P r e s s   R e l e a s e s

• 02/07/09:
  The EDHEC Robeco Journal of Portfolio Management Award 2009 is presented to Laurence B. Siegel
  At a special session of the EDHEC Institutional Days at the CNIT conference centre in Paris on May 26, EDHEC, Robeco and the Journal of Portfolio Management presented the first EDHEC Robeco Journal of Portfolio Management Award to the author of the academic paper published in the Journal of Portfolio Management in the previous calendar year which, in the opinion of the jury, has had the most relevance for institutional investors. For this inaugural award, the winner is Laurence B. Siegel, author of “Alternatives and Liquidity: Will Spending and Capital Calls Eat Your ‘Modern’ Portfolio?” Mr Siegel’s paper was chosen following a two-stage selection process, firstly involving a panel of academic experts who drew up a shortlist of potential winning papers, and then a final vote from a jury made up of three Chief Investment Officers from leading European pension funds.
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• 25/06/09:
  EDHEC-Risk and Newedge set up research chair on advanced modelling for alternative investments
  EDHEC-Risk and the Prime Brokerage Group at Newedge have announced the creation of a new research chair entitled "Advanced Modelling for Alternative Investments" through which EDHEC researchers will develop advanced modelling techniques that can be used for alternative investment returns. The chair is under the leadership of Lionel Martellini, scientific director of the EDHEC-Risk Centre.
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• 18/06/09:
  EDHEC research shows that institutional investors' short-term constraints are less costly than the lack of genuine risk management strategies
  The results of a new study by EDHEC entitled "Measuring the Benefits of Dynamic Asset Allocation Strategies in the Presence of Liability Constraints", drawn up by Lionel Martellini, scientific director, and Vincent Milhau, research engineer with the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, suggest that it is not so much the presence of funding ratio constraints that is in itself costly for pension funds as their reluctance to implement risk-management strategies that are optimal given such short-term constraints. According to EDHEC, dynamic risk-management strategies can turn irreversible contributions into reversible contributions and short-term constraints into long-term constraints, hence the severe opportunity cost for pension funds that do not follow them.
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• 03/06/09:
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre welcomes distinguished new members to its international advisory board
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is pleased to announce that seven new members have joined its international advisory board, which brings together high-level representatives from regulatory bodies, leading pension funds, professional organisations and business partners. The role of the international advisory board is to validate the relevance and goals of the research programme proposals presented by the centre’s management and to evaluate research outcomes with respect to their potential impact on industry practices. The 36 members of the board also advise on the objectives and contents of projects deriving from the expertise of the research centre, thereby ensuring that graduate and executive programmes remain at the forefront of developments in the marketplace.
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• 27/05/09:
  EDHEC’s annual European ETF Survey confirms that investors are highly satisfied with the features of ETFs
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre has announced the results of the EDHEC European ETF Survey 2009, which presents the results of a comprehensive survey of 360 institutional investors and private wealth managers conducted in January and February 2009. The EDHEC survey also provides an overview of the ETF market and of the mechanisms behind ETFs, and shows how advanced techniques involving dynamic allocation strategies can be carried out with ETFs, in particular to implement the beneficial core-satellite approach to investment.
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• 05/05/09:
  EDHEC and UFG create a research chair on dynamic allocation models and new forms of target-date funds
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and UFG have announced the creation of a new research chair entitled "Dynamic Allocation Models and New Forms of Target-Date Funds for Private and Institutional Clients". The chair will be overseen by a joint UFG/EDHEC steering committee. Researchers at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, under the leadership of Lionel Martellini, the scientific director of the Centre, will examine the limitations of target-date funds of gradually more conservative profiles and the advantages of an asset-liability management approach sensitive to the period and to the economic cycle for target-date funds, in particular for pensions.
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• 28/04/09:
  A new EDHEC report assesses the impact of regulation on the asset-liability management of European pension funds
  A new study produced by the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, entitled “Impact of Regulations on the ALM of European Pension Funds,” analyses the impact of prudential and accounting constraints on the asset-liability management (ALM) of European pension funds in the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, and Switzerland. Among the highlights of this report:
  • The retirement system would be more stable if regulators were more willing to tolerate short-term risk.
  • Pension funds should build internal models for their risk management strategies.
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• 16/04/09:
  EDHEC position paper lists the negative consequences of the short selling ban
  An in-depth study of short-selling activities by EDHEC Finance Professor Abraham Lioui, entitled "The Undesirable Effects of Banning Short Sales," calls into question both the reasons for the decision to ban short selling and the prejudices that weigh on those who short. Among the consequences of the ban that are noted in the EDHEC position paper:
  • Market volatility rose sharply because there was no clarity on the reasons behind the measure.
  • The impact of the ban on market volatility was greater than the impact of the financial crisis.
  • Share prices deviated yet more from their fundamental value.
  • The risk/return possibilities of investors worsened.
  • The desired effect on market trends has not been achieved (no reduction of the negative skewness of returns is being observed) and there is no evidence of the possible impact of this measure on extreme market movements.
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• 30/03/09:
  EDHEC and CASAM partner a research chair on the use of ETFs within a "core-satellite" investment approach
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and Crédit Agricole Structured Asset Management (CASAM) have announced the creation of new research chair entitled "Core-Satellite and ETF Investment". The chair will involve three years of academic research into ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and the use of ETFs as part of a core-satellite approach to asset management. A CASAM/EDHEC advisory board will supervise the work. The team of researchers at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, under the leadership of centre director Noël Amenc, will examine advanced forms of risk budgeting in a dynamic core-satellite approach and the use of these techniques by investors and asset managers.
