Going global? Go East

Special Report—Coverage of the 2007 Global Investment Conference

Going Global? Go East!
Emerging markets were a big story at this year’s Global Investment Conference

It’s been over two years since the Foreign Property Rule was axed. During that time, Canadian plan sponsors have taken a good hard look at their pension portfolios in order to determine how and when to take a further leap into the global universe. This year’s Global Investment Conference sought to help them further their research into the benefits and pitfalls of the global marketplace, with presentations covering everything from global bonds to emerging markets to currency. Over the course of two days, delegates traded ideas and insights in beautiful surroundings—at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler in Whistler, British Columbia.

One of the big stories this year was the surge in emerging markets, which garnered a great deal of attention during the conference. As fundamentals improve and, as one presenter put it, “the financial centre of gravity” moves east, opportunities abound for plan sponsors eager to generate alpha from these burgeoning capital markets. While many presenters covered the positive growth in this area, there were a few warning bells sounded, as China tackles demographic and environmental issues and the global real estate market braces for a potential slowdown in the U.S. and China. We also took a close look at fixed income and currency—the staples of a diversified global portfolio for plan sponsors. And, of course, we looked at the newest and best ways to put it all together, with presentations on asset allocation and portfolio rebalancing. The summaries included below provide highlights of this year’s conference proceedings.

Summaries

To view all the presentations from the conference, click here.