Multimedia Library

Hear our expert staff and Members speak on topics ranging from practical strategies in hedge fund investing to the importance of education in the alternatives space.

The proliferation of semi-liquid fund structures has grown substantially over the past decade, as GPs have sought new ways to offer private markets to the wealth management channel.

Adoption has simultaneously increased from investors seeking exposure to private markets while maintaining operational and tax efficiency.

Where is the interest? Where are funds being raised and in which asset classes? Is there more innovation on the horizon?

This discussion sought to answer these questions, focusing on the data and trends found in popular fund vehicles such as interval funds, tender offer funds, business development companies, and non-traded REITs.

Topic: Secondary Venture Capital Investments

A secondary market transaction in venture capital (VC) is a transaction in which shareholders in a private VC-backed company sell their stock to an investor. Secondary transactions give shareholders in private companies an opportunity to liquidate some or all of their shares. Liquidity allows early investors to secure a return on their investments and gives employee shareholders the chance to cash in their equity compensation prior to an exit transaction, such as an initial public offering (IPO) or an acquisition.

The secondary market is one of the few spaces in the alternative investment universe that is considered countercyclical. What are the drivers at play today that have led to the volume, quality, and attractiveness of opportunity in the VC secondary space? How do investors approach this asset class and make considerations for portfolio implementation?

Hear Stephen West, Managing Director, StepStone Group, answer these questions and more.

Private debt has been one of the fastest-growing private market strategies since the global financial crisis. What once was a niche strategy pursued by hedge funds and private equity GPs has grown into a diverse and standalone industry. This panel discussion covers the evolution of the industry, current themes, considerations, and approaches to implementation for clients seeking differentiated income and diversification. We also discuss CAIA Association’s recently announced learning platform, UniFi by CAIA™ which targets the education gap in the Wealth Management Industry, as well as our newly released Private Debt Microcredential.

Are you a CFA charterholder? Earning the CAIA designation, the global benchmark of alternative investment education, stacked with your CFA charter, provides a powerful boost to your alts knowledge and your industry credibility. This exclusive "Ask Us Anything" Virtual Q&A session was the perfect opportunity to hear from the CAIA Team about the CFA Stackable Credential Program. Questions were answered about eligibility, applying for the program, the CAIA Level II curriculum, and tips to ensure a successful exam experience! Nelson Lacey, PhD, Senior Associate Director of Exams, Steven Novakovic, CAIA, CFA, Managing Director, CAIA Curriculum, and Mirjam Dekker, Director of Candidate and Member Relations answered to all of your important questions in preparation for earning the CAIA Charter.

Preparing for, taking, and passing the CAIA exams is challenging — and for good reason! A CAIA Charterholder represents a demonstrated level of competency and an unwavering commitment to a set of ethical standards critical for client-focused fiduciaries. CAIA's EVP, John Bowman, CFA, Managing Director, CAIA Curriculum, Steven Novakovic, CAIA, CFA, and Director of Candidate and Member Relations, Mirjam Dekker, hosted an "Ask Us Anything" virtual Q & A session for an exclusive opportunity to ask any questions about the CAIA exam and navigating the path to becoming a CAIA Charterholder. Learn from other participants' questions and hear a few tips for ensuring a successful exam experience! This session was open to all who were interested in learning more about either the Level I or Level II CAIA exam.

In this webinar, we introduced you to Riskfolio-Lib, a powerful open-source library for portfolio optimization in Python created by Dany Cajas. Riskfolio-Lib provides a range of portfolio optimization techniques, risk management tools, and performance analytics to help investors design and manage their portfolios effectively. Dany Cajas demonstrated some popular use cases and discussed with FDP Charterholder, Cordell Tanny how this library has evolved. It includes not only traditional methods of optimization, but also contains some of the most modern techniques available.

Many cutting-edge and AI/ML technologies have matured from R&D into robust tools in the past few years. Successful applications tend to be correctly scoped to provide immediate impact (3-6 months) to resolve existing bottlenecks, and by re-imagining a fresh approach on ‘how things are done’, through re-working of critical but implicit/unquestioned assumptions. This talk between Dr. Hossein Kazemi, FDP Institute and Dr. Gary Wong, Artemis AG focused on applying Deep Neural Net (DNN) on 2 areas.

Private debt is an enormously popular alternative investment asset. Given its volume history and upward trajectory, there is no wonder why private wealth management teams find it compelling.

Master this in-demand industry knowledge with the UniFi by CAIA™ Private Debt Microcredential.

In this session, we shared why this microcredential is designed specifically to meet the private debt educational needs of the broader private wealth management industry, including asset management/GP distribution, intermediaries, and independent financial advisors.

We also gave an "inside look" at a private debt module and how to access the UniFi by CAIA™ platform to get started immediately!

The market for secondary investments has dramatically shifted in recent years with the evolution of GP led transactions. CAIA Philadelphia hosted a panel discussion that dove into the myths and realities around alignment of interests, trophy versus tail end assets, and buyer and seller motivations.

Nowadays, the availability of alternative data and their adoption in the asset management industry to improve investment decision processes is a widespread alternative approach. It comes with the help of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques that allow the processing of these data, reducing their noise, and converging Big Data into Smart Data.

Russ Goyenko discussed with Dr. Hossein Kazemi how long-term investors should form portfolios. They delved into how they should evaluate securities, portfolios, and managers. Watch to learn more about how they adapt to time-varying expected returns, volatilities, correlations, and many factors, signals, and strategies.

APAC’s Compliance and Regulatory Landscape continues to evolve. With impacts from western regulatory leaders increasingly being adopted, alongside homegrown developments, fast-paced integration and change is certainly seen throughout the APAC. This too is presenting a more unified field and robust framework across the industry.

To learn more, watch to hear from ComplianceAsia’s Founder and CEO – Philippa Allen – as she shared her insights on core themes impacting the field, touched on recent enforcement trends, spotlighted advancements in cybersecurity, AML, and took us through suggestions on what’s likely ahead.

Philippa’s presentation was followed by a conversation moderated by CAIA’s APAC Managing Director, Jo Murphy where themes showcased during the presentation were discussed and audience questions addressed.