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• 16/03/09:
  EDHEC to organise the third edition of the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on May 26-27
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre will be staging the third edition of the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on May 26 and 27, 2009. Following the success of the EDHEC Institutional Days 2008, which attracted more than 1,200 delegates, making it the largest conference in Europe for institutional investment management, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre will build on this success in 2009 by presenting a programme with significant added value in terms of both research and business. As such, the 2009 edition will be organised into three major events: the ETF and Indexation Summit, the 3rd edition of which will be devoted to new investment practices with ETFs and new forms of indexation; the EDHEC-Wall Street Journal Europe Global Institutional Investment Conference: the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre will present the results of its research into international institutional investment management with a focus this year on the financial management of sovereign wealth funds and on new solvency constraints and European pension fund management; and the Annual Conference for French Institutional Investment, which will round up the regulatory and technical challenges for French institutional investment.
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• 09/03/09:
  EDHEC survey reveals that investment managers lack sufficient knowledge to manage risk optimally
  In order to obtain feedback from the industry on the findings of the EDHEC European Investment Practices Survey 2008, which showed that current practice in the industry fails to draw on widely-published and freely-available techniques in portfolio management techniques, EDHEC issued a “call for reaction” asking for explanations and ways to improve portfolio construction. When asked for the reasons behind the insufficient application of portfolio construction research to practice and for ways out of the current situation, more than half of the responding industry professionals see the level of knowledge within their profession as the main barrier.
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• 02/03/09:
  EDHEC sets up a research chair in ALM and Sovereign Wealth Fund Management in partnership with Deutsche Bank
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre has created a research chair in "ALM and Sovereign Wealth Fund Management", in partnership with Deutsche Bank, under the scientific responsibility of Professor Lionel Martellini, Scientific Director of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. "The rapid growth of sovereign wealth funds and its implications pose a series of challenges for the international financial markets, but also for sovereign states. The purpose of this research chair is to focus on improving our understanding of optimal investment policy risk management practices for SWFs. In particular, we aim to analyse the optimal investment policy of a SWF in a dynamic ALM framework that will allow us to formalise the impact on the optimal allocation policy induced by the presence of risk factors affecting both the state surplus dynamics and the implicit or explicit liabilities the fund is facing," commented Noël Amenc, Director of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre.
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• 24/02/09:
  EDHEC, Robeco and the Journal of Portfolio Management launch new award for paper with most relevance for European institutional investors
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, Robeco and the Journal of Portfolio Management have come together to launch an annual award for the paper published in the Journal of Portfolio Management in the previous year that is deemed to be of most relevance and usefulness for European institutional investors. The principle behind the selection will be to choose the paper that best reflects the spirit of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, namely academic excellence and industry relevance, notably for institutional investors. There will be a two-stage selection process, firstly involving a panel of academic experts who will draw up a shortlist of potential winning papers, and then a final vote from a jury made up of three Chief Investment Officers from leading European pension funds.
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• 17/02/09:
  EDHEC report shows that almost all hedge fund strategies posted their worst losses in 2008
  In a new EDHEC publication, entitled "Hedge Fund Performance in 2008", Véronique Le Sourd, Senior Research Engineer at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, provides a strategy-by-strategy account of the performance of each hedge fund strategy included in the EDHEC Alternative Indexes. One of the key conclusions of the report is that, except for CTAs and Short Sellers, all strategies posted their worst losses in 2008. The extraordinary events of 2008 had a significant impact on hedge fund returns. Funds of hedge funds, which are sometimes taken to give an aggregate view of the industry’s performance, performed very badly in 2008, with a strong negative average return of -17.08%. It is the first time since 1997 that this index has posted negative returns. Hedge fund investments lost value across the board.
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• 09/02/09:
  Madoff - EDHEC position paper sets out the red flags that should have served as warning signals
  In a new position paper from the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, François-Serge Lhabitant and Greg Gregoriou, two of academia’s recognised worldwide authorities on hedge funds, have reviewed some of the red flags that any operational due diligence and quantitative analysis should have identified as a concern. In the report, "Madoff: A Riot of Red Flags", the authors highlight some of the salient operational features common to best-of-breed hedge funds, features that were clearly missing from Madoff’s operations. Indeed, according to Lhabitant and Gregoriou, the list of due diligence red flags was so long and unsettling that it should have deterred potential investors.
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• 04/02/09:
  New EDHEC research highlights long-term inflation-hedging attributes of real assets
  A new research publication from the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre finds that novel liability-hedging investment solutions can decrease the cost of inflation insurance and the probability of severe deficits for long-horizon investors versus a solution solely based on Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) or inflation swaps. Liability-hedging investment solutions include commodities and real estate in addition to inflation-linked securities. The research, entitled Alternative Investments for Institutional Investors: Risk Budgeting Techniques in Asset Management and Asset-Liability Management, was drawn from the EDHEC/Morgan Stanley Investment Management "Financial Engineering and Global Alternative Portfolios for Institutional Investors" research chair.
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• 28/01/09:
  EDHEC research shows that a single reform to the banking system would have made most injections of public funds unnecessary
  A new EDHEC position paper by Noël Amenc and Samuel Sender entitled “The Basel II reform that would have made most injections of public funds unnecessary” analyses one of the essential causes of systemic risk that has yet to be addressed by governments and regulators: the inflexibility of prudential regulation for banking. EDHEC’s report argues that a single minor change would make it possible to restore much of the confidence in the banking sector without requiring any capital injections in the short term: acknowledging that banking capital ratios fall during downturns would have made most of the injections of public funds unnecessary. Making this change today would give governments far more room to support the real economy.
