Opportunities in Emerging Markets Today, a Sweet Spot for Quants

Join us May 27th as BCA Research’s strategist, Mathieu Savary discusses the cycles in the time of COVID-19. Discussion highlights will include:

· The global economy will contract at its fastest pace since the early 1930s, but will not slump into a depression.
· Easy monetary conditions, an extremely expansive fiscal policy, and robust bank and household balance sheets are crucial to the economic outlook.
· Risk assets remain attractive.
· The dollar and bonds will soon move from bull to bear markets.
· The credit market offers some attractive opportunities.
· Stocks are vulnerable to short-term profit-taking, but the cyclical outlook remains bright.
· Favor energy and consumer discretionary equities.

The indications are that, in the long-term, investors will continue to look to the alternative asset classes to achieve better returns, capture new opportunities, protect assets and diversify portfolios – but there are clear challenges on the horizon when it comes to alternative fund structuring and domiciliation decisions.

Various obstacles, from market access, regulation, cost and asset valuations as well as the significant fallout of the coronavirus pandemic this year, are all making the alternatives landscape much more complex and look set to have a major impact on private equity and real estate deal completion and structuring. As a result, managers are weighing up their options and fund domiciles are having to respond appropriately and innovatively.

Please join us for this webinar, where Elliot Refson, Director of Funds at Jersey Finance, will explore current trends in the alternatives space alongside other private equity and real estate fund experts and discuss key issues such as tax neutrality, AIFMD and global fund distribution through to substance, tax, regulation and reporting.

Panelists will also examine how Jersey has responded to recent regulatory initiatives, such as BEPS and changes to non-resident Capital Gains Tax for UK real estate holdings, how IFCs are innovating in a changing environment, and what the future might hold for private equity and real estate professionals.

Panelists include:

•Tim Morgan, Partner, Mourant Ozannes
•Mike Byrne, Partner, PwC
•Emily Haithwaite, Partner, Ogier

Following the 2008 financial crisis, firms allocated considerable resource to meet regulators’ requirements. As well as giving consumers greater protection, a major aim of post-2008 regulation was to make the financial system stable and more robust. Now, with the financial shock caused by Covid-19, panellists will discuss whether they think the regulatory efforts have been effective in mitigating the current crisis.

Speakers include:
•Nick Fitzpatrick, Group Editor, Funds Europe & Funds Global (Moderator)
•Pat Lardner, Chief Executive, Irish Funds
•Yvonne Connolly, CEO Ireland, Carne Group
•Philip Dempsey, Country Head Ireland, Sanne Group
•Rachel Turner, EMEA Head of Investment Managers & Insurance, BNY Mellon

Some of the topics covered and questions asked will include:

•How are fund boards and designated persons expected to respond to the
Covid-19 emergency and what can they expect from regulators and
outsourcing partners as Ireland and other relevant jurisdictions operate under
lockdown?
•How can funds and service providers support ongoing regulatory requirements
arising from 2008 as well as additional ones created by the current situation.
•ESMA’s recently recommendations to market participants that covered issues
such as business continuity planning, risk management, and reporting on short
positions.
•The requirement for funds with high PRISM ratings to report daily on certain
risks, such as liquidity, valuations and cybersecurity.
•How safe would it be for the funds industry to expect some leniency or flexibility
from regulators at this time, and in what areas?

CAMRADATA Live has changed significantly over the last 18mths and we now offer so much more to asset managers within their existing subscription. As some managers may not be aware of all these benefits, CAMRADATA will be hosting a live webinar to demonstrate the value added functionalities now available to you, listed below:



The Knowledge Bank – populate all your thought leadership to The Knowledge Bank at no additional cost.


Manager Search Activity Report - our new detailed quarterly asset manager search activity report provides a deeper analysis on the search activity in CAMRADATA Live.


On-Line Analytical Tools – our Peer Group Reporting and IQ Reporting tools are now available as part of your subscription.


On-Line Manager Directory – be listed in our on-line manager directory providing quicker and easier access to all your information.


Unlimited Logins – Logins now available for anyone within your firm at no additional cost.

CAMRADATA Live has changed significantly over the last 12mths and we now offer so much more to institutional investors. As the rules around governance get tighter, CAMRADATA Live offers pension funds, consultants and insurers, an independent way to have more informed discussions with one another regarding their asset managers’ capabilities and performance.



As some investors may not be aware of these benefits, CAMRADATA will be hosting a live webinar to demonstrate the value added functionality available to you, listed below:



Access to CAMRADATA Live - our online manager research database of over 700 asset managers and 5,000 strategies. Access is provided at no charge to institutional investors and is both independent and anonymous; allowing you to monitor and manage changes with existing, or potential new managers, on an ongoing basis. This now includes new Private Markets strategies and ESG questions.


Assisted Search Service – CAMRADATA provides an Assisted Search service for any investor looking to assign a mandate or conduct research into a particular asset class. We do not provide advice, but will facilitate the collection of data and provide specific reports directly to the investor for review.


