Fund Hunting in Switzerland?
Intro:
During 9th – 11th May I had the
pleasure of being invited again by Citywire to its fund selector conference at
the Fairmont Palace in Montreux, Switzerland. During the next 3 days, overlooking
Lake Geneva, I would interview 12 fund managers. I can now share my notes from
the event.
As a fund analyst for over 12 years; and a CISI senior
reviewer for the last few, I was proud to attend the event as a CISI delegate.
This had various benefits 1) I could speak more candidly than would be possible
for my current employer (one of the UK’s largest banks) 2) I could promote
awareness of the CISI to a largely alien audience and 3) I could collate my
notes and share them with fellow CISI members, many of whom also net fund
buyers and asset allocators here in the UK and overseas.
The event itself brought together around 120 such fund
selectors, gate-keepers and analysts from across Europe. Between them nearly half
a trillion Euros in assets under management, a broad collegiate from private
banks, wealth firms, fund of funds, retail banks, family offices and so on. The
event was broken up over 3 days with main sessions discussing the woes and
wherefores of the global market (‘the big picture’). Unsurprisingly the
atmosphere was somewhat dominated by opening proceedings around the Europe
courtesy of Dr Andrew Lilico of the
Telegraph but also a positive note around Russia; courtesy of Liam Halligan of
FT and Telegraph fame, and the ‘TIDES’ of change by Dr Graeme Codrington. All
of these sessions proved very well presented and insightful but, for a fund
analyst at least, merely intervals to the main job at hand: interviewing fund
managers. I pick up my delegate pack and pass (quickly scribbling ‘JB’ above
Jon Beckett). Click the link to read what I found. JB