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• 23/01/09:
  EDHEC survey shows that hedge fund investors had noted the dangers of inadequate reporting before the Madoff scandal
  A new survey from the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, the EDHEC Hedge Fund Reporting Survey, shows that even before the Madoff scandal, investors were dissatisfied with the quality of information on liquidity and operational risk exposure and had noted the dangers of inadequate reporting. The survey, which targeted hedge fund managers, hedge fund investors and fund of hedge fund managers, was taken in the summer of 2008. The first response was received on July 4, 2008, the last on October 1, 2008. Nearly 90% of the 214 respondents to the survey are based in Europe, many of them in the UK, Switzerland, and France.
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• 05/01/09:
  EDHEC and IEIF set up a new index for commercial property in France
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and the IEIF (an independent French real estate research institute), with the support of Finance Innovation, the global competitiveness institution, have announced the launch of the EDHEC IEIF Commercial Property Index (France). The EDHEC IEIF Commercial Property Index (France) will measure the performance of shares traded in an aggregate portfolio of unlisted property funds. This portfolio currently represents €7.5bn, spread between 3,400 assets.
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• 22/12/08:
  EDHEC Alternative Investment Days continue to be the leading hedge fund and alternative investment conference in Europe
  In spite of the ongoing financial crisis, the fourth edition of the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London on December 9-10 attracted an audience of well over 800 high-level delegates, confirming that this event continues to be the most prestigious and well-attended academic and professional conference on alternative investments in Europe. In the initial plenary session on the first day: "Hedge Funds: Learning from the Crisis", EDHEC’s Jean-René Giraud analysed the true role of hedge funds in the financial crisis by examining deleveraging, short selling, hedge fund activism, industry best practice and hedge fund regulation.
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• 18/12/08:
  A new EDHEC study shows that 75% of international investors doubt that the recent changes in accounting standards will be effective in attenuating the financial crisis
  A "call for reaction" was sent by EDHEC to international institutional investors and asset managers to compare investor views of amendments to the IAS39 and IFRS 7 standards not just with the conclusions of an initial EDHEC study, but also with the ambitions of these reforms prepared and adopted in great haste. The call for reaction received more than 800 responses and represents the first international survey on the relevance of the reforms carried out by the IASB under pressure from the European Commission. The results of this study - entitled "Reactions to an EDHEC Study on the Fair Value Controversy" - correspond to EDHEC’s initial arguments. Fewer than a quarter of the respondents believe that these amendments are necessary and well suited to resolving the problems of bank solvency. Moreover, three-quarters of respondents believe that they are likely to lead to new problems.
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• 16/12/08:
  A new EDHEC position paper finds no evidence that socially responsible funds produce outperformance
  The results of a new EDHEC position paper, entitled "Socially Responsible Investment Performance in France" show that none of the sixty-two funds in the sample, covering various investment zones, manage to produce both positive and significant alpha (outperformance) over a six-year period and that the few significant alpha values are negative. Moreover, most of the funds generate negative, non-significant alpha. The study also shows that alpha values estimated over one year change greatly from one year to the next. The use of a period of various lengths shows that results can vary greatly from one length to another. It thus seems that there are not grounds to conclude that the selection of SRI securities alone generates outperformance.
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• 24/11/08:
  EDHEC survey finds finance professionals unconvinced by hedge fund replication products
  Following a major position paper last year on the subject of hedge fund replication, entitled "The Myths and Limits of Passive Hedge Fund Replication: An Attractive Concept… Still a Work-in-Progress," EDHEC wished to compare the results of the analysis of hedge fund replication by EDHEC’s researchers with industry perceptions of the products and techniques that are currently available. For an idea of what practitioners really think about the strengths and weaknesses of hedge fund replication products, and—most important—whether they actually use them, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre called for reactions to its study. The questions were sent to asset management firms and pension funds, as well as to private bankers and related institutions that are interested in optimal asset management strategies.
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• 19/11/08:
  Bank Solvency: EDHEC warns against pro-cyclical prudential regulations and recommends capital buffers
  In a newly-released position paper by Samuel Sender, entitled "Banking: Why Does Regulation Alone Not Suffice? Why Must Governments Intervene?" EDHEC warns that prudential regulations for banking and other financial institutions are pro-cyclical and tend to reinforce the impact of the economic cycle on the balance sheet. Trying to restore solvency ratios with accounting amendments, as proposed by the IASB, the European Commission and the SEC, is not a good solution because of the risk of loss of trust in financial reports and, as a consequence, in the solvency ratios themselves. The EDHEC position paper proposes instead to attenuate the pro-cyclical nature of the solvency regulations by allowing the amount of regulatory capital to vary over the business cycle.
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• 15/10/08:
  EDHEC welcomes its inaugural PhD in Finance class:
  Led by an exceptional team of instructors and dissertation directors, a select group of recent university graduates and experienced professionals will spend three years in a demanding doctoral programme
  Chosen from among nearly 100 applicants for the inaugural class of the programme, seventeen doctoral students from fourteen countries will begin their coursework on EDHEC Business School’s Nice campus this week. The EDHEC PhD in Finance prepares doctoral students for academic careers in top institutions and for the highest responsibilities in the finance industry; during the three years of the programme, PhD candidates will acquire the knowledge and the tools to conduct research that will lead to veritable innovation in finance. The programme relies on a faculty of specialists in economics and finance that brings together top researchers at EDHEC and affiliate professor from such renowned universities as the University of Chicago, Wharton, Columbia, Princeton, and Duke.
