AS JUNE WELCOMES LONGER WARM SUMMER DAYS, it also officially closes off another successful awards and conference season. Our Society volunteers and their staff liaisons worked together this past season to offer relevant and thought-provoking programming designed to provide our membership with key insights and updates on the latest financial industry trends from seasoned leaders. Most notably, our two marquee events—the Annual Spring Pension Conference and the Annual Wealth Conference—brought together the finance community to share leading-edge ideas through thoughtful sessions and meaningful panel discussions.

2019 ANNUAL PENSION CONFERENCE

On March 28, we hosted our Annual Pension Conference at the Toronto Board of Trade. The focus of this year’s conference was on providing practitioners with the latest updates on issues affecting the Canadian pension industry and the markets where it invests, and we invited a series of speakers, knowledgeable in a range of various subjects. Our invitees shared their insights, and provided perspectives on how practitioners can better negotiate adversity as we enter an environment with increased market volatility and uncertainty surrounding disruptive forces.

2019 ANNUAL WEALTH CONFERENCE

On May 1, we welcomed a panel of wealth management experts to our Annual Wealth Conference. We asked them to share their insights and to address the kinds of issues that come out of an increasingly volatile environment. In general, our speakers shared the same advice: as the role of advisors becomes more difficult, it’s more important than ever to ensure clients understand the risks associated with their financial plans. Popular topics of the day included the following:

• How to communicate with your clients about risk;
• What risks keep high-net-worth investors up at night;
• The risk of not speaking to clients about topics like philanthropy and impact investing;
• A review of the latest tools and approaches to use in accessing a client’s willingness and ability to take risk in their portfolio; and
• A discussion of the latest trends and structures required to meet clients’ philanthropic objectives.

For those who were unable to make it out to the conferences, I hope you had the opportunity to attend some of our other events this past spring. Our dedicated team prioritizes member services, and we’re open to your feedback—and encourage it. With that said, this summer, our team will be shifting gears to plan for the upcoming programming year. On behalf of the CFA Society Toronto team, we hope you have a well-deserved summer of relaxation, and we look forward to seeing you in the new programming year.