Speaker

Yves Choueifaty

Founder & President of TOBAM | It's Not About Trees with John Lunn

Catch Yves on Do Radio: It's Not About Trees with John Lunn 12th-18th January 2026.

Yves Choueifaty is the Founder and President of TOBAM (Think Out of the Box Asset Management), an independent asset management firm recognised globally for its pioneering work in portfolio diversification and long-term investment thinking.

Trained as a mathematician, Yves began his career at BNP Paribas, where he held senior roles including Head of Quantitative Equity Research and Chief Investment Officer for quantitative equities.

During this time, he became increasingly concerned that while diversification was a central concept in finance, it was rarely measured or implemented rigorously.

In response, Yves founded TOBAM in 2004, built on a simple but radical idea: that diversification itself could be quantified, maximised and used as the foundation for portfolio construction. This work helped shape what later became known as smart beta, and TOBAM’s strategies are now used by major institutional investors around the world.

Beyond markets, Yves is deeply engaged with the broader systems that underpin long-term value creation.

He is a vocal advocate for democracy, human rights and freedom of expression, arguing that these are not moral add-ons but essential conditions for stable, functioning economies.

Reflecting this belief, TOBAM has committed to donating a significant share of its profits to organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Yves is also a thoughtful commentator on the nature of money, trust and inflation, and has written and spoken extensively on the structural risks created by short-termism, rising public debt and the erosion of institutional confidence. His work consistently challenges conventional thinking, encouraging investors, leaders and citizens alike to look beyond received wisdom and engage with complexity.

Known for his intellectual curiosity, independence of thought and willingness to question assumptions, Yves brings a rare combination of mathematical rigour, ethical clarity and long-term perspective to conversations about finance and the future of society.

Show Notes — Yves Choueifaty

DO Radio — It’s Not About Trees

Guest: Yves Choueifaty

Role: Founder & President, TOBAM (Think Out of the Box Asset Management)

Themes: Finance as a system, trust and truth, democracy and human rights, long-term thinking, diversification, leadership, philanthropy, curiosity

Summary (250–300 words)

In this episode of It’s Not About Trees, John is joined by Yves Choueifaty, founder and president of TOBAM, for a deep and wide-ranging conversation about finance, democracy, and the systems of trust that hold modern society together.

Trained as a mathematician, Yves explains how TOBAM emerged from a simple but radical observation: while finance talks endlessly about diversification, it rarely measures it properly. By developing a rigorous way to quantify and maximise diversification, TOBAM challenged conventional portfolio construction — and helped pioneer what later became known as smart beta.

From there, the conversation moves well beyond markets. Yves argues that the most serious risks facing the world today are structural rather than cyclical: rising public debt, demographic decline, short-term political incentives, and the erosion of trust in democratic institutions. Economics, he suggests, depends on long-term stability, while politics is often structurally short-term — a mismatch that quietly weakens systems until stress reveals their fragility.

A central thread throughout the episode is trust. Yves describes money itself as a system of belief — and warns that when currencies can be endlessly expanded, confidence erodes. Drawing on thinkers such as Hayek and Friedman, he explores how inflation reflects not just rising prices, but declining trust in money’s ability to store value, and why alternative forms of trust — including Bitcoin — have emerged in response.

Alongside this critique, Yves shares TOBAM’s long-standing commitment to human rights and democracy, including donating a significant share of profits to organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. For him, this is not philanthropy as charity, but as logic: societies grounded in freedom, truth and accountability create more durable value.

This is a challenging, intellectually rich conversation — one that asks listeners to think differently about money, leadership, and the foundations of long-term progress.

Key Quotes

“Diversification is talked about everywhere — but rarely measured properly.”
“The economy is a system of trust.”
“Inflation is not about prices rising — it’s about currency losing value.”
“Education is not enough. Democracy and human rights are what matter.”
“Look for surprises. Being surprised is one of the most beautiful things in life.”
“The truth will set you free.”