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• 13/10/08:
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance release the results of the Alpha League Table 2008 for the UK
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their annual rankings of the top UK asset management companies: the Alpha League Table. The Alpha League Table is constructed on the basis of a genuine measure of alpha, using a state-of-the-art methodology developed by EDHEC. The year’s results are better than last year’s: average alpha increased (approximately 30 basis points) to 2.9% and the average frequency of alpha is 52.2%; whereas it was 46.3% last year. The winner of the 2008 edition is Jupiter, which was ranked second last year. With its average alpha of 4.23% and the frequency with which alpha is delivered coming to 73.75%, the firm posts an impressive performance.
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• 09/10/08:
  Exclusive presentation of the results of hedge fund reporting survey at the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London
  Conference to be held at the ExCeL Centre, Canary Wharf, on December 9-10, 2008
  The Hedge Fund Summit at the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London on December 9 and 10 next will focus on the future of the hedge fund industry. The results of an exclusive EDHEC survey on hedge fund reporting will be presented during the Hedge Fund Summit by David Schröder, PhD, Business Analyst with the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. The EDHEC hedge fund reporting survey was sent out to European professionals working in the hedge fund industry. To obtain a comprehensive view on the current status within the industry, the study targeted the three main professional groups in the hedge fund business: hedge fund managers, fund of hedge fund managers, and hedge fund investors.
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• 06/10/08:
  EDHEC survey shows overwhelming support for applying ALM techniques to private wealth management
  In a survey stemming from an EDHEC study on asset-liability management decisions in private wealth management, 87% of the respondents have reported that ALM is a potential source of progress and value-added for their business. The questionnaire was sent out at the beginning of 2008 to private bankers, family offices, asset management firms and related institutions that are interested in optimal asset management strategies for wealthy clients. Most of the 59 respondents are based in Europe.
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• 30/09/08:
  EDHEC study finds that characteristics-based indices may lag cap weighted indices for significant periods and tend to underperform equal-weighted indices
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre has released a new position paper analysing characteristics-based indices, which have been said to outperform standard market cap-weighted indices over particular backtest samples. The paper, “A Comparison of Fundamentally Weighted Indices: Overview and Performance Analysis,” by Noël Amenc, Felix Goltz and Véronique Le Sourd, examines the performance of an exhaustive list of such indices. They show that outperformance over value-weighted indices depends on market conditions – they may underperform these indices for long periods – and that characteristics-based indices do not significantly outperform simple equal-weighted indices.
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• 22/09/08:
  EDHEC sets up a research chair in Private Asset Liability Management in partnership with ORTEC Finance
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and ORTEC Finance have announced the creation of a new research chair in Private ALM focused on understanding the application of Asset-Liability Management (ALM) methodology in Private Wealth Management (PWM). The research chair is a three-year research programme piloted by a joint ORTEC Finance/EDHEC committee. First-year research will focus on the superiority of the ALM approach in private wealth management (PWM), with special attention being given to the Life Cycle asset allocation developed in the academic literature over the past decade.
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• 11/09/08:
  CFA Institute and EDHEC Business School Make Investment Management Seminar Bi-Annual
  CFA Institute and the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre have extended their partnership in executive education events to now include a Bi-Annual Seminar in the Advances in Asset Allocation. Seminars will now be held in both London and New York. The Advances in Asset Allocation Seminar series present the latest research advances in asset allocation and clarify the distinction between mere innovation and true marketing claims in emerging industry trends.
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• 10/09/08:
  Presentation of exclusive research on global alternative portfolios for institutional investors at the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London
  The Alternative Investment Conference at the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London on December 9 and 10 will centre on the integration of alternative investments in institutional portfolios and will survey the latest trends in the alternative investment space. One of the essential questions that will be addressed is how to integrate the specific characteristics of alternative investments into the risk budgeting process for asset-liability management. At a plenary session entitled Financial Engineering and Global Alternative Portfolios for Institutional Investors on December 10, Professor Lionel Martellini, Scientific Director of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre will be providing answers to this question and looking at the role of alternative investments in the architecture of institutional portfolios, including alternatives in the performance-seeking vs. liability-hedging portfolio and alternatives for risk diversification vs. optimal substitution.
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• 27/08/08:
  EDHEC affiliated Professor Dominic O’Kane publishes a new book on Credit Derivative modelling
  Dominic O’Kane, affiliated Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School has released a new book entitled "Modelling Single-Name and Multi-Name Credit Derivatives". Published by Wiley, this book presents an up-to-date, comprehensive, accessible and practical guide to the models used to price and risk-manage credit derivatives. It is both a detailed introduction to credit derivative modelling and a reference for those who are already practitioners.
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• 23/07/08:
  EDHEC to organise the fourth edition of the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London on December 9-10, 2008
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre will be staging the fourth edition of the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days at the ExCeL Centre in London on December 9 and 10 next. The conference aims to present the applied research conducted by the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre with leading pension fund managers and to discuss its results with the institutional investor and fund manager communities.
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• 15/07/08:
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance release the results of the Alpha League Table 2008 for Switzerland
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their annual rankings of the top Swiss asset management companies: the Alpha League Table. The Alpha League Table is constructed on the basis of a genuine measure of alpha, using a state-of-the-art methodology developed by EDHEC.
