A Great Opportunity to Learn from a Successful Global Fundamental Investing Veteran
CFAA held its featured distinguished speakers series on October 15th, 2009 at the UBS Tower Conference Center in Chicago. The topic was “Opportunities and Challenges – Insights of Equity Investment in the US and China”, given by Mr. John Leonard, CFA, Global Head of Equities of UBS Global Asset Management with $550 billion assets under management. John focuses on alpha generation and has particular responsibility for the Core/Value investment pillar, overseeing portfolio management and research worldwide. More than fifty attendees, including professionals from financial and related industries, law firms, as well as students and recent graduates, joined the event to interact and seek advice from the expert in global investment management industry.
John started his presentation by describing the investment philosophy that UBS has employed over the past few decades — “buy quality companies at a price below their intrinsic value.” John continued to discuss how return and volatility have evolved for different asset classes in history, a vivid way for the audience to get a general feeling of how people should look at the relative risk and reward profile for investments. There was a strong interest in the Q&A session where various topics were addressed, including the outlook for the US economy, China equity and real estate market, potential re-evaluation of both USD and RMB, and the career development opportunities for those who are interested in the asset management industry, etc. John also shared his personal views and observations on the Chinese economy and real estate market based on his recent trip to Hong Kong and mainland China.
The panel discussion received very positive feedback and strong interest from the attendees with several great follow-up questions. John provided his insights for all of those questions and also left his professional contact information to those who were interested, a very important channel for our CFAA members to continue to learn from industry experts as part of their career development.
