Direct Indexing: Neither Direct Nor Indexing

On January 26th, 2023, the Distinguished Speaker Series Advisory Group hosted a conversation with Howard Marks, CFA, a legendary American value investor, writer, and co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management.  He is well known for writing periodic...

Investing In Space

On July 20, 2022, the Education Advisory Group hosted a webcast titled “Investing in the Space Industry Upswing.”  Moderating the event was Chris Quilty, Founder of Quilty Analytics.  The expert panel consisted of: Ellen M. Chang, Vice President Ventures, BMNT; Dave...

The Latest and Greatest of Blockchain

On April 12, 2022, Will Cong, Founding Director of Fintech Initiative at Cornell University, moderated a panel to discuss “The Latest and Greatest of Blockchain.” The panelists included: Bobby Henebry, CFA, Founder and CEO, Henebry Blockchain & Cyrptocurrency...

ESG and the Evolution of Corporate Engagement

On June 16, 2021, David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar Research Services LLC, moderated the webcast “Evolution of Corporate Engagement,” which addressed two topics. First, how has the shift from in-person meetings to virtual interactions affected...

Capital Markets Series: Cryptocurrency – Institutionalization or just another fad?

Cryptocurrency represents the most volatile asset that comprises the capital markets in 2021. Price swings of greater than 10% in one week are common. At times it seems as though price action is driven primarily by the tweets of Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla who has added...

Capital Markets Series: Market Microstructure

On April 21, 2021, a full house gathered on Zoom to listen in on a panel discussion about ETFs and their effect on market microstructure, hosted by CFA Society Chicago’s Education Advisory Group. The discussion was moderated by Ben Johnson, CFA, director of global ETF...

Capital Markets Series: Real Estate

A full house gathered via Zoom on February 18, 2021, to listen in on a panel discussion hosted by Danny Kaufman, CFA, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of the JLL Chicago office. Featured in the discussion was Emi Adachi, Senior Vice President and Deputy Director...

LIBOR Cessation: Updates, potential market impacts and preparing for the end of LIBOR

A distinguished panel of experts met via video conference on February 2, 2021, to provide the CFA Society Chicago with an update on the transition away from the use of LIBOR as a reference rate in global capital markets.  The event was hosted by the Society’s...

SPAC Investing – A Deeper Look at Blank Check Companies

On December 15, 2020, CFA Society Chicago’s Education Advisory Group hosted a Zoom event exploring SPAC investing. What is SPAC investing? Investopedia provides a nice summation; A SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) is a company with no commercial operations...

The State of the Illinois Budget

There was little joy in this Holiday Season discussion of the fiscal outlook for the state of Illinois. The state’s expenses have exceeded revenues since 2001 and ratings on Illinois debt have been falling for thirty years, driven by a growing pension debt (Note:...

The Future of Oil & Gas

On November 24, 2020, CFA Society Chicago hosted a virtual event addressing the road ahead for the energy commodities, the firms involved, and how that translates into future opportunities. Tim Flannery, CFA, CPA, managing partner at Copia Capital, moderated the panel...

Capital Markets Series: Private Debt

The development of the market for private debt (or private credit) was the subject of the third installment in the four-part series on capital markets hosted by CFA Society Chicago’s Education Advisory Group on November 18, 2020. The private credit market has grown...

Capital Markets Series: Private Market

Another large crowd assembled over Zoom for the second installment of CFA Society Chicago’s Capital Market Series on October 20, 2020, covering Private Allocations. The panel discussion featured Harisha Koneru Haigh, CFA, managing director of Private Investments and...

Capital Markets Series: Public Allocations

On October 7, 2020, a resilient crowd gathered via Zoom to listen in on the first installment of CFA Society Chicago’s four-part Capital Market Series, focusing on public markets. The event was a panel discussion featuring Bob Browne, CFA, executive vice president and...

Fixed Income Management—Navigating Risks to Bond Markets from COVID-19

On June 10, 2020, CFA Institute hosted a webinar entitled “Fixed Income Management—Navigating Risks to Bond Markets from COVID-19.” Christopher Vincent, CFA, president and chief executive officer of CFA Society Chicago, was the moderator and welcomed the attendees to...

