SIAS to hold inaugural investment conference for accredited investors
Singapore
THE Securities Investors Association (Singapore) is launching for the first time a Master Series Investment Conference for more sophisticated investors.
The theme of the conference is "The Future of Investing" - and it will be targeted at high net worth individuals and accredited investors, as well as family office clients and financial institutions.
Some 350 people have signed up for the event, due to be held on July 11 at the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre.
SIAS also expects financial advisers, product manufacturers, brokers, insurance professionals, CEOs of listed companies, board of directors, asset managers, lawyers, finance professionals, regulators, and rating agencies to attend. It aims to attract up to 400 people.
Explaining why SIAS is holding this conference, its CEO, president and founder David Gerald said recently in an interview with The Business Times: "After the oil and gas debacle, we had a lot of bond and note holders who are high net worth clients, family office clients and institutional investors also coming to us for help, so it's timely to provide programmes for them.
"They don't seem to be attending our usual programmes for retail investors, but we notice that they too have a need, and they have requested whether they can have something at their level, and this is at their level."
SIAS has been involved in many major debt restructuring for troubled listed companies, providing a platform for issuers to resolve their issues with investors.
The event will discuss the latest trends in investment and technology changes, how newfangled technologies such as artificial intelligence and algorithms are changing the consumption of financial products and how policy is driving sustainable development.
Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), will be the guest of honour.
The conference also seeks to see things from the investor's perspective, addressing investor concerns in investing, rather than focusing on the investment itself.
With banks and product manufacturers introducing so many investment products so fast, it is important to consider how product manufacturers consider investor rights, as well as their level of disclosures, Mr Gerald said. "Basically we want them to focus on the end-user."
Investors often question how much reliance can be placed on banks and product manufacturers and distributors in evaluating an investment opportunity, and what these stakeholders view as being the investor's responsibility in making these investment decisions, he noted.
According to Mr Gerald, MAS has done quite a bit after the Lehman Brothers debacle. "They have come up with requirements and regulations for non-listed bank products at a supervisory level, basically about how the sales process should be. They have fine-tuned the sales process, how it should be supervised by senior management and how the end-user should be treated and how they should be assessed before products are sold to them."
But are the measures put in place working?
"There's been much done, but is it really working and how much more needs to be done?" said Mr Gerald, adding: "If you are an accredited investor, do you really know what you are buying. Are you really knowledgeable? There are indications that they too need education, and so we thought to start with this conference for them."
