Opalesque Radio

Radio Feature 73: Cormac Weldon in Conversation with Sona Blessing

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:52:24 +0200

Cormac Weldon is Head of US Equities at Threadneedle Investments. He manages the Threadneedle American, American Select and American Smaller Companies funds, as well as the Allied Dunbar North American Growth fund. Cormac started his career with KPMG. He has also worked for Provident Mutual as an analyst on their North American equities team and British Gas Pension Fund as a fund manager on their North American equities team. In this radio feature/podcast he talks about the US themes for 2013: strong franchises, the housing recovery, the energy advantage, cheap cyclicals with capital returns, bond proxies, growth, and how these could translate into capturable performance.
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Radio Feature 72: Lanny Lim in Conversation with Sona Blessing

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:04:18 +0200

Lanny is a portfolio manager at SAIL Advisors, one of Asias leading hedge fund research and investment specialists. He has almost two decades of experience in the Asia Pacific capital markets. Prior to SAIL, he was a Partner and Senior Analyst at Austral Capital Ltd., a multi-strategy hedge fund. Amongst others he has been Global Head of Emerging Markets Credit Research at ABN Amro Bank in Singapore. Featured in the first podcast of our Hedgegate Series, Lanny shares his insights on the Asian hedge fund investment landscape, performance potential in Japan and in Chinese onshore convertible bonds ...
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Radio Feature 71: Otto Francke in Conversation with Sona Blessing

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:13:11 +0200

Otto Francke is a senior portfolio manager within the alternative investment team at SEB. Prior to this he was a portfolio manager and research analyst covering long/short equity strategies Atlas Capital Group. He has been active in the alternative industry for a decade, and holds a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering specialising in Applied Mathematics from The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.
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Radio Feature 70: Michael Oliver Weinberg in conversation with Sona Blessing

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:02:51 +0200

Michael Oliver Weinberg is Adjunct Associate Professor at the Columbia Business School where he is currently teaching a course he created on Alternative Investing in Pension Plans. He also runs The Weinberg Family Office. Prior to which he headed FRMs equity and event business. In this Opalesque Podcast he shares his insights on asset allocation from a family office and pension plan perspective.
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Radio Feature 69: Deborah Fuhr in conversation with Sona Blessing

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:57:31 +0200

Deborah Fuhr, is a partner and co-founder of ETFGI. She was previously Global Head of ETF Research and Implementation Strategy and Managing Director at BlackRock/BGI from 2008 - 2011, and a Managing Director and head of the Investment Strategy team at Morgan Stanley in London from 1997 - 2008. In this podcast Deborah elaborates on the recent record net inflows in Q1 2013 that have pushed global assets in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded product (ETPs) to new highs of USD 2.09 trillion.
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Radio Feature 68: James Montier in conversation with Sona Blessing

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:51:41 +0100

James Montier is a member of GMO's Asset Allocation team. Prior to joining GMO in 2009, he was co-head of Global Strategy at Societe Generale. He has authored several books including "Behavioural Investing: A Practitioner's Guide to Applying Behavioural Finance; Value Investing: Tools and Techniques for Intelligent Investment"; and "The Little Book of Behavioural Investing". James is a visiting fellow at the University of Durham and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In this podcast he talks us through amongst others why in many ways he thinks this is the most difficult opportunity set an investor can face ...
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Radio Feature 67: Alexander Ineichen in conversation with Sona Blessing

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:35:27 +0100

Alexander Ineichen is founder of Ineichen Research and Management AG, a research firm that focuses on risk management, absolute returns and thematic investing. Amongst others, he has been Head of Industry Research for the hedge fund platform at UBS Global Asset Management. He has authored "Absolute Returns-The Risk and Opportunities of Hedge Fund Investing" (Wiley Finance, 2002) and Asymmetric Returns - The Future of Active Asset Management (Wiley Finance, 2006). Alexander has also written several research pieces pertaining to equity derivatives and hedge funds including AIMAs Roadmap to Hedge Funds (2008 and 2012). In this podcast he shares his thoughts on: the global macro-economic landscape; investment opportunities; despite the rather shaky fundamentals why equity indices like the Dow Jones Industrial Average are scaling historical highs; Hedge fund performance 2013, ...
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Radio Feature 50: Jacek Siry in conversation with Sona Blessing

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:05:01 +0100

Jacek Siry serves as Associate Professor of Forest Economics at the University of Georgias Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. His research areas are timberland investment, timber market modelling, global forest products trade and industry competitiveness, and carbon policies and markets. In this radio feature Dr. Siry draws on his experience in international forestry issues, including timber trade, availability, costs as well as plantation management across major producing regions and shares how as an investor one could be positioned to optimise returns given the imminent supply side shock posed by Canadian timberland.
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Radio Feature 66: Vineer Bhansali in conversation with Sona Blessing

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:45:57 +0100

Vineer Bhansali is managing director and portfolio manager, head of quantitative investment portfolios and a member of the asset allocation committee at PIMCO. In this radio feature he shares why it pays to be countercyclical in the context of tail risk hedging; the trade-off between the cost of protection and securing returns; instruments in the tool box that can be set up as hedges against for e.g. political risk...
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Radio Feature 65: Tom Elliott in conversation with Sona Blessing

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:29:42 +0100

Tom Elliott is a global strategist within the Investment Marketing Team at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. He is responsible for investment communications through the Guide to the Markets suite of products. In this feature he shares his forecasts for 2013, identifies investment opportunities and the headwinds that could lead to underperformance.
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Radio Feature 64: Uli Sigg in conversation with Sona Blessing

