Future of Financial Markets Summit (FOFM), 21 – 22 March 2012 (The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, India) and 23 March 2012 (The Oberoi, New Delhi, India)
The Future of Financial Markets is an annual thought leadership summit conceptualized by the Financial Technologies Group in India, which is devoted to generate the best ideas and thinking on how to bring markets closer to the people and play a useful role in their progress. It also reiterates the need for a continuous dialogue and discussion amongst thought leaders from the industry and the academy that is relevant for enhancing and enlarging the scope of the economy and the empowerment of its numerous stakeholders. Financial Technologies has played a pioneering role in creating state-of-the-art architecture that has made financial markets inclusive and efficient to penetrate the length and breadth of the country. The Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) is a Financial Technologies Group-promoted exchange industry venture.
Although Asia was able to spring back to growth soon after the crisis, concerns on growth continue to persist owing to the growing uncertainties in the global economy and financial markets. Worries on aspects such as inflation, financial stability, and corporate performance continue to engage attention. In this context, Professor Joseph Cherian participated in a panel discussion that discussed important aspects governing the Asian financial markets from the developments in global economy and finance. He specifically spoke about how the developments in global financial markets following the systemic crisis had thrown up several challenges to the practice of asset management. While the conventional methods in asset management raised issues, new opportunities are emerging on the back of the growth dynamics in various Asian economies. Such a development requires innovative thinking on the scope of asset management, and also the range of instruments and related products relevant to the diversified structures of the Asian markets.
Click here to download the abbreviated version of Professor Joseph Cherian’s talk during the panel discussion.
Professor Cherian was also interviewed by India’s Business Standard newspaper about the level of fees charged by active asset managers and hedge fund managers. Click here to download the interview with Professor Cherian, which appeared in the March 26th issue of the Business Standard.
Cornell Asia Alumni Leadership Conference, 16 - 17 March 2012 (The Mira, Hong Kong)
About 80 senior alumni from around Asia gathered in Hong Kong for the Cornell Asia Alumni Leadership Conference held from 16 - 17 March 2012. Given the macroeconomic and regulatory challenges the world is facing post the global financial crisis, the importance from a global perspective of a good dialogue about capital market opportunities and risks in Asia cannot be emphasized. To that end, Professor Joseph Cherian, Director of the Centre for Asset Management Research and Investments (CAMRI) at the National University of Singapore, participated in a panel discussion on March 17, which among other things, discussed the issues global investors are facing when looking to Asia, as well as the cyclical and secular trends that most influence investors’ views today. Topics discussed included the slowing growth globally, demographic trends and the aging population in Asian countries, rising inflation, fiscal problems, overexposure to problems in other parts of the world, like the Euro crisis, and innovative financial products for retirement.
IPARM China Summit 2011: Developing Effective Performance and Risk Management Strategies to Facilitate the Rapidly Growing Chinese Investment Management Market, 30 November – 1 December 2011 (Renaissance Shanghai Pudong Hotel, Shanghai, China)
IPARM Southeast Asia 2011: Investment Performance Analysis & Risk Management, 16 – 17 August 2011 (Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore)
Professor Joseph Cherian presented "Liquidity Risk Modeling Within the Investment Management Context" during plenary sessions at the IPARM Southeast Asia 2011 and the IPARM China Summit 2011. With the volume of investments in Asia increasing rapidly with the region’s economic growth, it is crucial that performance and risk management best practices are implemented to ensure maximum investment returns. In addition, investors are continually looking into a wider range of investments thus inevitably increasing the complexity of their portfolio. A recent area of concern – and analysis – in both financial economics and capital markets has been liquidity. Broadly speaking, liquidity is the ease with which a financial asset can be traded. In his presentation, Prof Cherian provides empirical evidence in support of a more-refined version of liquidity. His results strongly validate the notion that liquidity affects financial market performance, and, as a consequence, it has implications for both portfolio construction and risk management. The approach also permits the identification of different market regimes in terms of aggregate liquidity. Thus, it also has the potential to displace other traditional indirect proxies of liquidity in standard asset pricing tests. Finally, by using the liquidity measures developed here, the rationale for a profitable liquidity trading strategy is derived. These events were attended by asset/fund managers, institutional investors, insurance companies and private banks. Prof Cherian also chaired Day Two of the IPARM China Summit 2011, which covered quantitative investment and risk management techniques for portfolio managers, as well as the increased usage of derivative and ETF strategies in China.
