Institutional Portfolio Management (Cancelled)

Many theoretical building blocks underpinning the history of Portfolio Management have been sorely tested in recent years. Are Markets ’Efficient’? Do we live in a statistically ‘Normal’ world? What happened to ‘Risk Free Rates of Return’? These important issues will be addressed, from a practical perspective, to understand how today’s Managers deal with such challenges.

Purpose of the Seminar

Understanding how Portfolio Managers navigate the Financial Markets is key to this programme. The management of Investor expectation is as important as the management of their funds.

• Efficient Markets – Are they? Are Investors rational?
• Behavioural Finance & its impact on current thinking
• Performance Measurement & Attribution (Excel tool)
• Trading or Investing? A look at Share Turnover Velocities
• Beta and the search for Alpha – The Fund Manager’s holy grail. Smart Beta
• What is the Equity Risk Premium? The lessons of history; a guide for the future?
• Investing in Bonds. What happened to risk free Sovereigns?
• The problems unique to Pension Funds – Demographics & Future Liabilities
• Investing in Equities – The risky Asset Class
• What exactly comprises ‘Alternative’ Investments?
• Diversification vs Correlation. How much does Asset Allocation matter?
• Exchange Traded Funds – the new Investing paradigm
• Volatility – Statistical probability and the dispersion of returns
• Do we live in a ‘Normal’ world?
• Fat Tails in Finance & Black Swans explained
• Sharpe Ratios – Risk adjusted performance measurement
• Portfolio Optimisation and rebalancing (Excel tool)
• Using Derivatives in Portfolio Management

Instructor: Paul Meadows

Paul started his Investment Management career at Royal Insurance in 1983. Following successful completion of the Society of Investment Analysts Associateship, Paul joined the small team managing Royal’s in-house long term UK Equity portfolios. In 1990, following the lifting of exchange controls in Stockholm, he joined the Swedish insurer Trygg-Hansa’s London start-up operation to manage its UK Equity exposure.

In 1994 Paul moved into the Private Client arena, as part of the Investment Unit of Lloyds Private Banking & over a two year period diversified away from an exclusive analytical/Fund Management role to incorporate an extensive presentational package on the Bank’s investment strategy delivered ‘on the road’ to its network of offices around the country. In 1996 Paul took the opportunity offered by the Bermuda-domiciled Bank of Butterfield to head up the global Equity research effort in London in support of the Bank’s (offshore) private client base. While his freelance financial training commitments grew, Paul had a spell with an international high-risk security company analysing the operations of quoted oil & mining corporates worldwide. In 2000 Paul moved into full time training with DC Gardner, the in-house tailored training arm of Euromoney Institutional Investor, specialising in Fund Management, Equity Markets, Private Banking & Hedge Funds.