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:10:32 +0100

Uli Sigg currently serves as a member of the advisory board of the China Development Bank and other Chinese entities. He has spent several years in China, following its economic reform, and its contemporary art scene. He has accumulated the most substantial collection of contemporary Chinese art in the world. In 1997, he established the Chinese Contemporary Art Award, an award for Chinese contemporary artists and art critics in China. He is a member of the International Council of New Yorks MOMA, and International Advisory Council of the Tate Gallery in London.
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Radio Feature 63: Iordanis Chatziprodromou in conversation with Sona Blessing

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:44:16 +0100

Iordanis Chatziprodromou is a Senior Risk Manager at Swiss Re focusing mainly on the identification, analysis and quantification of emerging technological, financial and economic risks. Before joining Swiss Re, he worked in the finance industry predominantly as a quantitative analyst with strong emphasis on sustainable finance.
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Radio Feature 62: Steen Jakobsen in conversation with Sona Blessing

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:48:22 +0100

Since March 2011 Steen Jakobsen is Chief Economist at Saxo Bank. Prior to which he was Chief Investment Officer for Limus Capital Partners. He has more than 20 years of experience within the fields of proprietary trading and alternative investment. In this feature he shares his Outrageous Predictions for 2013: DAX plunges 33%, Nationalisation of Major Japanese Electronic Companies, Soybeans to rise by 50%, Gold corrects to USD 1,200 per ounce, WTI Crude hits USD50, USDJPY heads to 60.00, Hong Kong unpegs HKD from USD - RE-Pegs to RMB, EURCHF breaks peg, touches 0.9500, Spain takes one step closer to default as interest rates rise to 10%, 30-Year US Yield doubles in 2013!
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Radio Feature 61: Nicholas Brooks in Conversation with Sona Blessing

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:36:08 +0100

Nicholas Brooks is head of research and investment strategy for the ETF Securities group of companies. He has over 15 years of experience as a global economist and strategist, covering a wide range of markets and asset classes. He has also completed work on a PhD thesis examining financial fragility and the dynamics of financial crisis.
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CAIA Series III: Cedric Kohler in Conversation with Sona Blessing

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:23:26 +0100

Cedric Kohler is Head of Advisory at Fundana SA. Prior to which, he worked for Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie, holding the roles of Head of Hedge Fund Advisory and Head of Funds of Hedge Funds. From 2004 until 2007, he was Global Head of Firm-wide Risk at Citadel Investment Group in Chicago. Cedric has also served as a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch in New York, holding the role of Margin & Risk Global Head. He holds a Masters in Economics and Finance from Warwick University and a Bachelors in Economics and Business from HEC.
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Brian Lawson in Conversation with Sona Blessing

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:12:20 +0100

Brian Lawson is Chief Global Economist at Exclusive Analysis. He has spent more than 30 years in investment banking, and in his current position, focuses primarily on economic and financial risks, including commodities and sovereign debt. In this feature he shares insights on for example, their "...knowing at an early stage, that Russia was likely to lift its wheat ban, when the Russian Ministry of Agriculture was telling the world press that the wheat ban will remain in place."... In being able to share this information almost three months ahead, with their clients he says: "You can make a large amount of money if you call a market correctly."
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CAIA Series II: Professor Barry Eichengreen in conversation with Sona Blessing

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:22:04 +0100

Barry Eichengreen is George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Economics. His recently published books include: "From Miracle to Maturity: The Growth of the Korean Economy", with Dwight H. Perkins and Kwanho Shin, "The World Economy after the Global Crisis: A New Economic Order for the 21st Century", co-edited with Bokyeong Park and "Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System". In this live interview he shares his insights on the dollar (USD), its continued viability as an international reserve currency, falling off the fiscal cliff and its impact on the USD, the possibility of "a grand bargain of some sort" , other currencies that could eventually qualify as a/ reserve currency/(ies)...
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CAIA Series I : Marilyn Ramplin in conversation with Sona Blessing

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 17:42:03 +0100

Marilyn Ramplin is founder of the UCITS University, the International group UCITS for Hedge Funds, and has acted as an advisor to international regulators. She also founded Ramplin Capital, a global hedge fund consultancy. Prior to which, she was an Executive Director with JP Morgan's Prime Brokerage in London and was part of the Bear Stearns acquisition during the financial crisis. She has been a risk arbitrage trader for a multi-billion dollar US hedge fund, has in-depth OTC derivatives experience and has developed credit counterparty risk models for clients like the Bank of International Settlements, BIS.
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Radio Feature 60: Professor Heinrich von Wyss in conversation with Sona Blessing

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:12:21 +0200

Dr. Heinrich von Wyss is Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of St.Gallen, Swiss Institute of Banking and Finance. Also amongst his teaching activities: Visiting Assistant Professor, Stern School of Business, New York University (2011), Asia Compact: International Finance, University of St.Gallen in Singapore (2012), Institutional Asset Management, University of St.Gallen (2010 - 2012).
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Radio Feature 59: Mathew Cobon in conversation with Sona Blessing

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:12:54 +0200

Mathew Cobon is Head of Macro (rates and currency) and lead fund manager of the Absolute and Target return bond strategies at Threadneedle. Prior to joining Threadneedle, Matthew spent four years at Aberdeen Asset Management, where he held the role of Head of Currency. He has also gained currency trading experience at Deutsche Asset Management and Citigroup.
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