Investment Management School
A 9-day intermediate financial training course designed to equip investment professionals with practical know-how of new approaches and new asset classes for today's investment conditions.
Course dates
Whether you are involved in investing in domestic markets internationally, for institutions, pension-holders or private clients, this Euromoney Training course offers the opportunity for you to advance your real-world investing skills through structured study, group exercises and investment simulations. This programme will ensure that upon completion of the course you will be able to apply your new practical skills to real-world investing activities, with the ultimate objective of enhancing returns, reducing risks, as well as attracting and retaining investors.
How will this course will assist you?
On Completion of this 9-day course, you will be able to:
- Devise asset allocation strategies for a post-credit crunch environment
- Alpha analysis and information ratios in theory and practice
- Learn and apply the principles of Post-modern portfolio theory
- Construct superior equity portfolios using behavioural finance theory
- Reassess hedge fund investing in light of recent events
- Learn how to implement portable alpha strategies via practical applications
- Assess the opportunities offered by emerging alternative assets
- Develop frameworks to accommodate real and tangible assets in portfolios
Who Should Attend
- Portfolio / Fund/ Asset Managers
- Investment Analysts / Advisors / Strategists
- Private Bankers / Investors
- Heads of Investment
- Pension Fund / Trustee Managers
- Regulators, Auditors and Actuaries
- Securities Salespersons
Day 1
Quantitative background and tools to enhance the investment process
Post-modern portfolio theory
Information ratios and opportunity sets
In search of alpha
- Defining alpha
- Ex-ante and ex-post-alpha
- Sources of alpha
- Techniques for forecasting alpha
- Alpha analysis
- Alpha and portfolio construction
- Refined alpha
- Alpha and residual risk
- T-statistics, information ratios and information co-efficients
Case study: develop a framework for deriving alpha forecasts that can be applied.
Global Asset Allocation Simulation
Day 2
Asset allocation in a post credit-crunch environment
Asset allocation theory
- Components of expected return
- Forecasting asset class expected returns
- The covariance and correlation matrix
- How useful is correlation in today’s environment?
- Building optimal portfolios
- Importance of the Benchmark and policy portfolio
- Historical equity and bond risk premia
- Where has the equity rate premium disappeared to?
Case study: asset allocation theory. Delegates will apply asset allocation theory to explain a number of high profile asset allocation moves by institutional money managers
Strategic and tactical asset allocation – constrained and unconstrained
- A comparison of the different approaches to asset allocation
- Strategic, tactical, integrated and insured approaches
- The Yale Endowment Model
- Core / Satellite approaches
- Unconstrained approaches
- Defining the dimensions of unconstrained and tactical asset allocation frameworks
- Tactical asset allocation, tactical style allocation and credit yield spreads
- New approaches to the asset allocation decision
Case study: develop a benchmark timing and composite tactical asset allocation framework to help reduce the risks to this important decision.
Asset mix rebalancing
- What is rebalancing and why do it?
- A comparison of the different approaches to rebalancing
- Buy-and-hold
- Constant mix
- Constant proportion portfolio insurance – CPPI
- Options based portfolio insurance – OBPI
Case study: style investing was a hot topic at the peak of the last cycle and examine a number of new approaches to the important issue of equity style management in portfolios.
Global asset allocation simulation
Day 3
Reassessing the investment case for real estate
Introduction: the product
- Investment characteristics of real estate
- What has changed?
- What is changing?
- Performance drivers
How much in real estate?
- Risk and return
- Diversification
- Modern portfolio theory and real estate
- Why international?
Exercise: using optimisation – how much in property?
How to invest in real estate: direct vs. indirect; public vs. private
- Available vehicles
- Open ended vs. closed ended vehicles
- Private vehicles vs. quoted property stocks
- Investor preferences
- Derivatives
Case study: using indirect vehicles for international exposure - a model for the direct market.
- Investment models and valuation
- Income
- Yield, RFR
- Rent, demand and supply
- Forecasting returns
- A property return model
- Opportunities in the public markets
- Commercial mortgage backed securities
- European real-estate investment trusts
Exercise: international appraisal approaches.
