There are two very distinct ways to think of the hedge fund managers meeting right now in Boca Raton for the annual GAIM USA conference. If you side with the Occupy Palm Beach protesters, you believe that they're responsible for the global financial crisis and that they serve as "pawns and agents of the global elite."
If you listen to the hedge fund managers, they too have been victims of a downturn. Consider Ash Williams, who oversees public pension funds with the Florida State Board of Administrators. When the Wall Street Journal asked Williams if hedge fund managers can sleep at night, he responded: "I suspect we sleep like babies. We wake up every hour and we cry ourselves back to sleep."
Still not sure whether they're villains or victims? Here then is a breakdown of the conference's schedule for today, with a bit of unbiased background to help you decide.
8:45 a.m.
Opening remarks from conference chairman Alan J. Andreini
Background:
There are financial roller coasters, and then there's the financial
equivalent of driving off a cliff, like what happened at Brencourt
Advisors LLC, where Andreini is chairman of the executive committee.
Back in the heady days of 2007, Brencourt controlled $2.4 billion in
assets, mostly in stocks and credit markets. You can probably see where
this is going: Brencourt imploded in 2008, with a 17 percent loss.
Investors fled and pulled out $2 billion, mostly in a year's time. Fund
manager William Collins told the Journal
he wasn't prepared for the financial crisis. "As you're growing assets,
your job is to not fall for that sugar. But we all did."
Good versus
evil: Brencourt banked its profits on acquisitions and swooping in after
bankruptcies, a risky practice that turned sour quickly when the
economy collapsed. But then again, who else saw this coming?
9 a.m.
Industry
Panel: Asset Flows, Capacity, and the Impact of the Next Phase of
Institutionalization -- What Directions Will the Hedge Fund Industry
Take in 2012 and Beyond?
Background: Among the speakers is Afsaneh
Beschloss, president and CEO of the Rock Creek Group and owner of one of
the most stacked résumés from the GAIM conference. Beschloss
previously served as a managing director at the Carlyle Group, which has
taken flack for being partly owned by the nation of Abu Dhabi.
Before that, she was treasurer and chief investment officer at the
World Bank Group, managing $65 billion in assets for an organization
that's both beloved and hated the world over. Oh, and she also worked
for J.P. Morgan, one of the regular targets of the Occupy protesters,
especially for its lavish compensation for executives.
Good
versus evil: If you're the type to think money managers do no good, you
will do no better finding an example of the industry. If you think
that's a load of dung, then you'll be impressed that she has an
economics degree from Oxford and is married to presidential historian
Michael Beschloss.
11 a.m.
The Resolution or Persistence of Global Macroeconomic Imbalances: Consequences for Economic Growth?
Background:
The esteemed panel includes Oliver Fratzcher, formerly of Caisse de
Depot et Placement du Quebeck, formerly of the World Bank, formerly of
Deutsche Bank, formerly of ABN Amro Bank in London. His bio also boasts
that he served earlier in his career as an economist at the
International Monetary Fund, meaning he likely helped formulate his
economic policies at an organization either seen as a global stabilizer
for our economy or the pawn of big business looking to rape Third World
countries.
Good versus evil: If you've closed your checking account in
favor of a credit union to protest big banks, then surely you don't like
this guy. Bank of America still going well? You and Oliver could be
pals.
1:45 p.m.
How Robust is Your Alpha?
Background: A
featured panelist here is Ronen Schwartzman, founder and CEO of Ten
Capital Advisors. Schwartzman is a former special-ops intelligence
officer in the Israeli Air force and spent four years with Bear Stearns
managing equity and fixed-income portfolios for businesses and
individuals.
Good versus evil: Did you catch that part in the bio about Bear Stearns? Nobody sank headlong into shaky mortgage securities more than Bear Stearns,
which helped lead to its collapse. Schwartzman and fellow Bear Stearns
executives, meanwhile, now speak at conferences like this one as
financial experts.
2:30 p.m.
Investing in the New Geopolitical Paradigm, with Sami Robbana, head of global macro strategy for Credit Suisse
Background:
If the crowd decides to ask Robbana some tough questions about Credit
Suisse, this session could spill right over to the 4:30 workshops.
Potential topics of discussion: the 2008 tax probe in Brazil that accused Credit Suisse bankers of money laundering; the $536 million fine the bank paid to
the state of New York in 2009 over financial transactions with Iran; or
the Justice Department's ongoing probe into possible tax evasion
charges that some analysts have suggested could result in a $1 billion fine.
Good versus evil: All those Credit Suisse accusations sound just fine if you're
among the 1 percenters looking for a tax shelter. Otherwise, Occupy
protesters could probably make up a few signs dedicated to this session
alone.
4:30 p.m.
After Raj: How Will Insider Trading Convictions of 2011 Impact the Industry and the Way in Which It Does Business in the Future?
Background:
This extended session includes an appearance by Laurence Herman,
general counsel at the Gerson Lehrman Group, a fine organization to talk
about the dangers of insider trading. The group specializes in
providing experts, especially to hedge funds and other investment
companies looking for doctors and scientific brainiacs to offer their
opinions. Gerson Lehrman boasts 50,000 docs who can tell investors what
they think about upcoming pharmaceuticals and whether they ought to make
money. The problem is not everyone believes that doctors working for extra
coin from hedge funds will offer unbiased opinions, with critics charging that the experts will be too concerned with future employment instead of honesty.
Good versus evil: Perhaps Herman is the perfect person to talk about insider
trading and the dangers thereof, and whether that's good or bad depends
on whether you're a hedge fund manager or someone who's lost money from
one.
9 p.m.
Lounge Reception in the Palm Court of the Boca Raton Resort and Club, sponsored by J.P. Morgan Chase
Background:
The firm founded by a man who inspired the rich dude from Monopoly (no
kidding) has had a rough ten years. J.P. Morgan Chase paid an $80 million fine in 2002 for deceiving investors with biased research, settled a class-action lawsuit about its role in Enron by dolling out $2.2 billion, shelled out $2 billion in 2005 for its role in the WorldCom fraud case, settled a probe for $722 million after the company was accused of nearly bankrupting an Alabama county, and overcharged thousands of families of active-duty soldiers on their mortgages, possibly violating federal law and accidentally foreclosing on some of them.
Good versus evil: Even the Monopoly man himself might have trouble defending this record.
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