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• 03/07/08:
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre welcomes distinguished new members to its international advisory board
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is pleased to announce that seven new members have joined its international advisory board, which brings together high-level representatives from regulatory bodies, leading pension funds, professional organisations and business partners. The role of the international advisory board is to validate the relevance and goals of the research programme proposals presented by the centre’s management and to evaluate research outcomes with respect to their potential impact on industry practices.
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• 25/06/08:
  Major success for the EDHEC Institutional Days, an event that attracted more that 1,200 delegates
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre staged the second edition of the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on June 12 and 13. The event attracted over 1,200 delegates and brought together more than 70 top speakers and panellists, including leading figures from the European institutional investment world. The EDHEC Institutional Days are the most important initiative in Europe for delivering research results to finance professionals.
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• 16/06/08:
  Inaugural IPE-EDHEC Institutional Asset Management Awards Presented in Paris
  Eleven Europe-based asset management firms won the coveted IPE-EDHEC Institutional Asset Management Awards in a ceremony in Paris on June 12. Each IAMA was awarded after a quantitative evaluation of the quality of institutional asset management offerings in Europe, undertaken by Paris-based EuroPerformance (Telekurs Financial). This took into account not only the performance of active portfolio management (alpha), but also the relevance of the long-term allocation choices (beta) and the quality of risk management.
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• 13/06/08:
  EDHEC study reveals that European investors are not taking advantage of potentially beneficial features of their ETFs
  On the occasion of the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on June 12, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre presented a major new study: the EDHEC European ETF Survey 2008. This study, sponsored by iShares, shows that while ETFs are now widely used and practitioners are highly satisfied with their features, the use of ETFs is largely limited to passive holdings of broad market indices and the wide range of ETFs for subcategories and styles is not used to its full potential. The EDHEC European ETF Survey 2008, also shows that most practitioners do not benefit from the possibilities of trading options on ETFs, selling ETFs short, or lending them out. The authors of the survey believe that there is considerable value-added in making use of an important feature of ETFs—namely, that they can be bought and sold like stocks. Thus, they are ideally suited for dynamic risk management in portfolio construction. The EDHEC study shows that such dynamic risk budgeting has substantial benefits.
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• 11/06/08:
  Mr. Theo Jeurissen appointed new Chairman of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre's International Advisory Board
  We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Theo Jeurissen as Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. In line with best practices of corporate governance, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre’s international advisory board brings together distinguished scholars, representatives of regulatory bodies and senior executives from business partners and other leading institutions to validate the relevance and goals of the research programme proposals presented by the centre’s management and to evaluate research outcomes with respect to their potential impact on industry practices.
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• 06/06/08:
  EDHEC professor Florencio López de Silanes is cited throughout the world for his academic work more often than any other economics and management professor in Europe
  For the first time in years, a professor at a French school of higher education is among the five most widely cited economics and management professors in the world. EDHEC’s Florencio López de Silanes takes second place in the 2008 edition of the ScienceWatch rankings of management and economics professors by the number of citations of their work in academic journals.
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• 03/06/08:
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance publish the Alpha League Table 2008 for Italy and Spain
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their 2008 rankings of the top Italian and Spanish asset management companies: the Alpha League Table. The Alpha League Table is a ranking system based on a measure of alpha intensity, a performance measure that has been adjusted for the risks actually taken, for all active equity management in the selected asset management companies. This third edition of the rankings of Spanish and Italian asset management firms shows a fall in the alpha generated by the firms in the rankings. Average alpha for Spain fell from 2.38% to 2.08% and for Italy from 1.53% to 1.14%. These figures compare unfavourably with the average alpha for asset management companies in Europe overall of 2.48%.
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• 29/05/08:
  Leading firms from the financial industry to support the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on June 12-13 next
  As an academic research centre with a mission to produce financial research that is both accessible and useful for professionals, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is delighted to announce that the forthcoming EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris will be supported by no fewer than 43 prestigious industry partners.
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• 27/05/08:
  IPE-EDHEC Institutional Asset Management Awards ceremony organised on June 12 at the EDHEC Institutional Days
  The first IPE-EDHEC Institutional Asset Management Awards (IAMAs) will distinguish the best institutional asset management offerings in terms of active portfolio management, strategic asset allocation, and risk management. The awards will be presented at a gala reception on June 12 in Paris on the occasion of the EDHEC Institutional Days. Leading European investment publication Investment & Pensions Europe has joined with EDHEC, ranked among the best European business schools for several years, to introduce the IPE-EDHEC Institutional Asset Management Awards this year. The IAMAs quantitatively evaluate the quality of the institutional asset management offerings in Europe taking into account not only the performance of active portfolio management (alpha), but also the relevance of the long-term allocation choices (beta) and the quality of risk management.
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• 21/05/08:
  High level speakers at the EDHEC Institutional Days
  The EDHEC Institutional Days at the CNIT conference centre in Paris-La Défense on June 12 and 13 next will present the applied research conducted by the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and discuss its results with the institutional investor and fund manager communities. Several renowned institutional investors from leading European and international organisations will be taking part in the conference.
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• 14/05/08:
  First edition of the EDHEC-Wall Street Journal Europe Institutional Investor Forum at the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris
  EDHEC and Wall Street Journal Europe are jointly organising the first Institutional Investor Forum at the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on June 12 and 13 next. The theme of this inaugural edition is reconciling short-term prudential requirements with long-term economic performance. The EDHEC-Wall Street Journal Europe Institutional Investor Forum will bring together the foremost figures in the financial services industry to discuss the impact of prudential regulations on investors’ ability to meet their long-term investment objectives. Foremost representatives of European pension schemes, insurance companies, and regulatory authorities will debate the key issues affecting the pensions and investment industry.
