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, is making plans and taking registrations for our third annual Bond Fund Symposium conference. Crane's Bond Fund Symposium will be held March 25-26, 2019 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. Our second event last year in Los Angeles attracted 120 bond fund managers, marketers, fixed-income issuers, investors and service providers, and we expect our Philadelphia show to be even bigger. We review the preliminary agenda (which is still a work in progress) and details below, and we also give an update on our 2019 conference calendar, including Money Fund University in Stamford, Conn. (1/17-18/19) and our big show, Money Fund Symposium in Boston (6/24-26/19). We also review the sessions involving money markets at next week's AFP Annual Conference, which starts Sunday in Chicago. (We hope to see you there!)
Crane Data, which will celebrate the fourth anniversary of its Bond Fund Intelligence publication and BFI XLS bond fund information service and benchmarks next month, continues to expand its fixed income fund product offerings. We are preparing to launch Bond Fund Intelligence Daily with Daily Assets, NAVs, and Yields for selected bond funds on the universe of bond funds tracked by Crane Data. Last year, we launched Bond Fund Wisdom, a product suite which includes our new Bond Fund Portfolio Holdings data.
Our Bond Fund Symposium offers a concentrated and affordable educational experience, as well as an excellent and informal networking venue. Registration for Bond Fund Symposium is $750; 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 a reasonable price to bond fund professionals and investors.
The morning of BFS's Day One agenda includes: State of the Bond Fund Marketplace, with Bob Ostrowski, of Federated Investors and George Bory of Wells Fargo Securities; Keynote Discussion: Ultra-Shorts vs. SMAs: Round II with Dave Martucci of J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Jerome Schneider of PIMCO; Bond Market Strategists: Rates, Risks, Spreads, with Mark Cabana of Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Michael Cloherty of RBC Capital Markets; and, Bond Fund Ratings & LGIP Market Update, with Greg Fayvilevich of Fitch Ratings and Peter Rizzo of Standard & Poor's Ratings.
Day One's afternoon agenda includes Senior Portfolio Manager Perspectives, with Julian Potenza of Fidelity Investments (invited), Joseph D'Angelo of PGIM, and a speaker from Payden & Rygel. Also on the agenda: Major Issues in Fixed-Income Investing with Alex Roever from J.P. Morgan Securities as moderator, Morten Olsen of Northern Trust Asset Mgmt., Jeff Weaver of Wells Fargo Funds and Tony Wong of Invesco; and, Fixed‐Income & Near‐Cash ETF Trends featuring James McNerny of J.P. Morgan A.M. and William Goldthwait of State Street Global Advisors. The day concludes with Index Funds in the Bond Space, with a speaker from Vanguard.
Day Two's agenda includes: Regulatory Update: Liquidity & Other Issues with Stephen Cohen of Dechert LLP and John Hunt of Sullivan & Worcester LLP; Government Bond Fund Discussion with Sue Hill of Federated and Peter Crane of Crane Data. The second day also features: Municipal & Taxable Bond Fund Issues with Krisan Lind of Neuberger Berman; and Money Fund Update; Bond Fund Tools & Data with Peter Crane and James Morris of Investortools (Note: The agenda is still in flux and some speakers have yet to confirm their participation. Let us know if you'd be interested in speaking.)
Portfolio managers, analysts, investors, issuers, service providers, and anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of bond funds and fixed-income investing will benefit from our comprehensive program. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Loews Philadelphia. We'd like to thank our 2018 sponsors -- Dechert LLP, Fitch Ratings, Wells Fargo Securities, Fidelity Investments, Investortools, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Wells Fargo Asset Management, S&P Global Ratings, Payden & Rygel, PIMCO, DTCC, INTL FCStone, Goldman Sachs, Invesco, and Barclays -- for their support, and we're still accepting sponsors for our 2019 show. E-mail us for more details.
Crane Data is also making preparations and still accepting registrations for our "basic training" Money Fund University. Our ninth annual MFU will be held at the The Stamford Marriott Hotel in Stamford, Conn., Jan. 17-18, 2019. 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 soon; our discounted room rates expire December 21 or until our room block is filled.
Note: We're continuing our "free Fridays" policy for our Money Fund University (and other conferences) and would like to invite anyone in the Stamford area to attend the final day sessions without a ticket. So feel free to visit the The Stamford Marriott on Friday, Jan. 18, and to "crash" any or all of our sessions, which include Money Fund Regulations: 2a-7 Basics & History, European MMF Reforms & Offshore Funds, Ultra-Short Bond Funds & SMAs, and Money Fund Data & Wisdom Demo/Training.
Also, mark your calendars for our "big show," Money Fund Symposium, which will be held June 24-26, 2019, at the Renaissance Boston in Boston, Mass. 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 have also set the dates and location for our next European Money Fund Symposium, which is scheduled for Sept. 23-24, 2019, in Dublin, Ireland. Watch for more details in early 2019.... We hope to see you at one of our events in 2019!
Finally, money market mutual fund distributors and corporate cash managers are heading to Chicago this weekend for AFP 2018, the Association for Financial Professionals' huge annual gathering of corporate treasurers and cash managers. AFP'18 is being held at Chicago's McCormick Place, Nov. 4-6. AFP is the largest gathering of corporate treasurers in the country, attracting over 5,000 treasury management professionals, as well as a number of large banks and institutional money fund managers.
This year, sessions involving money funds and cash investing include: "Mind the (Yield) Gap: Corporate Cash Strategies for Rising Rate Environments," featuring Anthony Hancox of Garmin International, Jerry Klein and Richard Saperstein of Treasury Partners; "Keep Calm and Carry On: How Corporations are Preparing for European Money Market Fund Reform," with Timothy Kolenda from AbbVie Inc, Guillermo Gualino of Agilent Technologies, and Sara Flour and Reyer Kooy from DWS; and, "The Search for Yield, High Quality and Downside Protection for Corporate Cash Portfolios," with Brandon Hillstead from Autodesk, Linda Ruiz-Zaiko from Bridgebay Financial, and Peter Kaplan from Merganser Capital Management.
AFP also includes the "cash" segments: "Disruption: Distraction or Opportunity? A Look at Today's Liquidity Environment," featuring Matthew Skurbe of Blackstone and Dave Fishman of Goldman Sachs; "The Commercial Paper Market from the Buyer and Issuer Point of View," with Randy Webb of Applied Materials, Benjamin Campbell of Capital Advisors Group, Matthew Frye of Carnegie Mellon University, and Nicholas Ro of Toyota Financial Services; and "Repositioning for Rising Rates," featuring Ruiz-Zaiko, Jack Yue of KLA-Tencor Corporation, and Jim Palmer of U.S. Bancorp Asset Management. We hope to see you in Chicago Sunday or Monday!
