Crane Data, which publishes the Money Fund Intelligence newsletter and produces Money Fund Symposium, the largest annual gathering of money fund and money market professionals, announces the launch of Bond Fund Symposium, the first conference devoted entirely to bond mutual funds. Crane's Bond Fund Symposium will be held March 23-24, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Boston. BFS will bring together bond fund managers, marketers, and professionals with fixed-income issuers, investors and service providers. We review the preliminary agenda and details below, and we also give an update on our 2017 conference calendar, including next month's Money Fund University in Jersey City (1/19-20/17). (As a reminder, please make hotel reservations this week if you plan on attending MFU.)
Crane Data, which is celebrating the second anniversary of its Bond Fund Intelligence publication and BFI XLS bond fund information service and benchmarks, continues to expand its fixed income fund offerings with the launch of our first conference in this space. Bond Fund Symposium will offer fixed-income portfolio managers, bond investors, issuers, dealers and service providers a concentrated and affordable educational experience, as well as an excellent and informal networking venue. Registration for Bond Fund Symposium is $500; exhibit space is $2,000 (includes 2 tickets); and sponsorship opportunities are $3K, $4K, $5K and $6K. Our mission is to deliver the best possible conference content at an affordable price to bond fund professionals and investors.
The morning of Day One of the inaugural BFS agenda includes: Welcome to Bond Fund Symposium with Peter Crane, President & Publisher, Crane Data; Keynote: PIMCO's Short-Term Strategies with Jerome Schneider, Managing Director PIMCO; Segmenting the Ultra-Short Bond Market, moderated by Crane and featuring Teresa Ho, Executive Director of J.P. Morgan Securities, Michael Morin, Director Inst. Port. Mgmt. at Fidelity Investments, and Dave Martucci of J.P. Morgan A.M.; Bond Strategist: Outlook for Rates & Spreads with Michael Cloherty, Head of Rates Strategy at RBC Capital Markets; and, Ratings & Risks in Bond Funds, with Roger Merritt, Managing Director if Fitch Ratings.
Day One's afternoon agenda includes: Senior Portfolio Manager Perspectives, moderated by Crane with Rob Galusza, PM of Fidelity Investments, Sue Hill, Senior Portfolio Manager at Federated Investors, and Joanne Driscoll, Portfolio Manager of Putnam Investments; Major Issues in Fixed-Income Investing, moderated by Alex Roever of J.P. Morgan Securities and featuring: Tony Wong of Invesco and Jeff Weaver of Wells Fargo Funds; ETF Trends: Fund Usage, Issues & ETF Investors with a speaker from BlackRock and Shawn McNinch of Brown Brothers Harriman; and, Bond Index Funds & Indexes with Joshua Barrickman of the Vanguard Group and Brandon Bettencourt of Fidelity Investments.
Day Two's agenda includes: State of the Bond Fund Marketplace with Peter Crane of Crane Data, Sean Collins, Senior Director of the Investment Company Institute, and Ed Baldry, EMEA CEO of Institutional Cash Distributors; Regulatory Update: Liquidity, Fees & More with Stephen Cohen, Partner of Dechert LLP and John Hunt, Partner with Sullivan & Worcester LLP; Government Bond Fund Roundtable with Michael Salm of Putnam and Sue Hill from Federated.
The second day also features: Corporate Bonds & Intermediate Bond Funds with Sean Rhoderick, CIO Taxable Fixed-Income at PNC Capital Advisors, and another speaker to be determined; Municipal Bond Fund Issues with Kristian Lind, Senior VP at Neuberger Berman and Doug McGinley Portfolio Manager at Fidelity Investments; High Yield Bond Fund Update with Craig Brandon of Eaton Vance and James Keenan of BlackRock; and, Bond Fund Data, Statistics & Ratings with Peter Crane and Roger Merritt of Fitch Ratings. (Note: The agenda is still somewhat in flux and some of our speakers have yet to confirm their participation.)
Portfolio managers, analysts, investors, issuers, service providers, and anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of bond funds and fixed-income investing should benefit from our comprehensive program. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hyatt Regency Boston. We'd like to thank our sponsors to date (some are still tentative) –- BlackRock, Fitch Ratings, Federated, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Invesco, S&P Global Ratings, and Fidelity -- for their support, and we continue to seek additional sponsors and speakers. E-mail Pete Crane (pete@cranedata.com) for more details.
Crane Data is also making final preparations and still accepting registrations for our "basic training" Money Fund University. Our seventh annual MFU will be held at the Westin Jersey City Newport, Jersey City, NJ, January 19-20, 2017. Crane's Money Fund University is designed for those new to the money market fund industry or those in need of a concentrated refresher on the basics. The event also focuses on hot topics like money market regulations, money fund alternatives, offshore markets, and other recent industry trends. For those attending, please make hotel reservations ASAP; our discounted room rates expire early this week.
Finally, mark your calendars for our "big show," Money Fund Symposium, which will be held June 21-23, 2017, at the Atlanta Hyatt Regency. Watch for the preliminary agenda in coming weeks at www.moneyfundsymposium.com and let us know if you'd like more details on sponsoring this event. We are also still finalizing the location and dates for our next European Money Fund Symposium, but we're tentatively scheduled for Sept. 25-26, 2017, in Paris, France. Watch for more details in the coming weeks.... Happy Holidays and New Year, and we hope to see you at one of our events in 2017!
