General

CFAA Spotlight | Trends and Takeaways From 2017’s First Half

If you’re surveying your portfolio at midyear, here are some key trends to be aware of–forces that have likely affected your portfolio’s performance, for better or worse

China’s Ma is succeeding in his financial supermarket approach, carefully monitoring and adapting Ping An‘s expertise to changing markets, technology, and client needs

Opening fanfare then little action for Hong Kong-Mainland China bond link

Under our baseline scenario, Chinese growth will slow gradually to about 5.5% from about 6.5% currently

Silicon Valley startup Stripe has partnered with digital payment providers Alipay and WeChat Pay to enable merchants using its platform globally to accept payments from hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers.

Job Board

 Marketing Data Analyst
TransUnion

Operations Analyst
ABN AMRO US

Analyst, Credit Analyst covering Latin America Corporates
Fitch Ratings

Associate Analyst
Moody’s

Investment Analyst
Citadel

Quality Assurance Coordinator-Indexes
University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Research Analyst – Global Consumer Sector
William Blair & Company, L.L.C

Portfolio Operations Analyst
Guggenheim Partners

Portfolio Analyst
UBS

Upcoming Events

 July 12, 2017 Chicago Booth | THE ART OF SMALL TALK

July 13 2017 CFA Society of Chicago Event | CFA Exam Information Session (Level 1 Only)

July 22, 2017 CFAA Event | CFAA 2017 Summer BBQ

July 27, 2017 CFA Institute | 2017 Annual Financial Analysts Seminar

August 02, 2017 Executives’ Club of Chicago | Insights from a Turnaround Artist

 

CFAA 2017 Summer BBQ

Summer is finally here! BBQ season is in full swing! Time to get out of your home and soak up the sun!

Let us gather in the cool breeze and warm sunshine by Lake Michigan and have some fun time with family and friends. Chinese Finance Association of America (CFAA) cordially invites you, your family and friends to join us for a fun and relaxing BBQ party. You will have the opportunity to meet with CFAA board members, staff, volunteers, advisors, former event speakers and industry experts, as well as network with other finance professionals. You will learn more about the various finance-related industries while enjoying the beauty of Lake Michigan.

Food and beverages will be served. Friends and family are welcome.

 

Picnic Area D, between Greenwood St. and Lake St.
Dawes Park, Lakefront East of Sheridan Road
Evanston IL 60201, US

Saturday, July 22, 2017
11 am – 3 pm

 

Direction:

For those who use a GPS for directions, please enter the following street address: 225 Greenwood Street, Evanston, IL 60201. The picnic area is to the east of this location across Sheridan Road.

Public transportation:

CTA: Take the Red Line to Howard, then take the Purple Line (toward Linden) to Dempster, then walk east for 10 minutes toward Sheridan Road. You will see the picnic area in front of you.

Metra: Take the Metra Union Pacific North line to Evanston – Davis Street (station), then walk east for 12 minutes on Davis Street toward Sheridan Road. You will see the picnic area in front of you.

CFAA Spotlight | Chinese consumers spent $750 billion online in 2016

Chinese consumers spent $750 billion online in 2016 — more than the US and the UK combined. But even more interesting is how differently China’s digital marketplace, technology platforms, and online behaviors have evolved compared with those in Western markets.

When a new hedge fund opened in Mountainside, New Jersey, few would have guessed where much of its funding came from: Chinese billionaire Cai Kui.

Huobi and OKCoin, two Chinese exchanges, now collectively account for some 92% of global trading in bitcoin.

U.S. hedge funds increased their holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. more than any other U.S-listed Chinese stock in the first quarter

Shadow banking activity continues to grow

Job Board

 Investment Analyst
Citadel

Quality Assurance Coordinator-Indexes
University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Research Analyst – Global Consumer Sector
William Blair & Company, L.L.C

Portfolio Operations Analyst
Guggenheim Partners

Portfolio Analyst
UBS

Senior Analyst, Core Data Licensing Services
Chicago Mercantile Exchange

Quantitative Analyst
National Futures Association

Financial Consultant
Fidelity Investments

 

Upcoming Events

June 13, 2017 CFA Society of Chicago Event | The Active vs. Passive Debate

June 14, 2017 CFA Society of Chicago Event | Wall Street Training: M&A Deal Structuring & Merger Modeling Basics

June 16, 2017 Chicago Booth | Leadership Development – Competency Or Choice?

June 24 – 25, 2017 Offeright Event | Introduction to data science with R

June 27, 2017 CFAA Event | Quarterly Happy Hour

June 28, 2017 Executives’ Club of Chicago | International Executive of the Year and Annual Awards

 

CFAA Spotlight | El Niño and Chinese Demand Could Give Coffee a Wake-Up Call

Some forecasters believe global coffee demand could increase by as much as 25% over the next five years should interest from China and the rest of Asia continue to accelerate.