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• 09/05/08:
  EDHEC to present the results of an exclusive survey of European institutional investors at the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris
  The first EDHEC Pension Fund Conference organised in the framework of the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on June 12 and 13 next will feature the presentation of the results of an exclusive survey on European institutional management. Felix Goltz, Senior Research Engineer at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre will be analysing the results of a survey of 230 European asset managers and institutional investors that measures the gap between state-of-the-art investment management techniques and current industry practices. During his presentation, Dr Goltz will be looking at investment management organisation and portfolio construction, European investors’ perspectives towards risk budgeting, performance measurement and manager evaluation practices of institutional investors and, last but not least, risk reporting or how to compare practices with investors’ expressed needs.
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• 06/05/08:
  EDHEC opens its PhD in Finance to Executives
  EDHEC Business School and the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre have announced that they will open their new three-year doctoral programme to finance executives from September 2009. The EDHEC PhD in Finance is designed for professionals whose aim is to gain and maintain an in-depth understanding of finance as well as the ability to initiate and carry through research projects that will yield original insights and lead to innovative approaches and offerings. The programme is entirely delivered in English and offered in two tracks: a "residential track" for high-potential graduate students who will hold research positions at EDHEC Business School, and an "executive track" for high-level practitioners who will continue to pursue full-time jobs. The programme structure, residential requirements and research supervision arrangements have been tailored to allow professionals to complete the EDHEC PhD in Finance over three years.
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• 25/04/08:
  EDHEC to reveal the results of a new study on Fundamentally Weighted Indices at the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris
  The first day of the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on June 12 and 13 next will feature the unveiling of an EDHEC study on the merits and demerits of fundamental indices® and other alternatives to capitalisation-weighted indices. The EDHEC position paper, written by Noël Amenc, Felix Goltz and Véronique Le Sourd, analyses a set of characteristics-based indices that have recently been launched on the US market and have been said to outperform standard market cap-weighted indices over particular backtest samples. The authors analyse the performance of an exhaustive list of such indices.
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• 09/04/08:
  Exclusive Presentation of the Results of the EDHEC European ETF Survey 2008 at the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris
  The ETF Summit at the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on June 12 and 13 2008 will provide practitioners with the outputs of EDHEC's research in the fields of risk management and asset allocation supported by Exchange Traded Funds. Noël Amenc, director of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, will be analysing the results of an exclusive survey of 200 top institutional investors, the EDHEC European ETF Survey 2008. During his presentation, Professor Amenc will be looking at new trends in ETF usage, the perceived benefits and drawbacks of ETFs vis-à-vis other indexing products, the adoption of ETFs and the core-satellite framework across the various asset classes and perceptions of ETFs as vehicles for alternative investment.
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• 26/03/08:
  Dr. Arjuna Sittampalam joins the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre as Research Associate
  We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Arjuna Sittampalam as Research Associate at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. Dr. Sittampalam's experience encompasses the banking, insurance and specialist fund management fields, with a particular interest in derivatives and other innovative portfolio management techniques. Dr. Sittampalam is the Managing Director of investment company Sage & Hermes Ltd., which he founded in 1994 to advise leading financial institutions in the USA and Europe on investment management business strategy and operations.
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• 19/03/08:
  European Financial Management Association and EDHEC Business School Jointly Organizing the European Financial Management 2008 Symposium in Nice, France, on April 17-19, 2008
  The European Financial Management Association and EDHEC Business School are jointly organizing the European Financial Management 2008 Symposium, which will focus on all aspects of risk and asset management. The symposium will be taking place at the EDHEC Business School campus in Nice on the French Riviera from April 17 to 19 and brings together EDHEC, the premier European centre for applied research into asset allocation, with the EFM Association which performs "for the increase and dissemination of financial management knowledge". Thirty academics and practitioners from all over the world will be presenting their research papers.
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• 14/03/08:
  EDHEC Associate Professor François-Serge Lhabitant Publishes a New Book on Stock Market Liquidity
  François-Serge Lhabitant, Associate Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School and Chief Investment Officer with Kedge Capital, has co-edited a new book, "Stock Market Liquidity: Implications for Market Microstructure and Asset Pricing," with Greg Gregoriou, Professor of Finance at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Published by Wiley, this new work covers such areas as liquidity across markets and exchanges; market design, corporate events and liquidity; and asset pricing, liquidity risk, merger arbitrage and valuation. It is intended to refine understanding of what may be driving market liquidity and provide investors with tools to profit from this knowledge.
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• 10/03/08:
  The Alpha League Table 2008 for France crowns HSBC Private Bank but confirms a fall in average alpha for the year
  In their annual rankings of French asset management companies’ capacity to produce alpha, EDHEC and EuroPerformance have revealed that both the frequency of alpha and the average alpha generated by French asset managers have fallen in comparison with 2007. Average alpha dropped from 2.98% to 2.50%, a decline that may be attributed in part to the behaviour of small-cap stocks. Small-cap stocks, which in France have a large role in the production of alpha, fell over the second half of 2007, just as broad-based indices did. The winner of the 2008 edition is HSBC Private Bank France with a score of 1.52%. MMA Finance, with a score of 1.43%, takes second place after improving from eighth position last year. The biggest jump in this year’s edition was from State Street Global Advisors France. The firm moved up sixteen places in the rankings to third.