Day 4
Portable alpha and dynamic portfolio approaches
Asset and liability issues
- The global pensions crisis – European, UK and US perspectives
- The rising costs of funding pension schemes
- The importance of the pension fund to corporate balance sheets
- The relationship between pension assets and liabilities
- Measuring and modelling a pension liability
- Impact of liabilities on investment strategy
- Liabilities and funding strategy
- Pension surplus and the risk-adjusted change in surplus
- Current issues in asset / liability modelling
Case study: assessing the impact of liabilities on a pension fund’s investment strategy – The case of The Boot’s PLC Pension Fund
Dynamic portfolio approaches
- Dynamic portfolio analysis with assets and liabilities
- Developing a strategic benchmark in an asset / liability framework
- Portfolio optimisation with drawdown constraints
- Global equity and bond investing for pension funds
- The absolute vs. relative return decision for a pension fund
- Dynamic investment approaches
- Liability matching strategies - duration matching and cashflow matching
- Strategies with upside - dynamic contingent optimization and portable alpha
- Limiting the sponsor risk - absolute return and liability hedging
- Generating real returns - new asset classes and real alpha
Key case study: asset allocation and fund manager selection.
- Delegates will analyse the case of a pension fund with an asset / liability mismatch and a corresponding inappropriate asset allocation policy. You will be required to perform the following tasks:
- Analyse the potential impact of the pension deficit on the company’s balance sheet
- Analyse the impact of the fund’s liabilities on overall investment strategy
- Devise an appropriate funding strategy
- Devise an appropriate strategic benchmark and asset allocation for the fund
- Develop an appropriate investment philosophy for the fund
- Appoint external managers for the fund
Portable Alpha in Theory and Practice
- What is portable alpha and how does it work
- The components of a portable alpha strategy
- Alpha-beta separation
- Portable alpha and asset allocation
- Portable alpha in a world of low returns
- Portable alpha implementation
Global Asset Allocation Simulation
Day 5
Hedge funds, private equity and commodities : broken promises and busted flushes
Myth versus reality in the hedge fund world
- Are hedge funds a busted flush and what does the future hold?
- Are hedge funds even a stand-alone asset class
- Why hedge funds should never have been sold as absolute return vehicles
- Cause and effects of the hedge fund implosion
- Separating alpha from beta in the hedge fund space
- Revisiting the drivers of hedge fund returns
- Do hedge fund-of-funds have a future in light of recent events?
- Implications of external regulation on the hedge fund industry
Outlook for hedge fund strategies in a post-credit crunch world
- Relative Value strategies
- Opportunistic strategies
- Event Driven strategies
- Global Macro strategies
Case study: hedge funds in the new environment
Private equity - revisiting the investment case
- Characteristics of private equity as an asset class
- The different routes to investing in private equity
- The drivers of private equity returns
- The J-curve of a private equity investment
- How do private equity managers add value
- How will private equity perform in a credit constrained environment
- Can private equity outperform public equity without the use of leverage?
Case study: Private equity
Commodities – Desmond Fitzgerald
- Commodities as an asset class
- Risk, return and correlation characteristics of commodity markets
- Overview of major commodity markets
- Should commodities be considered a strategic or a tactical asset class?
- Is the bull argument for commodities still in place?
Case study: assess and select a number of hedge fund manager profiles and rank them against pre-defined qualitative and quantitative criteria.
Global asset allocation simulation
Day 6
Case study work
Day 7
Behavioural finance, style management and performance attribution and analysis
Introducing behavioural finance
- What is behavioural finance
- Efficient market hypothesis and behavioural finance
- What can behavioural finance teach us about investing
- Systematic errors in investment thinking
- The major foundations of behavioural finance theory: Limited arbitrage and investor sentiment
Common behavioural finance traits
- Framing and Coding
- Over-confidence
- Over-reaction bias
- Myopic loss aversion
Case study: Behavioural finance Delegates will examine recent asset bubbles and subsequent crashes and explain both phenomena using the precepts of behavioural finance
Style allocation and style management
- What is style management and why do it?
- Growth/Value betas and alphas
- Extremes in growth and value stocks
- Growth/Value barbell portfolios
- What drives style cycles
- Style and expectations formation in the equity markets
Case study: Style allocation and style management
Performance Attribution and Analysis
- The skill / luck matrix
- Standard error of the information ratio
- Cross sectional comparison performance
- Returns-based performance analysis
- Components of investment performance
- Performance attribution analysis
- Risk adjusted performance analysis and measurement
- Sharpe ratio
- Sortino ratio
- Treynor measure
- Jensen measure
- Fama measure
Global Asset Allocation Simulation
Day 8
Emerging alternative investments
Environmental and alternative energy
- Overview of the economics of climate change
- Factors driving the growing appetite for environmental assets
- Ways to invest in environmental assets
- Venture capital funding of clean tech companies
- Carbon as an asset class
- The basics of carbon emissions trading
- Biofuels
- Solar and wind installation
- The reemergence of nuclear
Case study: Playing the environmental theme.
