Fama-French Model 1. Three is Now Four
Does the Fama-French three-factor model adequately capture all information available in describing stock returns? According to Marlena Lee, PhD, VP of Dimensional Fund Advisors, the three-factor model is lacking one or two important components. Lee visited the Toronto offices of the CFA Society Toronto on the afternoon of June 19, 2014, to speak to over twenty financial experts about the evolution of asset pricing. Lee was a funny and forthcoming lecturer. After her flight from the States up to Toronto, she said the suspicious Canada Border Services officer asked: “This CFA Society… what does ‘CFA’ stand for?” She momentarily blanked: […]
SM 4. A Way Of Sparking Conversations
Over the past six years, Jaime Widder, Sales Manager at Bloomberg LP, has seen an evolution in his clients with respect to the data they seek from social media. “At first, they just wanted to look at social media information on clients. Now, portfolio managers want to know how to list securities and track social velocity.” Widder was the fourth panellist (of four) to address the topic “The Impact of Social Media on the Investment Process” at a CFA Toronto Society gathering held in the gallery of the TMX Broadcast Centre on the evening of May 21, 2014. For clients who […]
SM 3. Keep Pace with Customers
“I work for a company with positive social capital,” said Kavita Joshi, Associate Vice President, Social Media at TD Bank Group. She was the third of four panellists at a CFA Toronto Society gathering titled “The Impact of Social Media on the Investment Process” held in the gallery of the TMX Broadcast Centre on the evening of May 21, 2014. “Social media means we are trying to keep pace, not with our competitors, but with our customers,” Joshi said. “We’ve realized there’s a real shift in terms of responsiveness.” The entry point to social media is around customer service, advised […]
SM 2. Good Insight Into The Social Ecosystem
“Customers, employees, and suppliers are empowered” through social media, said Barbara Gray, CFA, Equity Analyst and Founder of Brady Capital Research, (BCR) and this fosters the growth of firms that behave responsibly to them. Her company actively promotes investment in companies with “positive social capital.” Gray was the second panellist (of four) to address the topic “The Impact of Social Media on the Investment Process” at a CFA Toronto Society gathering held in the gallery of the TMX Broadcast Centre on the evening of May 21, 2014. As an example of negative social capital, she cited a case of Air […]
SM 1. Don’t be afraid to share a joke
When it comes to social media, “a common misconception is that you have to be on all platforms,” said Jennifer Guo, Account Executive, Talent Solutions at LinkedIn. Instead, she advised, “decide which is your priority platform” and stick with that. Guo was the first of a four-member CFA Toronto Society panel speaking in the gallery of the TMX Broadcast Centre on the evening of May 21, 2014 on the topic “The Impact of Social Media on the Investment Process.” The event, sponsored by the Equity and Derivatives Committee of CFA Toronto, was introduced by Chris Sheridan, Senior VP, Institutional Sales […]
8 Things About a Winning Team
“Our firm is kind of like a teaching hospital,” said Kim Shannon, President, Founder and CIO of Sionna Investment Managers. The second part of her presentation to the CFA Society Toronto at the National Club on March 5, 2014, described what she looks for in her employees, and how the team works. Below are eight insights on selecting and retaining top talent. Grow their own – Shannon noticed early on that the most successful investment firms grew their own talent, namely, they hired junior employees and trained them over a period of years for senior positions. Greed is not good – […]
The Value Proposition
“I believe financial statements are as much marketing documents as statements of fact,” said Kim Shannon, President, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Sionna Investment Managers. She was addressing a crowd of analysts and financial managers at a breakfast meeting organized by the CFA Society Toronto on March 5, 2014, in the historic National Club. The first part of Shannon’s presentation tied in directly with her new book, The Value Proposition. Shannon wrote 80 pages of the first draft, and then stopped while she established the company and guided it through the next decade (which included the 2008 financial crisis). Years […]
Exchange-Traded Funds: Beyond Beta?
“An ETF is a structure, not a strategy,” said Som Seif, founder of Claymore Investments, purchased in 2012 by BlackRock. He was addressing an afternoon roundtable on exchange-traded funds at the downtown offices of the CFA Society Toronto on November 28, 2013. ETFs are gaining attention nowadays, he said, because “lower fee investment management is the current trend.” Trained as an engineer, Seif noticed early on in his financial career that “indexing tended to win out,” net of fees. “I don’t believe markets are efficient,” he said, nor does he think that market capitalization is necessarily the best way to […]
Europe: Is the worst over? Part II.
“Deleveraging takes a long time, and it is painful,” said Philippe Ithurbide, Global Head of Research, Analysis and Strategy at Amundi Asset Management. In the second part of his presentation to the CFA Society Toronto on November 19, 2013, he discussed solutions to European financial difficulties. Deleveraging must be helped along in order to shorten the time and reduce negative socioeconomic impacts. “Never in history have we seen the deleveraging of all the players at the same time.” “Banking credit is faltering everywhere in the euro zone,” said Ithurbide. Euro zone bank credit is still highly fragmented by nation, with […]
Europe: Is the worst over? Part I.
“The US had one financial crisis in 2008, but Europe has had two crises—2008 and 2011,” said Philippe Ithurbide, Global Head of Research, Analysis, and Strategy at Amundi Asset Management. He was addressing members of the CFA Society Toronto that had gathered in the TMX Group Centre in downtown Toronto on the evening of November 19, 2013 to hear an overview of European market trends. The first half of his talk was a comprehensive quantified description of the financial woes of the euro zone, followed by several proposed solutions and investments strategies in the second half. In the quarters since […]