Click here to download the presentation by Professor Joseph Cherian at the IPARM China Summit 2011.
Institutional Investor’s Asia & Middle East Government Funds Roundtable, 18 November 2011 (Four Seasons Hotel, Singapore)
CHALLENGES, FRAGILITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES
In a very short space of time, Asia has become the growth hub of the world economy, while the Middle East remains a major capital generator. Yet problems abound elsewhere, posing unique challenges for government investors from these regions. A major lesson of the financial markets shock is that the capacity of governments and policymakers to intervene effectively in markets is waning, with the result that fiscal and monetary imbalances have actually deteriorated in the last three years. Meantime, sovereign debt crises and recession fears in the West have severely impacted stock and bond markets. At the roundtable, delegates explore whether the current environment is predominantly one of challenge or of opportunity. They test the proposition that investors are better prepared this time around, and that strengthened governance, new forms of collaboration and the ability to take longer term risks will be sufficient to achieve required performance targets. Professor Joseph Cherian of CAMRI spoke and served as a panelist during the panel discussion covering the role of hedge funds in a diversified portfolio, which have come under intense scrutiny following the 2008 crisis, when many strategies proved more correlated to the broad market than anticipated. It has even been argued that viewing hedge funds as a separate asset class ignores the consequences of their exposures on the overall portfolio. The panel compared notes on the pros and cons of their own experience with hedge fund investing, and whether investors are shrinking, continuing or indeed expanding their allocations to hedge funds and absolute return strategies. The panel also addressed the best ways to measure the risks associated with individual hedge funds, and how to identify and select the most consistent managers.
Click here to download the presentation by Professor Joseph Cherian
Fiduciary Investors Symposium, 23 - 26 October 2011 (Shangri-La China World Hotel, Beijing, China)
Institutional investors from 17 countries with combined assets of US$3 trillion gathered in Beijing for the Fiduciary Investors Symposium held from 23 - 26 October 2011. As global markets become more inter-twined, there is an impetus for Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) globally to connect, collaborate, co-invest and challenge existing norms. The Fiduciary Investors Symposium in Beijing focused on investment strategies, interactions, and implementation for the world's largest pension and sovereign wealth funds, multi-managers, insurance funds, academics and asset consultants. Through these interactions, there is the potential to influence global outcomes with fresh perspectives and innovative ideas. In effect, this Symposium is a "mini-Davos for the global institutional investment community". Presenters in the content-rich program included Professor Joseph Cherian, Director of the Centre for Asset Management Research and Investments (CAMRI) at the National University of Singapore, who moderated the panel session on “Institutional Risk Management - Revised and Reframed”, as well as chaired the session by Mr Anthony Neoh, a member of the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s international advisory board, who educated delegates on the regulatory and legal landscapes of fiduciary investment in China. The event was fully covered by Top1000funds.com, the news and analysis site for the world’s largest institutional investors. Top1000funds.com is published by Conexus Financial, a specialist publishing and events company which concentrates on the institutional and advised investment markets around the world.
