Anyone available to travel to the Caymans in October should consider adding this conference to their itinerary. The topic this year is money and its future. I am confirmed to participate, though the rest of the roster of featured speakers makes it far more worth your time. There promises to be some really good, really important discussions and presentations.  It is organized by the CFA Society Cayman Islands.

LINK TO Cayman CFA Society

 

EVENT OVERVIEW

Money may be about to change, again. This investment forum will look at money, its history, the reserve currency of the world, money in the shadows, the reserve currency of history, and cryptocurrency.  A persuasive case can be made that we are on the cusp of a new monetary era.  Prominent examples of the changing nature of money include: cryptocurrencies are watercooler conversation, central banks halted and then reversed a 20-year streak of selling gold, Sweden is nearly cashless, Kenyans use mobile-phone money called M-Pesa, and India blazed a path to electronic-currency by demonetizing 95% of cash in circulation.  Money’s future, like its past, will be divided and uneven.  But after this investment forum you will be better informed about the challenges and opportunities ahead.

CFA Society Cayman Islands is pleased to announce its flagship event, the Cayman Investment Forum, a regional conference that brings together thought leaders, financial executives, and investors.  The 5thAnnual Cayman Investment Forum will feature prominent international speakers who will share their thoughts on the future of money and what it will look like in the future.

The Forum will be held on 11 October 2017 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.  This will be a half-day event, starting with lunch, and will be followed by a networking reception.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Jeffrey P. Snider, The Rise and Fall of Shadow Money and Dark Leverage

As we perceive it, the nighttime sky is made up of starlight, planets and gasses.  And yet, it is the dark matter and dark energy in between that accounts for the vast majority of mass-energy content.  The same is true of our global monetary system.  Money that we know – dollars, euros, gold – are merely the pinpricks of light in an otherwise black sky of monetary dark matter.  This vast body of shadow ‘money’ has various aliases: eurodollars, wholesale funding, credit-based capital.  Like dark energy it is not directly observed and its existence is disputed.  Mr. Snider will reveal the bewildering true story of money that first assimilated the global economy, and then, on August 9, 2007 began to decompose and with it our finances, economy and politics.

Mr. Snider is Head of Global Investment Research for Alhambra Investment Partners.  He is published nationally at Seeking Alpha, RealClear Markets, Zero Hedge, NewsMax and Yahoo! Finance. 

 

Simon Mikhailovich, Gold: History’s Reserve Currency

When facts change, so should the strategy. With rates, asset values and debt levels at their all-time records, traditional diversification practices no longer reflect today’s realities. Dispassionate assessment of the pitfalls specific to the current economic and investing conditions reveals the need for new thinking and calls for portfolio inclusion of the truly uncorrelated assets, such as physical gold.

Mr. Mikhailovich is the co-founder of Tocqueville Bullion Reserve where he manages private bullion holdings on behalf of institutional and private clients.

 

 

Luke Gromen, Is the US Dollar Monopoly Expiring?

Money is a political instrument. The United States has employed its dollar to maintain a political monopoly in the pricing of commodities. But monopolies do not last forever. Mr. Gromen will put forward his thrilling thesis that will take us from the halls of power in Moscow and Beijing to the oil fields of Iran. By weaving together the disparate threads of recent international agreements, bilateral currency transactions and futures contracts a coherent tapestry emerges that reveals a picture similar to the late 1960s. Back then the signs were there that the global monetary order was on the verge of revolution. Mr. Gromen will show that the signs are here again.

Mr. Gromen is the founder of Forest for the Trees, a macro/thematic research firm catering to institutions and high net worth individuals.

 

 

Tuur Demeester, Cryptocurrency Capital

Cryptocurrencies represent a new frontier for investors.  Blockchain has been called ‘The New Internet’, Bitcoin has been called ‘Gold 2.0’ and the technological revolution that propels it all has been compared to the combustion engine and the Internet revolution.  When properly understood, this technology can act as a unique insurance policy against an increasingly unstable financial system, as a countercyclical hedge in your speculative portfolio, or, for the risk-tolerant investor, as a rational bet on early retirement.  Mr. Demeester will explain what cryptocurrencies are, describe their value proposition, note the risks and speculate about a future in which private currencies play an increasingly prominent role. 

Mr. Demeester, an independent investor, commentator, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Adamant Research.  

 

Rebecca Spang, When Money Changes (and Why)

Money today seems to be changing faster than ever.  National moneys—the norm for the past two centuries—face serious challenges from transnational currencies such as the euro and non-national, private currencies like bitcoin.  The Indian government’s demonetization of 500- and 1000-rupee banknotes invalidated 86% of currency in circulation; meanwhile, policymakers in the United States and European Union have argued for demonetizing large-denomination bills as a way of fighting crime and tax evasion.  In places as far flung as Kenya, China, Poland, and Spain, mobile technologies have disrupted traditional banking practices.  Professor’s Spang will put these changes in historical perspective and draw on earlier episodes of monetary transformation to suggest their implications for investors and governments alike.

Ms. Spang is Professor of History at Indiana University, where she regularly teaches about the history of money and directs the Liberal Arts and Management Program.  She is the author of the prize-winning Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution published by Harvard University Press.