David Shaw, Founder and chief executive DE Shaw & Co

David Shaw, sometimes described as the Bill Gates of computer finance, runs what is probably the most technologically sophisticated firm on Wall Street. Over the past decade DE Shaw & Co has grown with lightning speed by using arcane mathematical and computational techniques to spot tiny market inconsistencies, then trading them off against each other at the lowest possible transaction cost.

While other high-tech private trading firms such as O’Connor Associates and Chicago Research & Trading have sold out to large banks, Shaw has chosen a strategic alliance (in March) with Bank of America, with the aim of selling his firm’s product capability – initially in equity derivatives – to Bank of America’s 20,000 corporate customers.