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• 05/03/08:
  EDHEC to organise the second edition of the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on June 12-13, 2008
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre will be staging the second edition of the EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on June 12 and 13, 2008. The first edition of the EDHEC Institutional Days in November 2006 attracted over 800 institutional investors and asset managers to Paris and 1,200 delegates are expected to attend this latest event, which will feature more than 50 top speakers and panellists, including leading European institutional figures. The EDHEC Institutional Days are the most important initiative for delivering research results to finance professionals.
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• 25/02/08:
  The practices of European asset managers and investors examined
  Findings of an EDHEC survey of 229 European institutional investors and asset managers
  In 2007, as part of its ongoing policy of monitoring asset management practices and comparing them with the results of academic research, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre undertook an in-depth survey of the risk management, portfolio construction, strategic allocation, and performance measurement practices of European asset managers and investors. The EDHEC European Investment Practices Survey is built on a sample of 229 institutional investors and asset managers who, with respect both to the nationality of survey respondents and to the amount of assets under management, are largely representative of the European asset management industry. In all, respondents to the survey have more than €10 trillion of assets under management and include the major European firms in the industry (nearly fifty respondents manage more than €100 billion each). The major conclusion of the survey is that investment professionals are often familiar with research findings and new techniques but that these are rarely used.
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• 20/02/08:
  EDHEC Creates Research Chair in Alternative Investment for Institutional Investors with the support of Morgan Stanley
  EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) have announced the creation of a new research chair titled Financial Engineering and Global Alternative Portfolios for Institutional Investors. The research chair is a three-year research programme piloted by a joint MSIM/EDHEC committee. The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre’s team, led by the centre’s scientific director, Lionel Martellini, will research new forms of welfare-improving financial innovation through the engineering of alternative solutions for institutional portfolios. The study will look at whether alternative investment strategies, such as hedge funds, commodities, real estate and private equity, can be useful in both the core and the satellite components of a performance-seeking portfolio. It will also look at where these strategies can potentially bring beta and alpha benefits respectively, given that their impact on relative and absolute risk budgets must be assessed properly.
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• 14/02/08:
  EDHEC report shows that all hedge fund strategies posted positive returns in 2007
  In a context of moderate performance in the stock and bond markets in 2007, a new EDHEC report reveals that Funds of Hedge Funds, which are often taken to give an aggregate view of the industry’s performance, returned 10.07% on average for the year, compared to 3.53% for the S&P 500 and 4.14% for the Lehman Global US Treasury Bond index. In the EDHEC report, entitled "Hedge Fund Performance in 2007", Véronique Le Sourd, Senior Research Engineer with the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre provides a strategy-by-strategy account of the performance of each hedge fund strategy included in the EDHEC Alternative Indexes.
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• 28/01/08:
  US SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins tells EDHEC that hedge funds will be part of the solution to the subprime crisis
  In an interview published in the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre’s monthly newsletter, US SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins has affirmed that "hedge funds are likely to be an important part of the solution to the subprime crisis." In response to a question from EDHEC on whether hedge funds could be considered to be at the origin of the subprime crisis, or whether they were in fact victims of the crisis, Commissioner Atkins, who stressed that the views he expressed did not necessarily reflect those of the SEC or of his fellow commissioners, said that, "Although we and our counterparts in government are monitoring and looking into the origins of the events of the last year, it does not seem that hedge funds were the origin of the subprime problems. Certainly, hedge funds, along with many other market participants, have been hit quite hard by the problems in the subprime market."
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• 03/12/07:
  EDHEC survey reveals that institutional real estate investors are more interested in diversification than in outperformance
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre has released the EDHEC European Real Estate Investment and Risk Management Survey. This survey covers 143 European institutional investors from 19 countries, representing more than 3,000 billion euros in assets under management and over 400 billion euros in real estate assets. According to author Frédéric Ducoulombier, real estate is perceived as a distinct asset class which covers direct investment, non-listed and listed real estate equity vehicles. The justifications for investing in this asset class are diversification of the overall portfolio, the search for performance, and, to a lesser degree, a hedge against inflation. The quest for alpha appears to be of secondary interest. The main vehicles for exposure to the class are direct investment in the underlying asset, non-listed funds and listed real estate. The role of debt is marginal and allocations to new products (indices, structured products and derivatives) are modest.
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• 27/11/07:
  EDHEC Alternative Investment Days confirmed as leading hedge fund and alternative investment conference in Europe
  The third edition of the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London on November 20-21 attracted an audience of well over 800 high-level delegates, confirming that this event has become the most prestigious and well-attended academic and professional conference on alternative investments in Europe. The first day’s Hedge Funds Summit addressed the key issues driving the hedge fund industry today, such as risk, regulation and new forms of hedge fund strategy. In association with CNBC Europe and the International Herald Tribune, EDHEC organised a roundtable forum on Hedge Funds, Regulators and the Global Financial System.
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• 22/11/07:
  CFA Institute and EDHEC Business School Launch New Joint Seminar Exploring State-of-the-Art Investment Management
  CFA Institute and the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre are introducing a new annual event that will present the latest research advances in asset allocation and clarify the distinction between true innovation and mere marketing claims in emerging industry trends. The Advances in Asset Allocation Seminar series will offer senior investment professionals a unique opportunity to gain an in-depth appreciation of the concepts and techniques that will shape the future of investment management. In addition, it will also provide practical tools and novel investment approaches to improve asset allocation processes and design new products. The seminar will take place 17-19 March in London and brings together EDHEC, the premier European centre for applied research into asset allocation, with the leading association of investment professionals, CFA Institute.
