Breakfast Seminar & Year-End Function Cape Town 23 November 2011 MEMBERSHIP DRIVE When the Fund Just isn t Enough Are you prepared for any unspoken litigation risks? ACSIS Also on the programme: Challenges Posed by the Financial Crisis and a Changing Regulatory Environment, SIM Absolute Return Funds Are they for real? CADIZ Multi Asset Class Investments, ARGON NETWORKING WITH HELEN NICHOLSON Bring your trustee free of charge. If he or she joins the POA, we won't increase your membership fee on 1 March 2012. WHO IS BACK FROM THE NEW YORK MARATHON DATE: 23 November 2011 TIME: 12:30 to 16:15 (Registration starts at 11:30) VENUE: SIM Offices, 55 Willie van Schoor Ave, Bellville, Cape Town RSVP: Please scroll down for link to registration form. Please complete registration form and return QUERIES: Jabu Mngxekeza, (011) 805 6340, info@poa.org.za FEES: POA members, free / Non-members R400 pp What we offer members i Peer networking i Special conference rates i Updates on industry developments i Knowledgeable speakers
PROGRAMME Registration and lunch from 11:30 to 12:30 12:30 to 12:40 A WORD OF WELCOME Anne-Marie D Alton Chief Executive Officer, Principal Officers Association 12:40 to 13:20 ABSOLUTE RETURN FUNDS: ARE THEY FOR REAL? Francois van Wyk, Chief Investment Officer, Cadiz 13:20 to 14:00 CHALLENGES POSED BY THE FINANCIAL CRISIS AND A CHANGING REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT Chris Hamman Head of Fixed Interest, Sanlam Investment Management 14:00 to 14:20 TEA BREAK 14:20 to 15:00 MULTI ASSET CLASS INVESTMENTS Kyle Hulett Head of Multi Asset Class, Argon Asset Management 15:00 to 15:40 WHEN THE FUND JUST ISN T ENOUGH Martin Poole Senior asset consultants, Acsis 15:40 to 16:15 FUN ACTIVITY 16:15 CLOSURE MORE ABOUT THE CONTENT AND SPEAKERS
Absolute Return Funds Are they for real? How do funds cope best with increased short-term risk? And can they meet these challenges without compromising long-term fund objectives? Market volatility has picked up with increased globalization. The speeding up of the economic cycle is a factor which contributes towards volatility, together with other features, like faster information flow thanks to technology. Given the current speed, is there still a place for absolute return funds? Our speaker asks whether they added value during the last decade and considers their ability to help funds cope better with greater short-term risk. Francois van Wyk Chief Investment Officer, Cadiz After beginning his career as an agricultural economist, Francois became a portfolio manager for Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank and then Nedcor Investment Bank. Thereafter he joined Sanlam Investment Management in 1999. He was promoted to head of equities in 2001 and assumed responsibility for the alternative investment unit in the following year. In August 2003 Francois was appointed senior portfolio manager of Sanlam Private Investments. During his career at Sanlam Francois led the portfolio management team in turning around equity performance in 2002 after a few years of poor performance. He received a Raging Bull Award for the top performing industrial unit trust and was responsible for the establishment of the alternative investment unit in 2002. Francois joined Cadiz Asset Management in July 2005 as its Chief Investment Officer. He has a B Sc (Hons) (Agr) degree and an MBA degree.
Challenges posed by the financial crisis and a changing regulatory environment The financial history of the past 100 years is littered with notable financial and economic crises. Whereas most people are familiar with the great depression of the early 30 s, few know that in 1907 there was a banking crisis in the US. During the 1970 s the gold standard collapsed, and there were two energy crises in that decade as well. During the 80 s the savings and loans crisis occurred in the US, there was a banking crisis in northern Europe and who will ever forget the 1987 stock market crash? Then, about 12 years ago the IT bubble burst and very recently it was the turn of the US (and global!) housing bubble to burst. In many ways these events shaped our financial history as governments changed policies in response to the implications of severe financial distress for the political economy. Changing policies impacted on the regulatory environment, the mobility of capital and the level of real interest rates. These variables matter to investors and this time it might not be different! This presentation therefore aims to identity the lessons we may learn from the past 100 years of financial history, particularly from the perspective of the fixed interest markets. Chris Hamman Head of Fixed Interest Investments, SIM Chris was appointed as a Fixed Interest portfolio manager at SIM in 2003 and became the Head of Fixed Interest Investments in 2010. In this role he manages both institutional and retail portfolios with a market value of more than R105bn. While the team specializes in the South African fixed interest market, it also manages investments in Europe, Namibia and the UK.
Before joining Gensec as an Investment Economist in 1999, Chris was a member of the Macroeconomic Policy Unit at the South African National Treasury. Chris holds an MA in Economics (with distinction) from the University of the Orange Free State and an MSc in Finance (with merit) from the University of London. Multi Asset Class Investments What worked well before won t work anymore The world currently stands at the turning point of a number of long-term cycles. Although markets have been driven by short-term cycles in the past, there has been a shift in the balance of power (from West to East) and a rise in the strength of commodities. These factors have contributed towards a rise in volatility and an accompanying fall in expected returns. We now need to apply a different methodology from what went before. Kyle Hulett Head of Multi Asset Class, Argon Kyle has over 11 years of investment experience and is an accomplished money manager. He brings great experience from well established and highly reputable industry players where he occupied portfolio management roles in the absolute return space. Kyle has a B Bus Sc (Actuarial Science) degree from the University of Cape Town and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries (UK) and a CFA. When the fund just isn t enough
Are you prepared for any unspoken litigation risk? Our speaker helps us identify fund members whose benefit may prove to be inadequate, owing to their age, target return, contribution level or level of funding. As the Principal Officer of a retirement fund it is important for you to help your members spot the danger if they haven t saved enough. The ever-present risk of not retiring safely could mean that one of your members will claim (and possibly prove) that they were never told that the fund would not be enough for their needs. Unlike retirement annuities where there is no employer-employee relationship, a standalone or occupational fund implies a paternal relationship between the fund and its members. Do your members assume that the fund will look after them when they retire? Do you have a record of having told them that this might not be the case? And could it be that your life-stage model is inducing members to invest more conservatively than they ought to be? There are some simple calculations you could use to help prevent the scenario of a fund member retiring with an inadequate benefit. Martin Poole Senior Asset Consultant: acsis Martin has a background in Physics and he completed his Masters degree in 2002. Subsequently he focused on financial analysis, working on revenue and demand forecasting for Telkom SA before moving to acsis to assist the financial planning community with systems, financial planning and technical queries and advice. Since completing his Post-graduate Diploma in Financial Planning in 2007, he has been practising his passion for asset consulting. Martin is a charter holder of both the CFA and CFP qualifications. Click here for the registration form and join us for an educational value-add
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