Schroders 3rd Official Institutions Seminar, 21 October 2011 (Pan Pacific Hotel, Singapore)
This exclusive annual event was held specially for officials from central banks, sovereign pension funds, state investment corporations and government agencies in Asia. The purpose of this seminar is to provide technical training across a gamut of investments in multi-asset, fixed income, equity and alternatives. The training seminar was conducted by Schroders investment specialists sharing their expertise on the rudiments of investments, as well as distinguished guests, academics and leading global professionals who shared their insights on some of the new trends and challenges in investing in 2011 and beyond. In a Round Table discussion entitled “Alternative Investing - Constructing Inflation Hedges”, Professor Cherian spoke about how Asian nations can tackle their inflation, worker and retiree concerns by financially engineering new inflation-indexed products and strategies. He pointed out that such products, including inflation-linked life annuities, should fundamentally comprise the retiree (1) receiving a reasonable level payout every month, (2) which lasts for as long as he or she lives, and (3) which is indexed to the cost of living.
Click here to download the presentation by Professor Joseph Cherian.
CITICS-Citadel Global China Roundtable (GCR), 11 – 13 October 2011 (Hong Kong Jockey Club, Beijing, China)
The GCR is an annual by-invitation roundtable event featuring leading industry players from both the buy-side and sell-side, as well as academics and government officials from China and around the world. The focus was on issues related to the Chinese economy in particular, and the global economy in general. Interactive discussions, panel sessions, and presentations revolved around the investment opportunities, challenges and trends in China given the current turbulent financial markets. Professor Joseph Cherian of CAMRI presented his paper, “Thoughts on Asset Allocation,” as well as moderated a panel discussion on “The Recent Trends in Alternatives Investing,” which featured the CIO of a large US foundation and the Asia head of a leading independent consultancy on hedge funds and alternative investments. The GCR was held from October 11 - 13, 2011 at the Beijing Hong Kong Jockey Club, Beijing, China.
Click here to download the presentation by Professor Joseph Cherian.
NBER 22nd Annual East Asian Seminar on Economics, June 24 – 25, 2011 (CCER, Beijing, China)
Professor Joseph Cherian of CAMRI presented his paper, “Worry-free Inflation-Indexing for Sovereigns: How Governments can Effectively Deliver Inflation-Indexed Returns to Their Citizens and Retirees” at the 22nd Annual East Asian Seminar on Economics (EASE-22) held in Beijing, China. Professors Takatoshi Ito and Andrew Rose organized the EASE-22, which was jointly sponsored by the National Bureau of Economic Research, China Center for Economic Research, Tsinghua University, Australian National University, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Korea Development Institute, National University of Singapore, and Tokyo Center for Economic Research. The seminar was held from June 24-25, 2011 at the National School of Development at Peking University, CCER, Beijing, China.
The Future of Life-Cycle Saving & Investing: Conference on Financial Education and Consumer Financial Protection, May 23 - 25, 2011 (BU, Boston)
Professor Joseph Cherian participated in the Boston University School of Management’s Conference on Financial Education and Consumer Financial Protection, sponsored in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Research Foundation of CFA Institute. Consumer Financial Protection and the Way Forward. He spoke and paneled in the session that discussed how financial instruments should be marketed to consumers, as well as regulated, so as to minimize the potential for harm to buyers, yet without stymieing innovation or creating incentives for regulatory arbitrage. In particular, as to whether suitability rules should be more stringent for financial products sold to less educated low- and middle-income households, and the role of the government in providing guaranteed, inflation-indexed products to retirees. While lax regulation may bear much responsibility for the subprime crisis, most observers at the conference agreed that consumer protection has not kept up with the rapid pace of innovations in financial products The conference was held at the BU School of Management located in Boston from May 23-25, 2011.
NUS Students' Fund (NUSSF) Financial Talk, 8 February 2011 (LT31, NUS)
Financial Planning for Beginners
Before we begin our careers and earn our first paycheck, it is important to know how to handle our money. How should we allocate our financial resources? What are the various ways to grow our wealth, and what are the risks involved? How should we invest our savings? We will be discussing the above questions during our talk, and how they apply to the lay person. After the talk, there will be a Q&A session and a time for personal interaction and questions with the Speaker. This is a Financial Talk on personal finance compulsory for applicants of NUSSF Bursary Awards & Book Grants. Professor Joseph Cherian, from NUS Business School, has been be invited to speak on the preparations one can make to be financially independent after graduation, and even start investing prudently for retirement. Prof Cherian is back this year to share his expertise and experience on financial management after the success of last year's financial seminar!