The Impact of the Fed on the Corporate Bond ETF Market

In early March the financial markets were struggling with the impact of the pandemic on the economy. On March 23, 2020, the Federal Reserve Board (“Fed”) took the unprecedented action of announcing that it would directly purchase corporate debt and corporate bond...

The Path to Recovery in a Covid-19 World

The Covid-19 pandemic has inflicted a serious wound on the US economy. It will necessitate that a choice be made between a continued shelter-in-place lockdown and the re-opening of economic activity. There is little doubt that shelter-in-place has slowed the spread of...

Modern Monetary Theory

Historic Monetary and Fiscal Stimulus: Savior or Destroyer? The very current topic of Modern Monetary Theory–and especially it’s application to the present economic environment related to the COVID-19 pandemic–was the topic of discussion on April 22, 2020,...

Cannabis: Insights and Opportunities

Cannabis could one day become a $4 billion a year market in the state of Illinois. In the state’s first month of legal cannabis, tax receipts have already reached $10 million. The medical and recreational cannabis markets are one of the fastest growing industries in...

SOFR: Life after LIBOR

What will life after LIBOR look like? On January 15, 2020, CFA Society Chicago held its event SOFR: Life After LIBOR, where a distinguished panel gathered to explain why the interest rate was going away and how potential alternatives are being developed. LIBOR has...

Opportunities in Hedge Funds in 2019

A distinguished panel gathered on October 10, 2019 at the Standard Club to discuss the current environment for hedge fund investments. Kenneth Heinz, president of Hedge Fund Research, Inc. served as the moderator. The panelists included: Kevin Doonan, Executive...

Investing in the New Space Race

The Educational Advisory group hosted an event on September 12 at the Palmer House Hilton to educate financial professionals, investors, and space enthusiasts on the technologies of space exploration, the geopolitical landscape, and potential winners and losers in the...

Impact Investing: A New Investing Paradigm

A large group of CFA charterholders and other interested investment professionals gathered at the Palmer House Hotel to hear the latest thoughts and techniques in Impact Investing from a distinguished panel on June 5. The moderator, Priya Parrish, is a leading...

Big Data, Machine Learning & AI

Cathy O’Neil: Founder of ORCAA and Author of Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy Big Data, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are becoming some of the hottest topics in finance. A packed room of CFA...

The Equity Risk Premium: Applications for Investment Decision-Making

Professor Aswath Damodaran’s opening remarks at CFA Society Chicago’s Equity Risk Premium event on April 2, 2019 at the W Chicago City Center. Aswath Damodaran, Kerschner Family Chair in Finance Education and a Professor of Finance at New York University...

Portfolio Construction and Allocation in this ever changing market

On Feb 20th at the UBS Tower, CFA Society Chicago’s Education Advisory Group offered a panel discussion highlighting the issues and opportunities of allocating assets for various types of portfolios. A full room of about 100 financial professionals were privileged to...

Economic Outlook and Policies

On January 16, 2019, a profound reflection on economic policy, politics’ influence on it, and the US economic outlook took place at the Standard Club in Chicago. The discussion was moderated by CFA Society Chicago’s very own Lotta Moberg, CFA,—with William Blair’s...

Private Equity: Should You Invest and How?

The challenges of investing in private equity were addressed at a recent event held at 300 N. Wacker and hosted by CFA Society Chicago’s Education Advisory Group. There are numerous issues that arise when making the decision to invest in the asset class. One of the...

QE Postmortem

A review of the Quantitative Easing (QE) programs conducted by central banks around the world since the financial crisis of 2008-09 was the topic of a panel discussion before a full house at the Hotel Allegro on September 13th. Dr. Dejanir Silva, professor of Business...

China Opens Its Doors to Foreign Investors

On May 17th, 2018, CFA Society Chicago hosted a program to address challenges and opportunities for the US and China. Patrick Chovanec, managing director and chief strategist, of Silvercrest Asset Management, presented his thoughts about the relationship between China...

Fintech Part 2: Rise of Robo-Advisors

CFA Society Chicago hosted Rise of Robo-Advisors, the second fintech event of a three-part series. The event was held at The Standard Club on April 19, 2018, commanding a crowd of over 120 people. The event started with a keynote address and was followed by a panel...

Fintech Part 1: Blockchains – Disruptor, Panacea, and Reality

CFA Society Chicago hosted Blockchains – Disruptor, Panacea, and Reality, the first fintech event of a three-part series, focusing on blockchain technology and its applications. The event was held at The Chicago Club on January 17, 2018, attracting a sold-out...

