With the theme, “Obtain the Accredited Investment Fiduciary Designation, the Global Standard for Fiduciary Excellence,” the conference pooled together investment experts, finance professionals, and key decision makers in the Asia-Pacific region.
In an interview with Variety, MPLT board chairman Alvaro A. Santos said, “Attending conferences and advance trainings are requisites to MPLT trustees’ continuing education on fiduciary responsibilities, technical knowledge on investment portfolio management, search/selection of investment managers, performance evaluation techniques, interpreting performance and related financial reports, and many other facets of investment.”
Santos said the Accredited Investment Fiduciary training they attended was “quite technical and requires testing in the end.”
He also said the trustees also learned about investment industry pitfalls that can and should be avoided.
This, he said, can only be accomplished through continuing education.
Santos told Variety, “Awareness of economic conditions in other jurisdictions and how investment management is handled in a global environment is a challenge in itself among other intricacies of the investment industry. Trustees must master fiduciary care and investment management in order to be effective in their role as fiduciaries.”
Among those who attended the conference were Santos, Vice Chairman Melchor J. Mendiola Jr., trustee Peter Q. Cruz, trustee and former House speaker Pedro R. Deleon Guerrero, MPLT office manager Bobbie Ann Reyes, board consultant Bruce M. MacMillan, and legal counsel Robert Torres.
Organized by the Asia Pacific Association for Fiduciary Studies or APAFS, the conference is the biggest investment conference to be organized by APAFS as it recently partnered up with Fi360™ Accredited Investment Fiduciary®.
The gathering of experts and trustees across the region featured Fi360™ president and chief executive officer Blaine Aikin as keynote speaker.
Aikin, who holds such designations as Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst™ or AIFA, Certified Financial Planner or CFP and Chartered Financial Analyst or CFA, is acknowledged as the primary architect of the AIFA® program and a major contributor to the development of the fiduciary excellence concept.
Aikin holds a master of public management and policy degree from Heinz School of Carnegie-Mellon University. He was selected to the prestigious Presidential Management Intern Program that involved management assignments in the US Department of Treasury and US Senate.
Among the topics discussed in the conference were capturing opportunities and managing risks in emerging markets, fiduciary asset management, currencies and role of gold, stepping up the standards to fiduciary excellence, global fixed income investing, defined contribution retirement plans, hedge funds, and bond markets.
For more information on the conference and APAFS, go to www.apafs.org.