On-Line Analytical Tools – our Peer Group Reporting and IQ Reporting tools are now available to all institutional investors; allowing you to run as many reports as often as you like on an automated basis. This not only provides a way to monitor managers performance on a quarterly basis at no additional cost, but also provides you with an audit trail.


The Knowledge Bank – an opportunity to access thought leadership, whitepapers, research, via The Knowledge Bank.


Unlimited Logins – you can request logins to CAMRADATA Live for anyone within your firm providing they are an institutional investor, including but not limited to your finance team, trustee board, manager research and pension fund teams.

Despite the current global environment of extreme market volatility amid numerous geopolitical and macroeconomic issues, emerging markets remain intriguing for institutional investors looking to add a compelling and low-correlation component to their portfolio.

Join our webinar on March 10, when Arup Datta, Head of Global Quantitative Equity Team at Mackenzie Investments, will share his expert insights, from the perspective of a disciplined, risk-aware quantitative investor, on emerging market trends.

Arup Datta has more than 27 years of experience in quant equity investing, with significant exposure to emerging markets. While there are additional layers of complexity to consider when investing in emerging markets, he can help investors navigate this challenging space to enhance their potential for generating alpha.

In this webinar, Arup Datta will:

• Compare quant and fundamental approaches to emerging market investing and why he favours a quant approach to uncover specific opportunities in emerging markets.

• Highlight his team’s approach to quant investing, with its focus on alpha over asset gathering, and how they are well-positioned to thrive in today’s emerging markets.

• Shed light on why it’s particularly attractive to invest in emerging markets now, as they remain a relatively overlooked or misunderstood category by many institutional investors.

This webinar will give viewers the chance to ask the hard unanswered questions on SFTR reporting to a panel of experts. The webinar agenda will be created by the viewers. Register and we will build the conversation around your questions. You will also get a chance to ask questions live to the panellists and participate in a series of polls with your peers to benchmark your preparations for SFTR against the rest of the industry.

Get your questions answered. Submit a question on this link
https://www2.lseg.com/SFTR-Ask-The-Expert-Question-Submission

Host:
• Leonard Ng – Partner, Sidley Austin LLP

Expert Panel:
• David Broadway – Investment Operations Lead at The Investment Association
• James Stacey – Regulatory Business Analyst at LCH
• Catherine Talks – Product Manager, UnaVista at London Stock Exchange
• Que Phuong Dufournet-Tran – Director, Trading Services & Analytics, Regulatory Affairs at IHS Markit

Explore the tougher rules on investment governance affecting trustees’ responsibilities going forwards.

From December 2019, trustees are legally required to run competitive tender processes to recruit fiduciary managers. Trustees will also be required to set strategic objectives for consultants, so they can measure whether the service is good value for money.

Whether trustees are using a fiduciary management or investment consultancy advisory governance model; trustees are responsible for monitoring asset performance. This is also one way to measure whether the service has been good value for money.

But how do trustees monitor this on an independent basis? And without using resource and time? CAMRADATA will provide information on how we are currently working with institutional investors and discuss some of the reports that are available to all trustees to help them monitor performance on an independent, ongoing and automated basis, to help meet these new requirements.

Managing and mitigating the impact of currency volatility in global investments – both at the portfolio and investor level - can help drive better performance outcomes and attract additional investor flows. However, the process can be time-consuming and complex leading to additional risk and cost pressures. As asset managers and asset owners grapple with unprecedented industry challenges from multiple sources, many are evaluating their options to access external support and expertise for their currency management needs. But what are the factors to consider when delegating elements of this key function to a third party?

Join our webinar on January 30th, when Northern Trust’s Head of Currency Management Global Foreign Exchange, Andy Lemon and Lumint Corporation’s CEO, Alex Dunegan, will discuss the key issues shaping the global currency management industry including:

• Mounting pressures from escalating regulatory and compliance challenges, technology costs and operational complexity
• The continued squeeze on cost margins, demand for product scalability and strong focus on accountability and oversight
• Why these industry challenges are driving many to consider consolidation and / or delegation to a third party
• Insights into key considerations and the increasingly sophisticated solutions available
• What’s in store for currency management in 2020

UnaVista and Delta Capita discuss the importance of testing as a way of preparing for reporting obligations under this important upcoming regulation.

The webinar provides an insight into the market issues today and a detailed exam of industry standards-based testing, the benefits of that approach and a number of best practice examples.

Key points include:
• SFTR challenges for the buy-side
• What is a test pack?
• Testing approach: traceability and best practices
• How this benefits the buy-side
• Q&A

Our panel of experts also discussed quick polls and answered audience questions during the webinar and at the Q&A session.

• Host: Marcus Jeffery, Global Head of Pre-Sales, Director, UnaVista at London Stock Exchange Group
Expert Panel:
• David Field, Head of Prime Services & Securities Finance, Delta Capita
• Tom Wieczorek, Managing Director, Global Product Management, UnaVista at London Stock Exchange Group

The webinar recording is available to you to view on-demand and share via the same link.

