This center was established in 2017 with a generous gift by Mr Bill Nie, CEO of Financial Data Technologies (FDT), a Hong Kong based FinTech company. It is a sister center of the Oxford—Nie Financial Big Data Lab at the University of Oxford, UK. In 2020, it was renamed as "Nie Center for Intelligent Asset Management".
The research of the Center will focus on the exploration of theoretical underpinnings and modeling strategies for financial asset management through the introduction of dynamic control and big data analytical techniques. The Center's research will combine modern portfolio theory, behavioral finance, machine learning and data science to study core problems including optimal asset allocation and risk management; and the research of the Center sits at the crossroad of financial engineering, computer science, psychology, statistics, and finance, aiming at providing innovative and intelligent investment solutions. The Center not only engages in scholarly inquisitions, but also embraces practical relevance, especially in an era when a new industry of robo-advisors is emerging and thriving.