Inside the CFA Conference 2017
The annual CFA Conference is the foremost meeting of minds from the financial services, wealth management, economics and investment industries in the world. For over 70 years this prestigious event has offered practitioners the opportunity to connect, learn and discuss the latest research and thinking from some of the brightest minds and the most experienced, hallowed professionals of our time. It is the largest and longest running investment conference of its kind, attracting as many as 2000 delegates from over 70 countries and territories.
This year the event, which traverses the financial centres of the world, was hosted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from the 21st to the 24th of May. Our CEO and founder, Mark Thompson, was in attendance along with three of our senior advisors Digby Brown, Levon Jacobs and Andrew Schuster. It’s a pilgrimage Mark has made annually since 2011.
We have written a series of articles, hosted on the Southern Charter blog, in efforts to bring this cutting edge, current information straight to you. Out of an incredible array of topics and highly qualified speakers, we've focused in-depth on:
Behavioural Economist Richard Thaler’s “Choice Architecture in financial decision-making”
Nobel Laurette Robert Schiller and Jeremy J. Siegel offering “Investment wisdom from the masters: Risks and relative values in a diversified global portfolio”
Jon C. Bogle, Founder of the Vanguard Group’s “A new era for finance and financial markets”
Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Paul Tucker’s look at “Systemic Risk: Are world financial markets still vulnerable, and where?”
Goldman Sachs’ senior investment strategist, Abby Cohen, on “The outlook for the global economy and financial markets”
In our rapidly changing world, as the global political and financial landscape shifts under our feet; monetary policy and regulatory changes redefine the way that we work and live; and technology continues to disrupt – and improve – the financial services and investment capabilities we have, the investment profession is entering a new era of sorts.
This is one of the reasons we believe it is so important to remain at the forefront of these shifts and innovations, in order to continue to offer you, our clients, high quality, internationally competitive services and results in a changing and complex climate.
As Mark says, “The CFA mandate is an ethical global standard which all investment professionals should follow, particularly in terms of always placing the client first and acting in their best interests. It’s a privilege to get to sit in on these discussions. The conference is a collection of the most incredible thinkers in a concentrated period of four days. It’s intense. And, it’s not uncommon to have two Nobel laureates and everyone from the most successful investors, academics, wealth managers and analysts to the Bob Geldoff’s of the world, offering you the best in business and investment strategy, philanthropy and research”.
“I always come back with fresh ideas from a global perspective. When you’re operating in such a global and interconnected world, like we are, you have to be in touch with what’s happening all around the world, constantly.”
Take a moment to browse through this interesting array of speakers and topics and enjoy experiencing the CFA Conference first hand.
