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.

As the landscape of investments undergoes a remarkable shift with 'alternatives' taking center stage, the CAIA Association is taking a leadership role in the development of a modernized and relevant set of fiduciary practices for investment professionals and capital allocators to embrace. With the launch of our Open Comment Period on March 5, we invited all stakeholders to join us on this transformative journey, recognizing the need for principles that not only align with the industry's current trajectory but also lay the groundwork for a sustainable and responsible future for alternative investments.

Today, ESG is no longer just an acronym but a reality, expected to reach a third of assets under management by 2025. It is spreading across all asset classes, including the less liquid ones. ESG now defines the new frontier of alternative investments. Our speakers had a lively discussion on the recent trends in alternative investments, how ESG impacts the alternative investment business and the important role of data.

An increasing number of allocators are looking to European private credit, both as a diversifier to US direct lending and a return driver, in its own right. This educational seminar unpacked key areas of the market, ranging from European direct lending to non-sponsor, to real estate lending, specialty finance and everything in between. Along the way, we discussed the risk/return profile of each segment and specific considerations when allocating to this space. We also discussed the impact of some of the key macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, such as the war in Ukraine and a rate-raising campaign by central banks.

We covered reading materials, study tools, preparation for exam day, the demo exam and a review of the testing options. FDP Candidates have two options for taking the FDP Exam:

Option 1: Prometric Test Center (April 10-23, 2023)
Option 2: Remote Proctor Testing: (April 23 & 24, 2023)

FDPI Senior Advisor, Hossein Kazemi and Project & General Operations Manager, Kim Durand shared how you can obtain your Financial Data Professional credential.

Learn more about the Financial Data Professional Charter. There's never been a more crucial time to stand out. The transformative effect of data science on the finance industry requires today's finance professionals to understand the application of big data, data mining, workflow automation and machine learning in investment decisions. Founder of Pearl Quest LLC, Kathryn Wilkens, PhD, CAIA, and Project & General Operations Manager, Kim Durand shared how you can obtain your Financial Data Professional credential.

Leadership is the most important driver of company performance and, therefore, a fundamental component of Operational Alpha. Yet, despite leadership’s contribution to investment returns and the significant effort by private equity firms to articulate their value creation credentials, evidence suggests that GPs’ efforts to measure and optimise portfolio leadership are often unstructured and deprioritised – a paradox for an industry that is supposedly obsessed with, and paid for, performance.

We invited Dr. Ashby Monk and Josh Lewsey to delve further into this topic and explore what opportunities exist to enhance operational alpha across the various investment levels of asset owners, GPs and investee companies.

In this episode, hosts Bill Kelly, CAIA CEO and Steven Novakovic, Managing Director, CAIA Curriculum examines commitment strategies - the challenges and opportunities, and the fear of the unknown.

In this episode our hosts continue to examine commitment strategies, the challenges, and opportunities, as well as liquidity and the fear of the unknown. Listen in.

This episode is all about performance. Our hosts discuss “what have you done for me lately?” through the lens of alternative investment, in particular - private equity, the j-curve, capital calls, and capital returns. Listen in.

Developing reliable and intuitive interpretation is essential for the application of machine learning to investing. This presentation discussed a framework for decomposing any machine learning model into linear, nonlinear, and interaction effects that drive both prediction and performance. With a case study of predicting US large cap stock returns, this presentation showed how the "Model Fingerprint" tool enables practitioners to summarize key characteristics, similarities and differences among different models, thereby enhancing their understanding of the market.

In this revealing episode, hosts Bill Kelly, CAIA CEO and Steven Novakovic, Managing Director, CAIA Curriculum discuss the evolution of allocating alternative investments as a science or art — or both?! Listen in!