In the past two years, Lilly, Merck, Tesaro Inc. and Incyte Co. have signed multimillion-dollar deals to sell China-discovered biotech drugs overseas.

Six Trends That Will Transform Hedge Funds

What happens now Macron has been elected France’s president?

Wall Street Made Charles Murphy Successful and Rich, but Happiness Eluded Him

 

Job Board

  Investment Analyst
Citadel

Indexes Summer Intern
Morningstar

Senior Associate, Analytics
Discover

Financial Consultant Program
Fidelity Investments

Investment Analyst
Northwestern Mutual

Financial Counselor
AMG National Trust Bank

Business Recovery Services Bankruptcy Billing Experienced Associate
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Public Finance, Full Time Analyst (North America)
Citi’s Institutional Clients Group (ICG)

Upcoming Events

           May 09, 2017 Chicago Booth | Transformation with “INSURTECH” and Advanced Analytics

May 10, 2017 Professional Women’s Club of Chicago | May Luncheon – featuring Kristie Paskvan, CFO, Mesirow

May 25, 2017 CFA Society of Chicago Event | Informal Monthly Happy Hour

May 25, 2017 Asian American Professionals Online | AAPO Launch Reception Party

June 08, 2017 Executives’ Club of Chicago | Women’s Leadership Series

June 13, 2017 CFA Society of Chicago Event | The Active vs. Passive Debate

June 22, 2017 CFAA Event | Quarterly Happy Hour (More details coming soon)

2017 CFAA Risk Managment Forum: The New Era of Risk Management under Trump

Event Description:

The perception of risk management is fundamentally changing within today’s banking industry. It is no longer purely used as a control mechanism but as a critical input into the daily business question that if the revenues out of this transaction will compensate for the additional risks that banking is taking on? Risk Management is an essential part of helping the bank grow while keeping an eye on the potential consequences if something goes wrong.

 

Panelists:

Jimmy Yang

Managing Director, Credit and Operational Risk Analytics

BMO Financial Group

 

Weiping Chen

Director, Operational Risk Management

Discover Financial Services

 

Alan Zhang

Senior Manager, Risk & Financial Advisory

Deloitte & Touche

 

Moderator:

Peter Xie

Senior Associate, Underwriting Strategy

Discover Financial Services

 

Date and Time:

May 4th, 2017, Thursday

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

 

Location:

Club Quarters Hotel, Central Loop, Room Adams
111 W Adams St
Chicago IL 60603, US

 

CFAA Spotlight | China Plans To Build New City Nearly Three Times The Size Of New York

Plans for the Xiongan New Area, a special economic zone that authorities say will eventually cover an area nearly three times that of New York.

An Investing Road Map for Early Career Accumulators

What’s fun about following this company now is that anything can happen, the potential is huge, the hopes are huge.

Even the most fundamental, non-quantitative managers will be generating ideas from data that originally was sourced and synthesized via Machine Learning.

Why emerging market fundamentals are positive for 2017?

 

Job Board

Credit Fund Risk Analyst
Wall Street Options, LLC

VP, Investment Consultant
Calamos Investments

ABS Associate
Morningstar

Researcher – Investment Banking
William Blair & Company, L.L.C

Risk Intern
HFR Asset Management, LLC

Technology Solution Lead
UBS

Technical Operations Specialist: Brokerage Systems (IL) 
Interactive Brokers

Trading Operations Specialist
DRW

Director, Marketing-China
Warner Bros. Distributing Inc.

Project Manager
Backstop Solutions Group

Risk Analytics Experienced Associate
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Upcoming Events

 April 12, 2017 Professional Women’s Club of Chicago | April Luncheon

April 19, 2017 Chicago Machine Learning VC Summit

April 25, 2017 Chicago Booth Finance Roundtable | How to Avoid Unnecessary Portfolio Risk

April 25, 2017 Executives’ Club of Chicago | Diversity in the C-Suite: Leaders Championing Change

April 29, 2017 Booth’s Emerging Markets Summit

May 4, 2017 CFAA Event | 2017 CFAA Risk Managment Forum: The New Era of Risk Management under Trump

CFAA Spotlight | Obamacare Repeal Results In Tax Cuts For The Rich

Immediately repealing the tax aspects of Obamacare will put an average of $33,000 in the hands of the richest 1% in 2017!

If you look at any of the exchanges’ volume in Asia after August of 2015, you will see a lot of these guys were positioning themselves to take macro global positions, or to participate in exchanges offshore – and you will definitely see an uptick from that.