Infrastructure, forestry and farmland
- What are infrastructure assets
- Key factors behind the emergence of infrastructure assets
- Characteristics of infrastructure assets
- The debt market for private infrastructure financing
- The impact of the credit crunch on the outlook for infrastructure investing
- Characteristics of forestry and farmland as an asset class
- The investment case for forestry and farmland
- Determinants of forestry and farmland returns
- Tax efficiency of forestry and farmland as asset classes
- The risks of investing in forestry and farmland
Case study: Incorporating infrastructure, forestry and farmland into an asset allocation policy.
Emotional assets
- What are emotional assets?
- The long term case for investing in emotional assets
- Risk, return and correlation characteristics of this unique asset class
- Are these assets suitable for institutional investors?
- Revisiting the British Rail Pension Fund
Case study: assess the merits and demerits of a range of equity portfolio construction techniques.
Day 9
Strategic Issues facing the fund management industry
Top performing investment teams and creative collaboration for investment professionals
- The markets are an expensive place to discover your personality
- Do top investment professionals share common traits?
- Carrying out a self-diagnosis
- Teamwork in today’s investment environment
- Collaborative techniques for investment teams
- Enhancing the creativity of investment teams
Guest Speaker – Dr. Amin Rajan
Forming and managing the ‘Top Investment Team’
Creating an information advantage
- Information and active portfolio management
- Information analysis and transforming information into portfolios
- The information horizon and the shelf life of information
- Different types of active forecast
- Consensus expected returns and naïve forecasts
- Refined forecasts: forecasting rules of thumb
- T-statistics, information ratios and information coefficients
- Data mining and information analysis
Case study: assess the value-added of information from various sources and how it can be integrated into the investment process.
Performance attribution and analysis
- The skill / luck matrix
- Standard error of the information ratio
- Cross sectional comparison performance
- Returns-based performance analysis
- Statistical and investment theory refinements
- Portfolio based performance analysis
- Components of investment performance
- Performance attribution analysis
- Risk adjusted performance analysis and measurement
- Sharpe ratio
- Sortino ratio
- Treynor measure
- Jensen measure
- Fama measure
Case study: assess the merits of how and when to apply different performance measures to a range of equity portfolios.
Central London Hotel, London, United Kingdom
This programme takes place on a non-residential basis at a central London hotel. Non-residential course fees include training facilities, documentation, lunches and refreshements for the duration of the programme. Delegates are responsible for arranging their own accommodation, however, prior to the course the delegate will receive full Joining Instructions which will detail how to book accommodation close to the training venue. Alternatively delegates can visit www.euromoneytraining.com/accommodation to view a list of preferred hotels in Central London.
As with all Euromoney Training programmes on-site administrators will be with you at the beginning of the programme to ensure smooth administration and group interaction.
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Bernard Duffy
Bernard Duffy began his investment management career with Abbey Life in Dublin before moving to London in 1985 to work for Irish Life Assurance.
At Irish Life, Bernard was responsible for investment product marketing and new fund launches.
Bernard then joined County Bank as Research and Development Executive in the unit trust division.
He was then appointed head of the North American equity desk responsible for the day to day management of a successful unit trust fund.
Bernard now specialises in the design and delivery of training courses on all aspects of private banking, investment management, equity and fixed income analysis. He has undertaken numerous assignments throughout the USA, Europe and Asia for clients such as ABN AMRO , Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Investment Management.
Bernard has a B.A.(Hons) in Economics and Politics, an M.A. in Development Economics and an M.B.A. in Finance from the City University Business School. Bernard has written papers on emerging competencies for the private banking and fund management industries.
Courses run by this instructor
Interested in holding this course in-house? Please fill out your details and a member of our team will be in touch with more information.
