China ETFs Breakfast Briefing – Hakkasan Mayfair, London – Wednesday 15th October 2014

Description
An exclusive “Breakfast Briefing” for around 40 professional delegates, dedicated to China ETFs and related indexing and ETF trading topics. The event will commence at 8.00am and finish at 10.45am. The event is free to attend, but admission will be strictly controlled and only delegates with pre-approved/confirmed places will be admitted.

If you would like to attend this event, please apply now.

Proceedings will kick off with a keynote presentation from George Magnus, former Chief Economist and Senior Adviser to UBS and author of a number of highly acclaimed economics books, including “Uprising: Will Emerging Markets Shape or Shake the World Economy“, which focuses largely on China. Mr Magnus has vowed to offer his unique insight and perspective on China.

The event will also include presentations from ETF issuers Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) and ETF Securities, index provider MSCI and ETF market maker and authorised participant Jane Street. (Presentation topics detailed below).

Venue
The event is being held at Hakkasan Mayfair, a Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant just off Berkeley Square. The chef at Hakkasan has devised a bespoke Chinese-inspired three-course breakfast menu that will cater for Western taste buds, but incorporate Chinese elements and showcase Hakkasan’s Michelin-star quality. This is the first time ever Hakkasan has opened for breakfast! The venue will be exclusively ours for the duration of the event.

Target audience
The event is aimed at the higher end of the investment management spectrum, namely front-office representatives (e.g. portfolio/wealth managers, research analysts and investment strategists) from relevant institutional fund management firms, hedge funds, family offices, DFMs, private banks and private client wealth managers.

Presentations Topics (scroll down for speaker biographies)

Making Sense of China
George Magnus, Independent Economist, Author and Commentator
– Why the anti-graft campaign is key to the economy
– Re-balancing the economy will mean slower growth
– Sorting wheat from chaff in the longer term

China A-Shares: Too Big to Ignore
Altaf Kassam, Managing Director and Head of Index Applied Research, EMEAI, MSCI
– What are global investors truly missing when they avoid investing in A-shares?
– What are some of “implicit costs” of not having A-shares in a global equity portfolio?
– What is the potential role of A-shares (if any) in global equity allocation?

China Equity Market Valuations: The Future of a Liberalised Market
Nicholas Brooks, Head of Research and Investment Strategy, ETF Securities
– How do China A-share valuations compare to global markets and what are the main drivers of growth in this market?
– What is the best way for investors to access China: A or H shares?
– Development of the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) programme and the Shanghai-Hong Kong Connect. What does this mean for the A-share equity market valuations and investors?
– MSCI China A ETF – offering the broadest physical access to mainland Chinese stocks

China ETFs: Trading and Liquidity
Slawomir Rzeszotko, ETF Sales & Trading, Jane Street
– China ETFs landscape – an overview from a trading perspective
– What determines liquidity of China ETFs and how to analyse it
– How to measure best execution when trading China ETFs
– Golden rules of trading China ETFs

What Next In The RQFII Space: Sectors, Fixed Income, Small Cap…
Marco Montanari, Head of Passive Asset Management, Asia Pacific, DeAWM
– Why RQFII matters
– RQFII’s historical development and current landscape
– Structuring challenges
– What next?

Please apply now to secure your place.

Speaker Biographies

George MagnusGeorge Magnus, Economist and Author
George Magnus is an independent economist and commentator, with a long career in the financial services industry. He currently works as an external senior adviser to UBS, and sits on the advisory boards of several commercial and research organisations, including the Montreal-based Bank Credit Analyst. His most recent position was that of Senior Economic Adviser at UBS Investment Bank from 2005-2012, before which he was the Chief Economist (1997-2005).

Mr Magnus has long experience of analysing the global economy, and engaging with corporate and asset management clients and the media. He is a regular contributor to the Financial Times, and guest on BBC radio and TV, and Bloomberg radio and TV. In October 2008, Mr Magnus’ first book – ‘The Age of Aging’ – a study of how demographics are changing the world and the economic and social implications – was published. His second book, ‘Uprising: will emerging markets shape or shake the world economy?’ was published in late 2010, and examines controversially the hyperbole about and prospects for emerging markets and the BRICs, and China in particular.

Mr Magnus received an MSc Econ from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and did postgraduate research at the University of Illinois.

Altaf KassamAltaf Kassam,  Managing Director and Head of Index Applied Research, EMEAI, MSCI
Altaf Kassam is managing director and head of index applied research, EMEAI for MSCI, with responsibility for research to support new indexes. He also liaises with asset owners and managers on the role of indexes in asset allocation and portfolio construction. Prior to joining MSCI, Mr Kassam was Global Head of the Equity Market Strategies Group for UBS Investment Bank, which worked on the creation of and studies of custom and 3rd party equity and multi-asset indexes for the bank’s hedge fund, asset manager and private wealth clients.

Mr Kassam received a first-class joint honours degree in engineering and computing science from St. John’s College, Oxford University and an MSc in Finance from London Business School. He received his CFA charter in 2005.

Nicholas BrooksNicholas Brooks, Head of Research and Investment Strategy, ETF Securities
Nicholas Brooks is head of research and investment strategy for the ETF Securities group of companies. Mr Brooks has over 15 years’ experience as a global economist and strategist, covering a wide range of markets and asset classes. Prior to joining ETF Securities, he was a senior member of Henderson Global Investors asset allocation and strategy team based in London. Before that he was senior economist on Deutsche Bank’s Global Markets strategy and economics team. He started his career at Citibank in New York.

Mr Brooks has a BA from Brown University, an MA from Columbia University, an MSc in Economics from the University of London, and has completed work on a PhD thesis examining financial fragility and the dynamics of financial crisis.

Slawomir Rzeszotko, ETF Sales & Trading, Jane StreetSlawomir Rzeszotko, ETF Sales & Trading, Jane Street
Slawomir Rzeszotko oversees European ETF sales initiatives for Jane Street. Mr Rzeszotko has worked in the ETF industry for nearly a decade, including with large asset managers in which he acquired an in-depth understanding of ETF trading from both a trader’s and customer’s perspective. Before joining Jane Street, Mr Rzeszotko worked at Vanguard Asset Management where he held the positions of Head of ETF Capital Markets and Head of Investment Product Specialist Group. Prior to Vanguard, he worked at BGI and Blackrock in various ETF-related roles.

Mr Rzeszotko holds an MA degree from the University of Wroclaw, Poland, where he went on to lecture ethics and postmodern political philosophy while pursuing his PhD studies.

Marco MontanariMarco Montanari, Head of Passive Asset Management, Asia Pacific, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management
Marco Montanari has been based in Hong Kong since 2009 and is responsible for ETF and systematic funds platforms for Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (Deutsche AWM) in Asia Pacific. He relocated to Asia from London where he was responsible for setting up the Fixed Income ETFs platform and for structuring systematic funds for institutional clients of Deutsche AWM in southern Europe. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank Group in 2006, Mr Montanari spent six years at Société Générale in Paris where he was in charge of ETF structuring in the Lyxor Asset Management financial engineers team and products listed on the Italian Stock Exchange.

Mr Montanari has a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from Bocconi University.

Please apply now to secure your place.

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