One of Asia’s top trading firms is shutting down a large chunk of its US business

Since 2000, Chinese interests have invested $9.4 billion in the state, making Illinois the largest recipient of China’s outbound investment after California and New York. What are the big deals, why Chicago?

Warren Buffett’s Shareholder Letter: 5 Lessons for All Investors

 

Job Board

    Senior Associate / VP
Hanover Search Group Ltd

ODD Support Analyst
Albourne

Credit Fund Risk Analyst
Wall Street Options, LLC

VP, Investment Consultant
Calamos Investments

ABS Associate
Morningstar

Researcher – Investment Banking
William Blair & Company, L.L.C

Risk Intern
HFR Asset Management, LLC

Technology Solution Lead
UBS

Technical Operations Specialist: Brokerage Systems (IL) 
Interactive Brokers

Wealth Management Development Program Trainee
BMO

Investment Banking Associate
Mesirow Financial

Investment Associate
Hewins Financial | Wipfli Hewins

Trading Operations Specialist
DRW

         Upcoming Events

            March 14, 2017 The Chicago Council on Global Affairs | President Trump and The EU

March 23, 2017 CFAA Event | Quarterly Networking Happy Hour

March 23, 2017 The Chicago Council on Global Affairs | China’s Global Ambitions: Past, Present and Future

March 25, 2017 Lunar Ball

March 30, 2017 Business Women Who Survived, Thrived and Excelled

April 05, 2017 CFA Society Chicago | Private Equity Industry Update

April 29, 2017 Booth’s Emerging Markets Summit

         

CFAA Past Event: Chinese New Year Reception – The Future of China-US Relations in the Trump Era

Chinese Finance Association of America (CFAA) held another successful event to ring in the New Year of the Rooster. We were honored to have the Consul General of China, Mr. HONG Lei come speak to a room of over 80 attendees about the importance of US-Sino relationships. Our other featured speakers, Mr. Carl R. Tannenbaum, Chief Economist of Northern Trust and Ms. Belinda Deng, Partner of Finance Advisory at PwC, both are known for their expertise in Chinese business and global economy.

2016 has without a doubt been a year that kept everyone on its toes, especially on a political and economical level. Over the last few months the world has lifted itself out of its seat and taken a keen eye regarding the change that has recently happened in the US administration. All eyes are on President Trump and how his actions will affect US’s relationship with its key partnering countries.

There is optimism that 2017 will remain a good year for US-Sino relationships. Our first speaker was the Consul General of China Mr. HONG Lei who believes that historically there has been a very solid base for US-Sino relations over the past four decades. Many efforts, in all circles of life, have been working towards solidification of economical, cultural, and educational relations. We can now enjoy a robust relationship between our countries through these achievements. The healthy US-Sino relationship has benefited the people in both nations and those in the Asia Pacific region as well as around the world. Mr. Hong believes both countries would share a consensus to maintain a strong relationship albeit the near-term uncertainties in light of the new administration in the US.

Sharing similar perspectives as Mr. HONG Lei, our other two speakers Mr. Tannenbaum and Ms. Deng also laid out their thoughts and positive outlook of the US foreign and trade policies. Both speakers believe that a balanced and multi-facet view and approach of the new administration would lead to a win-win outcome for all countries involved, while any trade wars would have adverse impact on everyone.

Mr. Tannenbaum went on and mentioned that President Trump had begun his presidency addressing conflicts with our trading partners. There is a huge importance in having a positive global trade because it provides more choices to the consumer, better employment, while also providing countries a chance to specialize, and further enhancing markets by making companies even more profitable.

Ms. Deng stated that if President Trump indeed imposed the proposed punitive tariff on China imports, China GDP growth could be reduced by nearly 1.5%. This would add to the challenges that faces the Chinese economy during the current transitioning period. If China decided to retaliate against a potential trade war, US economy would suffer as well with rising inflation, declined purchasing power, and increased unemployment. She believes the best solution is to embrace cooperation and not to start a trade war.

With a successful 2016 wrapped up for CFAA, we want to thank Consul General HONG Lei, Mr. Carl Tannenbaum, and Ms. Belinda Deng for speaking at our 2017 Chinese New Year reception. CFAA has and will continue to create value to our members and guests via various events and programs. We thank you for your support and interests. More to come in the future!

CFAA Spotlight | What Might a Trade War between America and China Look Like?

What might a trade war between America and China look like? The big fear here is that Mr Trump decides to bypass WTO rules, or ditch them altogether after a decision does not go his way.

America is an Asian power when it wants to be, Beijing will suggest, while China is the power that never leaves.

China cultivates ties with Ivanka, Kushner to find smooth path to Trump

KKR is merging its hedge fund of funds business KKR Prisma with a larger rival, Paamco, in a deal that highlights the difficult hunt for growth in a once-hot area of the hedged fund industry.