Click here to download the presentation by Professor Joseph Cherian.
FT Global Events, 2 November 2010 (Hilton Hotel, Singapore)
Enterprise Risk Management: Establishing Confidence As The Financial Crisis Continues
CAMRI’s Professor Joseph Cherian offered insights as a speaker at the fourth annual Enterprise Risk Management Thought Leadership Series, hosted by Financial Times Global Events in association with The Banker magazine and SAS, on 2 November 2010 in Singapore.
Click here to download the presentation by Professor Joseph Cherian
The NUS Business School - The Business Times CEO Luncheon Series, 25 February 2010 (Mochtar Riady Building, NUS Business School)
The Currency Dilemma - Media Coverage
The last quarter of 2009 saw the continuing fall of the US dollar. However, the US dollar seems to be strengthening in the early weeks of 2010. Where is the dollar headed? What is its impact on Asian currencies? Is holding the dollar a risky proposition? How should businesses react when facing dollar volatility? Are there structural adjustments that can be made so that the world economy can be more resilient? Over 60 CEOs were present to listen to our panel as our experts discussed and debated over these pressing questions.
NUS Students' Fund (NUSSF) Financial Talk, 22 January 2010 (LT27, NUS)
Financial Management: Theory & Practice
Before we begin our careers and earn our first paycheck, it is important to know how to handle our money. How should we allocate our financial resources? What are the various ways to grow our wealth, and what are the risks involved? How should we invest our savings? We will be discussing the above questions during our talk, and how they apply to the lay person. We will also be analyzing the job and investment opportunities in Asian financial markets. After the talk, there will be a Q&A session and a time for personal interaction and questions with the Speaker.
This is a Financial Talk on personal finance compulsory for applicants of NUSSF Bursary Award & Book Grants. Professor Joseph Cherian, from NUS Business School, has been be invited to speak on the preparations one can make to be financially independent after graduation.
Click here to download the presentation by Professor Joseph Cherian
An NUSBSA Business Mission: Trekking to Hong Kong, 26 -29 November 2009 (Hong Kong)
The Race to the Top
Who will emerge as the leading financial centre of Asia?
The latest Global Financial Centres Index, published by Financial Times, has 5 Asian cities on its Top 10 list. Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong are the cities to look out for. What will this mean for the crisis-stricken US economy? How will the West respond to the shifting of commercial centres? And which Asian city will come up tops? Professor Joseph Cherian of CAMRI will touch on these issues with a fresh and insightful perspective as well as provide an Asian market outlook for 2010 at NUS Business School Alumni dinner in Hong Kong on 27 November 2009.
Click here to download the presentation by Professor Joseph Cherian
Institutional Investor’s Asia & Middle East Government Funds Roundtable, 18 November 2009 (Raffles Hotel, Singapore)
Global Investing: Will Decoupling Last?
The emerging country stock markets have certainly stormed back faster than those of developed countries. But much depends on their ability to fuel their own economic growth and not be as dependent on trade surplus from the developed world. And if emerging markets offer the most promise, is it wiser to be an active or a passive index/ETF investor? Professor Joseph Cherian of CAMRI will serve as a panelist during the panel discussion covering global equity trends, active versus passive investments, decoupling, and the current challenges facing Asia and Middle East government funds.
FT Global Events, 12 November 2009 (Hilton Hotel, Singapore)
What Role Does Risk Management Now Play in Organizations and Who is Ultimately Responsible?
CAMRI’s Professor Joseph Cherian will offer insights as a panel speaker at the third Enterprise Risk Management Thought Leadership Series, hosted by FT Global Events in association with SAS, on 12 November 2009 in Singapore.