Corporate Governance in an era of Clawbacks, ESG, Mega-Managers, and Zombie Investors

Two expert panels came together at the Conference Center at UBS Tower on November 29th to provide insights to various aspects of board related corporate governance. The first panel, moderated by Eileen Kamerick, focused on Management and Directors. Kamerick is a...

Water’s Impact on Investing

On September 26th, CFA Society Chicago hosted a panel discussion in the Vault Room at 33 North LaSalle on the implications of the worldwide scarcity of potable water. The panel was focused on how this water scarcity may affect future investing. The lack of usable...

The Active vs. Passive Debate

                        On Tuesday, June 13, approximately 400 people gathered at the Standard Club to attend CFA Society Chicago’s forum on trends, insights and case studies about active vs. passive...

FINTECH EXCHANGE 2017

Hosted by Barchart, the third annual FinTech Exchange held on April 27th at Venue SIX10 highlighted the latest in technology innovation for financial markets and trading firms. The 2017 event focused on methods in which data is delivered, stored, analyzed and...

Building Investor Trust Through GIPS

On May 9th, CFA Society Chicago members gathered to hear a panel of experts address the merits of adopting the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) in the Vault Room at 33 N. LaSalle. The eminent panel comprised a service provider, a regulator, and an asset...

Investing for the Long-term: Productivity of Capital Markets Expectations, and Portfolio Management

CFA Society Chicago presented a two-part symposium on Investing for the Long-term on March 7th at the Standard Club. Approximately 150 members and guests attended to hear Robert Gordon, Professor of Economics at Northwestern University and Deirdre Nansen McCloskey,...

Preserving Alpha through Successful Execution

Alpha is the ability to generate superior risk-adjusted returns compared to the return of an appropriate index. The purpose of most equity trades for managed portfolios is to hopefully create alpha for that portfolio. The hidden costs of not obtaining the best...

Investing in Innovation

  If you compare the list of Fortune 1000 companies from ten years ago to today, over 70% of its members have been replaced due to disruptive market forces and mergers and acquisitions. In the next ten years another large batch of less-innovative firms will...

Best Practices in Risk Management

                        What is risk? Many metrics and measures fall into the overall category of investment risk, including operational risk, market risk and credit risk. Investment risk is generally defined...

Putting Investors First

Each May, CFA Institute and local societies join together to create awareness around placing investors interest first. This event reminds us of why we work in this industry – to best serve our clients.  Moderator Darin Goodwiler guided panelists Jonathan Boersma, CFA,...

Smart Beta: Smoke and Mirrors or the Next Generation of Investing?

Smart Beta – is it a bad fad or here to stay? On February 23, two panels set out to discuss that question at the University Club. Moderator Ben Johnson, CFA, Director of Morningstar’s global ETF research kicked off the discussion with a brief introduction into Smart...

Corporate Tax Evasion or Avoidance?

On December 16th, CFA Society Chicago hosted a timely panel discussion focused on US corporate tax policy and how it compared to the tax policies of other nations.  The current policy motivates US companies to move profits to overseas subsidiaries where corporate...

New Risks for Municipal Bond Investors

Hey! Mom-and-pop retail investors still own about 75% of the municipal bond market (directly or indirectly). They want a stable asset class with relatively few defaults, high credit ratings and interest income that’s tax free at the federal, state and local...

Sustainable Investing: Profit with a Purpose

Superior investment analysis is part science and part art. The science part can be quantitative and mechanical—calculating the appropriate cost of capital, discounting expected future cash flows to the present and comparing the intrinsic value of a security to its...

Book Club Discussion: “The End of Copycat China: The Rise of Creativity, Innovation, and Individualism in Asia”

The CFA Chicago Book Club met on Feb. 17 to discuss The End of Copycat China: The Rise of Creativity, Innovation, and Individualism in Asia by Shaun Rein.  Below is a summary of the discussion based on the reading: The End of Copycat China by Shaun Rein is a sound...

Chairman’s Message

I hope you enjoyed a great holiday season, and 2014 was a fulfilling year for your career.  It is the halfway point of CFA Chicago’s fiscal period, which makes a good time for us to review the strategic themes we established in July; and also to tell you about changes...