1-5 Nov 2010 (London, United Kingdom)
16-20 May 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
14-18 Nov 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
An intensive 5-day residential training course for risk management professionals in banks, corporate treasuries, and financial institutions covers; The broad scope of risk management, including Basel II regulations; The reporting of market risk using both traditional and modern approaches; The alternative approaches to credit modelling a portfolio; How operational risk is being managed and measured; The effectiveness of cross-sector risk transfer
25-29 Oct 2010 (London, United Kingdom)
4-8 Apr 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
10-14 Oct 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
A 5 day practical "how to" financial training course taught by an internationally renowned corporate finance expert. The course takes you through all the forms of Corporate Finance from M&A to IPO's to LBO's. Strategy, structuring and valuation are key themes throughout, and upon return to your organisation you will be fully prepared to put your learning into practice.
29 Nov 2010 - 3 Dec 2010 (London, United Kingdom)
6-10 Jun 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
12-16 Dec 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
A 5-day course, giving a practical viewpoint of all aspects of international trade and commodity finance. During the course, participants will learn to; Understand all contractual obligations in trade finance; Master facility structures and back to back structures; Know how to support the exporter: guarantees and forfeiting; Fully comprehend commodity finance; Be able to structure trade deals
20-25 Sep 2010 (South of England, United Kingdom)
14-19 Feb 2011 (South of England, United Kingdom)
19-24 Sep 2011 (South of England, United Kingdom)
Expand your knowledge on the structure and application of bonds and fixed income products. This fully inclusive residential course allows you use the evenings to study, network or attend optional evening sessions
- Classification of bond instruments
- Yield curve analysis
- Pricing methodolgies
- Interest rate and currency swaps: uses and valuation
- Bond trading and portfolio applications
- Securitisation and asset-backed securities
- Repo markets
- Financial engineering with swaps
8-12 Aug 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
12-16 Dec 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
Euromoney Training's new five day financial training course, 'Management and Leadership for Bankers and Financial Managers' will offer unparalleled insight into the nuances of the financial sector and the unique way it operates. Crucially, it will also give you the tools you need to transform the way you and your staff work and enable you to succeed in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
13-17 Dec 2010 (London, United Kingdom)
6-10 Jun 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
5-9 Dec 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
A tailor-made financial training course developed specifically for Private Bankers by internationally renowned experts with unparalleled knowledge of the market, the industry and the players. The course is intended to reconcile front line business managers' priorities with the perspectives and constraints of head office and support units.
29 Nov 2010 - 10 Dec 2010 (London, United Kingdom)
4-15 Jul 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
5-16 Dec 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
Join us here in London for this specialised course providing treasury professionals, in financial institutions and
corporations, with the skills and knowledge to capitalise on the opportunities available in the global financial markets.
Why not strengthen your treasury function, as on completion of this school you will:Acquire a thorough understanding of how the financial system and individual products work; Understand the rationale and treasury management strategies that financial players employ; Analyse the products and strategies used to manage risk; Gain a practical understanding of how derivatives work and their implications for balance sheets and regulatory adherence
20-24 Sep 2010 (London, United Kingdom)
14-18 Mar 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
19-23 Sep 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
An intensive and innovative 5-day financial training course for retail finance employees who wish to improve the profit performance of their companies. Programme benefits include learning from a retail finance expert with over 35 years hands-on experience and witnessing first hand, elite retail banking operations in central London during the unique site visit day. Delegates gain an overview of the current trends and opportunities in the global retail banking space and learn how to design successful marketing and distribution strategies. Delegates are given the opportunity to find out about effective market entry approaches and put in place strategies to enhance productivity through processimprovements and cost efficiency
- Acquire new techniques to maximise your sales and improve performance
5-8 Oct 2010 (London, United Kingdom)
5-8 Apr 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
4-7 Oct 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
A four day intensive financial training course for investment professionals who wish to learn the latest techniques and recent developments in the practice of portfolio management.
10-14 Jan 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
2-6 Aug 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
This five-day derivatives training programme has been designed to provide delegates with a thorough understanding of the derivatives market place for both OTC and exchange-traded instruments and, in particular, how banks use derivatives on a day-to-day basis to manage both their own exposures and to provide solutions to their customers.
12-14 Jan 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
20-22 Jul 2011 (London, United Kingdom)
This course is a basic overview of hedge funds and covers general topics including what they are, how they operate, the advantages and disadvantages of investing in hedge funds, the strategies adopted, the risks and due diligence issues. It also covers funds of hedge funds as a vehicle to access hedge funds.
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Course dates