From CAIA

When
Tuesday September 20, 2016 at 12:00 PM EDT
-to-
Wednesday September 21, 2016 at 4:30 PM EDT

Where
Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort
389 W Bay Road
George Town
Cayman Islands

Driving Directions
Contact
CAIA Events
CAIA Association
413-253-7373

CAIA Association is pleased to offer an exclusive two-day educational seminar on alternative investment strategies. CAIA’s curriculum experts will be on-site on Grand Cayman to present several modules of their certificate program, Fundamentals of Alternative Investments.

Fundamentals is an online course that provides a foundation in the core concepts of alternative investing. This is an exciting opportunity for you to get up-to-speed on the instruments and asset classes that are making portfolios more complex, and are growing every day – presented by the world leader in alternative investment education.

Upon completion of the live seminar and the online modules, and passing the review quiz for each, you will receive a Fundamentals of Alternative Investments certificate.

This course will qualify for continuing professional development/education credits. Click here for more information.

Keith Black, CAIA, PhD, CFA, Managing Director of Curriculum and Exams at the CAIA Association will present the training.

Register now and get on the fast track to expanded knowledge of alternative investment strategies.
Register Now at: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ecsvmi3q467dcb28&oseq=&c=&ch=

This live training is offered at a discounted rate of $595 per registrant and includes lunch both days. Participants will be given access to the full online program at the end of the training with the opportunity to earn the Fundamentals certificate.

*Please note: in order to earn the FAI Certificate, participants will be required to take quizzes for the modules that will be offered as part of the live training.

Seminar Agenda:

September 20, 2016

12:00PM Registration and Lunch

12:30PM Class Lecture:

Module 2: Investment Returns & Risks (Benchmarking)

Module 3: Correlation & Efficient Frontiers

2:30PM Break

2:45PM Class Lecture:

Module 4: Portfolio Management & Asset Allocation

Module 5: Due Diligence

September 21, 2016

12:00PM Registration and Lunch

12:30PM Class Lecture:

Module 6: Risk Management

Module 7: Hedge Funds 1 – Structure, Categories, & Biases

2:30PM Break

2:45PM Class Lecture:

Module 20: Risk and Rewards of Alternative Investments

Module 21: Liquid Alternatives

4:15PM End of Program / Networking reception with canapés and cocktails

Module Overview

Module 2: Investment Returns & Risks (Benchmarking)

In the context of alternative investments, benchmarking is a crucial component of evaluating the performance of an investment. In this lesson, we address various methods of benchmarking and its role in the process of evaluating an investment manager. We discuss the fundamental tradeoff between risk and return, noting the centrality of that tradeoff to the structure of benchmarking measures. We conclude with observations on the challenges of selecting appropriate benchmarks.

Module 3: Correlation & Efficient Frontiers

In this lesson, we discuss covariance, autocorrelation, and beta and assess how the use of correlation can help an investor to create an effectively diversified portfolio. We examine the challenges in performing statistical analysis of alternative investments and offer an ideal protocol for proper statistical testing. We conclude with observations on performance persistence, the methods that may be used to distinguish luck from skill, and the difficulties in performing such assessments.

Module 4: Portfolio Management & Asset Allocation

In this lesson, we examine ten ways for asset allocators to construct, manage, and monitor their portfolios. We review the foundations of asset allocation, providing details on the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the endowment model, as well as mean-variance and higher moment models. We cover the concept of risk budgeting and assess other models that take a range of factors into consideration, including some popular approaches to asset allocation that include alternative investments.

Module 5: Due Diligence

Due diligence is defined as a set of processes directed toward making informed decisions about investment managers. In this lesson, we explore performance reviews, including investment objectives and the generation of alpha. We cover both structural and strategic reviews and provide an example of the due diligence process for a convertible arbitrage trading strategy. The lesson comments on best practices as put forth by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, which identified key areas where due diligence efforts could result in a reduction of systemic risk and increase investor protection.

Module 6: Risk Management

In this lesson, we examine a range of risk management issues, including investment strategy risk, market and tail risk, investment process risk, and operational risk. We look at various internal control procedures and assess some of the sources of liquidity risk in the alternative investment context. We discuss risk mitigation practices and offer a current look at typical causes for fund failures. Risk management is a necessary and powerful component to successful investing in alternative asset classes.

Module 7: Hedge Funds 1 – Structure, Categories, & Biases

In this lesson, we discuss the characteristics of hedge funds, including recent statistics on the growth of the industry and an overview of funds by age, domicile, and concentrations across the hedge fund universe. We look at hedge fund industry performance and the dynamics of particular investment strategies. Finally, we cover issues with hedge fund industry databases, noting the role of indices, the presence of biases, and the implications of imperfections in performance measurement process.

Module 20: Risk and Rewards of Alternative Investments

This lesson summarizes the material covered in all of the previous lessons, with a particular focus on the risks and rewards of incorporating alternative investments into both individual and institutional portfolios.

Module 21: Liquid Alternatives

Historically, alternative investments were only available to institutional and high net worth investors. In this private placement world, managers had significant investment discretion with regards to disclosure, fees, liquidity, leverage and derivatives positions. In recent years, a growing number of investment managers have made products available in a “liquid alternatives” format, the emerging topic covered in this FAI module. Discussion includes the significant regulatory differences of liquid alternatives from private placement products, despite their wide availability to retail investors. The differences in performance and due diligence requirements are also discussed.