Income can be hard to find, particularly in Europe where yields remain low. Interest rates on US sovereign bonds have declined from a high of 9% in the 1990’s to approximately 2%.1 In this backdrop, high dividend strategies may be able to help investors seek income.

Join iShares and MSCI to find out more about how quality dividends can help strengthen your income.

Speakers:

• Athina Georgopoulou, iShares EMEA Smart Beta Strategist, BlackRock

• Jean-Maurice Ladure, Executive Director, Head of Equity Solutions Research, MSCI

Firms are finally embracing digital technologies, from appointing chief digital officers, launching Al initiatives, to piloting blockchain proof of concepts. But the time will soon come when these projects will have to show practical results.

Hear Milestone Group’s Chairman and President of North America, Geoff Hodge and CTO Phil Davies discuss how digitalization is poised to transform the global funds management and administration landscape.

The webinar will cover:
What is digitalization
Why it will transform current operating models
When will we see it impact current technology plans
How to prepare to take advantage of digitalization

In this webinar, we'll be discussing the process around SFTR, from execution through clearing to reporting. We will have a panel of experts from UnaVista, MTS and LCH that come together to explain their approach to SFTR, some of the key challenges as well as solutions that can simplify reporting obligations and reduce the burden on clients’ internal infrastructure.

• Host: Marcus Jeffery, Global Head of Pre-Sales, Director, UnaVista at London Stock Exchange Group
Expert Panel:
• Tom Harry, Product Manager, Regulatory Specialist, MTS at London Stock Exchange Group
• James Stacey, Regulatory Business Analyst, LCH
• Catherine Talks, Product Manager, UnaVista at London Stock Exchange Group

In our latest webinar, we are focusing on the Assessment of Value ruling. We will be covering a variety of very important questions, which at times could bring ambiguity into the implementation process:

-What is value, how does a firm define it, and how is it measured?
-What challenges will a fund company face when trying to devise metrics to measure value, including on-boarding new INEDs, evaluation of funds versus peers/benchmarks?
-What actions can and should be taken if a fund’s value is called into question? (what if a fund isn’t providing value)
-What is the outcome of the value review for the INEDs, management, and the end investor?

We welcome your questions, comments and feedback following the conclusion of this webinar. Our goal is to help inform you as you move forward with implementing your company’s Assessment of Value process.

As part of their SFTR preparation process, many firms in the industry will need to know more about their clients in order to prepare adequate plans in place ahead of the deadline in advance of this important regulation.

Having a structured approach can, no doubt, help financial institutions to achieve an effective client outreach process necessitated by new regulatory compliance obligations, such as, in this case, SFTR, ensuring a fully tracked, efficient and client-centric approach to collecting data and documentation.

In this webinar, UnaVista and Broadridge come together to discuss 5 key components of that outreach that are critical but can sometimes get overlooked, including:

• How to get the required reference data (LEI, ISINs)?
• Who will generate UTI?
• Are they small non-financial counterparties (NFC-)?
• Do they have a non-EEA reporting obligation?
• Agreeing on the workflow

Our panel of experts will also discuss quick polls and answer any audience questions during the live webinar and real-time Q&A session.

11 September 2019 at 3.00pm London | 4.00pm Paris | 10.00am New York

Even if you cannot attend on the date, we encourage you to register anyway. The webinar will be recorded and we’ll make the link available to all registrants who are unable to join us live.

Expert Panel:
• Catherine Talks, Product Manager, UnaVista | London Stock Exchange Group; and
• Dean Bruyns, Senior Product Manager, Message Automation | Broadridge Financial Solutions.

Hosted by: UnaVista | London Stock Exchange Group

European investors are on the global frontline when it comes to incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) characteristics into investment decisions and are using ETFs as the default way to access markets in a sustainable way. This is just one of many trends helping fuel robust growth in ETF allocations among the institutional funds, asset managers, insurance companies, and discretionary wealth managers.

Join iShares and MSCI for a lively discussion around ESG investing and the index insights you need to know when implementing ESG into your portfolios.

Given the complex nature of reporting requirements for security financing transactions and how these relate to cleared trades under SFTR many firms will struggle to prepare for the right level of reporting. There are ways to simplify the process and ensure help is available especially to firms clearing through LCH’s RepoClear that can be offered assisted reporting for SFTR.

In this webinar, we'll be discussing some of the key factors, challenges and critical issues as well as LCH’s collaboration with UnaVista that will significantly simplify reporting obligations under SFTR for RepoClear members. UnaVista has a proven track record of partnering with the industry to reduce the burden on clients’ internal infrastructure.

• Host: Mark Husler, CEO, UnaVista at London Stock Exchange Group
• UnaVista speaker: Tom Wieczorek, MD Global Product Management, UnaVista at London Stock Exchange Group
• Guest presenter: James Stacey, Regulatory Business Analyst, LCH

2019 has continued with the funds industry facing unprecedented pressures – with economic, commercial and regulatory factors calling into question some existing operating models. Whilst these stresses present a challenge – when it comes to the trading desk, outsourcing is beginning to be seen as an increasingly compelling opportunity. Is it time for asset managers to re-evaluate outsourced trading solutions?