“Rick”, the service man responsible for carrying the “nuclear football.”?! Richard DeAgazio live blogged Trump’s Mar-A-Lago golf outing with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

 

Job Board

  Manager, Tax & Fund Administration
Thornburg Investment Management

Head of Asia Fund Sales – Hong Kong

Credit Fund Risk Analyst
Wall Street Options, LLC

Buyside Commodity Market Risk Associate
Ashton Lane Group

Associate Analyst I
Moody’s Corporation

Researcher – Investment Banking
William Blair & Company, L.L.C

Sr. Credit & Liquidity Risk Associate
Chicago Mercantile Exchange

Quantitative Trader
Spark Investment Management LLC

Senior Accountant 
Chicago Mercantile Exchange

Quantitative Loss Forecasting Model Validation
Ashton Lane Group

         Upcoming Events

            February 23, 2017 

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs | The New Asian Security Landscape

           February 25, 2017 

ACSE – Chinese New Year Dinner Party

           March 01, 2017 

CFA Society Chicago | Distinguished Speaker Series: Richard Driehaus

           March 02, 2017

CFAA Member Only Event

           March 07, 2017 

CFA Society Chicago | Investing for the Long-Term

         April 29, 2017 

Booth’s Emerging Markets Summit

CFAA Chinese New Year Reception – The Future of China-US Relations in the Trump Era

Event Description:

The year 2016 was marked with a series of eventful political developments including the UK’s decision to leave the European Union and Donald Trump’s election to be the US’s 45th President, as well as continued geopolitical risks globally. Despite the relatively volatile political environment and mounting uncertainties on the policy impact across major countries, global capital markets showed increased optimism over a reflationary US economy and an improved China growth in 2017. However, questions remain on what the Trump administration could and will do in the critical areas such as infrastructure spending, tax reform and immigration policies from a domestic perspective, and perhaps more importantly, what the new administration may do related to the trade and foreign policies. The latter would have a profound and direct impact on China economy, US-China relations, and the regional economic prosperity and political stability in Asia Pacific. And what may be sensible ad effective economic policies from the Chinese government and strategies from the private sector to address these uncertainties and changes amid China’s own growing economic and environmental challenges?

We are pleased to invite two global economy and China business experts Mr. Carl R. Tannenbaum, Chief Economist of Northern Trust and Ms. Belinda Deng, Partner of Finance Advisory at PwC to share their insights at our 2017 Chinese New Year Reception. You will also have a great opportunity to network with other finance professionals and enjoy some fun time at the reception to celebrate the year of Rooster.

 

Featured Speakers:

HONG Lei

Consul General of China to Chicago

Carl R. Tannenbaum

Executive Vice President and Chief Economist, Northern Trust

Belinda Deng

Partner – Finance Advisory, PwC

Moderated by Hong Cheng, CFA, Senior Investment Analyst at Morningstar Investment Management LLC

 

Speakers’ Bio:

Carl Tannenbaum is the Chief Economist for Northern Trust. Prior to joining Northern Trust, Carl led a team at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago whose charter was to analyze financial risk, its implication for the broad economy and policy choices to address it. He served as the head of the entire Federal Reserve System’s risk group in Washington for a year, working closely with Federal Reserve System Governors and senior officials. Preceding his work at the Federal Reserve, Carl served as chief economist and head of balance sheet management at LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO, where he worked for 24 years.

He received a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics and a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago. He is a past chairman of the Conference of Business Economists and also a past president of the National Association for Business Economics and the North American Asset/Liability Management Association.

 

Belinda Deng is a partner with 11 years of experience with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Finance consulting practice. She serves clients crossing a wide-range of business sectors in China, Hong Kong and USA. Belinda’s primary area of focus is a full value of chain finance management consulting, finance strategy, finance operation transformation and organization. Prior to this, Belinda worked as advisory partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong Office from 2005 to 2016, Assistant CFO for ZTE Corporation, BU Business Controller for Motorola Solutions for 11 years.

Belinda received her bachelor’s degree in Accounting and MBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Chicago.

 

Agenda:

5:00 – 6:15 pm Registration & Reception (H’orderves & Beverages Served)
6:15 – 6:30 pm Speech by Chinese Consulate General
6:30 – 7:30 pm Formal speeches by Carl Tannenbaum and Belinda Deng
7:30 – 8:00 pm Q&A and Conclusion

 

Date and Time:

Monday, Feb 13, 2017

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

 

Location:

French Room, 7th Floor, Union League Club of Chicago,

65 W Jackson Blvd,

Chicago, IL 60604

 

CFAA WeChat ID: cfaa_chicago
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