Managing Funds in the 21 st Century – An Introduction

The dawn of the 21 st Century, in the financial realm, has seen heightened activity in scouting and exploring new avenues for fund management. Whether it be the case of a large corporate house or an individual, investor psychology has over the years evolved from the conservative and traditional ‘safety first’ framework to a more ambitious outlook of not only preserving but also enhancing wealth.

Fund flush and cash rich corporates are on the vigil for innovative financial products that satisfy their pressing demands of ample liquidity, adequate return, safety of corpus and add value for the company as a whole. In this context, issues that need to be addressed pertain to the treasury and risk management practices followed by corporates and banking institutions as well as exploring various investment avenues like Fixed Income Securities, Forex markets and the intricacies inherent therein.

Last few years have also seen a growing demand for customized solutions and private wealth management services as individual investors have matured from family heirlooms to active and/or passive portfolio management with a diverse basket of assets. They are more than willing to explore diverse assets like Mutual Funds, Real Estate, Commodity Markets, Derivative products along with the plain vanilla equity and debt options based on individual risk and return appetite.

The challenge for fund managers in the 21 st Century is achieving a delicate balance between the rapidly changing investor profile and expectations and the rate at which financial engineers are able to churn out innovative financial solutions.

Taking cognizance of the pertinence of fund management in the contemporary scenario and the complexities involved therein, the Department of Financial Studies has based its XVII Annual Convention on the theme “Managing Funds in the 21 st Century” where industry stalwarts and experts shall share their views and deliberate the concerned issues at a common forum.

Treasury Management

Within the financial management profession, perhaps no area is undergoing as drastic a transformation as treasury management. Forces such as technology, privatization and increasing competitiveness are changing how corporates manage their short-term and long-term investment programs. The first technical session on “Managing Corporate Funds- Treasury Management Practices” shall deliberate on strategies relating to managing corporate treasury, corporate risk management, managing banking treasury, fixed income securities and forex markets as investment avenues.

Wealth Management

The complexity of managing the total asset base has prompted most affluent investors to seek the advice and expertise of wealth management specialists. Most full-service financial firms now focus on a large basket of assets for wealth management like- mutual funds, equity and derivatives, real estate, commodities and soft assets besides taking care of the legal and tax aspects associated to wealth management. The second technical session on “Managing Private Funds-Wealth Management Strategies” shall deliberate on these issues and provide an insight into the various avenues and strategies of wealth management.

We look forward to your participation and association to enrich the MFC Annual Convention and make it a grand success.