, Switzerland
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Finance
Imperial College London - London, UK
Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering (Communications & Signal Processing)
Imperial College London - London, UK
Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Thessaloniki, Greece
Certifications
Passed CAIA Level I Exam
CAIA Association
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute
Skills
Finance
Fund Management, Budgeting, Portfolio Analysis, Cash Flow Forecasting, P&L Forecasting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Three-statement Modeling, Valuation, DCF Valuation, Investment Thesis, Equity Research, Comparable Company Analysis, Economic Value Added, Financial Modeling, Asset Allocation, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Valuation Multiples, Valuation Modeling, Investment Portfolio Management, Revenue & Expense Projections, Five-year Projections, Investment Monitoring, Volatility, CFA Level 3, Forecasting, RiskMetrics, Chartered Financial Analysis, Stock Trading, Equity Research Analysis, Quantitative Risk Analysis, ROI, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Due Diligence, Cash Flow Modeling, Project Evaluation, Accounting Consolidation, Startup Funding, Profitability Analysis, CFO, Financial Reporting, Wealth Management, Accounting, Financial Management, Equity Valuation, Price Analysis
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint
Data & Analysis Software
MATLAB, Microsoft Access, R
Industry Expertise
Financial Markets, Asset Management, Food & Beverage, Technology, Energy, Telecommunications, Retail & Wholesale, Utilities
Geographic Expertise
United Kingdom, Greece, Luxembourg, European Union (EU), United States, Switzerland, France, Netherlands
Other
Financial Statements, Business Planning, Investment Funds, Equity Investment, Investment Analysis, Shareholder Value, Investments & Risk Management, Performance Attribution, Investor Presentations, Pitch Decks, Investment Research, Investment Cases, Quantitative Analysis, Investor Relations, Finance, Investment Consulting, Hedge Funds, Investments, Portfolio Optimization, Equities, Security Analysis, Business Models, Investment Strategy, Quantitative Modeling, Financial Forecasting, Stock Market, Portfolio Management, Equity Markets, Business Plan Consulting, Bonds, Investment Ideas, Waterfall Modeling, Quantitative Finance, Trading, CIO, Financial Analysis, IRR, Stock Analysis, Business Strategy, Excel VBA, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Fintech, Financial Risk Management, Healthcare Services, Macroeconomic Forecasting, Systematic Trading, Alternative Investments, Fund Accounting & Administration, Startups, Strategy, Leadership, Product Development, Investment Banking, Asset Acquisition, Python, Derivatives
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