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• 20/11/07:
  Launch of IPE EDHEC Institutional Asset Management Awards in 2008
  Leading European investment publication Investment & Pensions Europe has joined with EDHEC, France’s premier business school, to introduce the IPE EDHEC Institutional Asset Management Awards in 2008. This is the first time that Europe’s institutional asset management industry will have an Awards programme based on objective and transparent criteria. Up to 15 Awards will be presented to winning asset managers next June at the time of the EDHEC Institutional Days, before an invited audience of investors, asset managers, investment banks and other industry advisers and suppliers, at a gala dinner in Paris.
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• 15/11/07:
  EDHEC Researchers Receive Prestigious Award from the Journal of Performance Measurement
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is delighted to announce that Noël Amenc, Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School and Director of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, and Véronique Le Sourd, Senior Research Engineer at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, have received one of four Honourable Mention Awards from the Journal of Performance Measurement as part of this year's Dietz Award for Excellence in Performance Measurement Literature.
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• 08/11/07:
  EDHEC to Launch MiFID & Best Execution Research Chair
  As part of the development of its Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, EDHEC Business School is pleased to announce the launch of its fourth research chair, on MiFID and Best Execution supported jointly by CACEIS, NYSE Euronext and SunGard. The commitment of the three sponsors is to support an academic research programme over a three-year period so that the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre can implement a long-term research strategy in this field. The themes of MiFID and Best Execution are thought to be among the most significant industry challenges for the near future, justifying the need for academic research to be carried out to support industry developments.
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• 05/11/07:
  Leading firms from the financial industry to support the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London on November 20-21, 2007
  As an academic research centre with a mission to produce financial research that is both accessible and useful for professionals, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is delighted to announce that the forthcoming EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London will be supported by no fewer than 27 prestigious industry partners.
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• 24/10/07:
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance release the Alpha League Table 2007 for the UK
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their rankings of the top asset management companies in the UK: the Alpha League Table. The Alpha League Table is constructed on the basis of a genuine measure of alpha, using a state-of-the-art methodology developed by EDHEC. The winner of the 2007 edition is Aberdeen Asset Managers with a score of 2.82%. Frequency of alpha is high, with 81.2% of selected funds generating significantly positive alpha. Average alpha is 3.48%. Jupiter Asset Management, with a score of 2.68%, takes second place, and M&G Securities takes third place with a score of 2.51%.
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• 11/10/07:
  Dr. Michel Verlaine appointed Business Analysis Director at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre
  We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Michel Verlaine as Business Analysis Director at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. His research interests focus on portfolio optimisation and risk management, with a special emphasis on behaviour under uncertainty and statistical robustness, and his research in these areas has given rise to several articles and conference presentations. He is working notably on the elaboration of robust asset management solutions, and his current research concentrates on the robust pricing of CDOs.
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• 08/10/07:
  EDHEC sets up a research chair in asset-liability management with the support of BNP Paribas Asset Management
  In partnership with BNP Paribas Asset Management, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre has announced the creation of a new research chair in "Asset-Liability Management and Institutional Investment Management." This research chair will be piloted by a joint BNP Paribas AM/EDHEC committee and will give rise to a major three-year research programme. The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre’s research team, under the responsibility of the centre’s scientific director, Lionel Martellini, will examine dynamic allocation strategies in asset-liability management in order to formulate an integrated ALM model.
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• 02/10/07:
  Co-authors of landmark book on MiFID to conduct seminar in London in December
  Jean-René Giraud and Catherine d’Hondt, co-authors of "MiFID: Convergence towards a Unified European Capital Markets Industry" (Risk Books, 2006) and the influential position paper: "MiFID: the (in)famous European Directive?", will be presenting research insights into the newly-introduced directive and its implications for all aspects of the execution process at the MiFID and Best Execution seminar in London on 18-19 December, 2007. The seminar will allow participants to go beyond MiFID compliance and embrace best execution as a competitive advantage in the new pan-European financial markets. It offers a practical understanding of the directive’s impact on business and on the wider asset management industry. It will provide a roadmap for compliance with new operational requirements, together with the conceptual and practical tools to set up the processes to achieve and demonstrate best execution.
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• 28/09/07:
  Dr. Dominic O’Kane joins EDHEC Business School as Affiliated Professor
  We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Dominic O’Kane as Affiliated Professor at EDHEC Business School. Prior to this appointment, Dr. O’Kane spent over 7 years at Lehman Brothers International where he was Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income Quantitative Research (Europe), focusing on the pricing and risk models used across credit, interest rates, FX and commodity derivatives.
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• 26/09/07:
  EDHEC study defends hedge funds in the subprime lending crisis and highlights regulation risk
  In response to criticism of hedge funds, notably from the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, EDHEC has published a new position paper by Noël Amenc, Professor of Finance and Director of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, entitled Three Early Lessons from the Subprime Lending Crisis: a French Answer to President Sarkozy. Despite what regulators and political leaders, notably President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel, have said, hedge funds are clearly not to blame for the subprime crisis and the contagion that has spread to all segments of the credit market. The crisis is ultimately more a crisis of confidence in financial information and the market's capacity to evaluate the solvency of credit institutions.
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• 24/09/07:
  SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins and FSA CEO Hector Sants to discuss hedge fund regulation and risks with industry professionals at the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days
  At the Hedge Fund Roundtable of Global Thought Leaders on November 20th at The Brewery in London, Paul S. Atkins, Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and Hector Sants, Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Authority, will join leading figures from the global alternative investment industry to look at the controversial question of hedge fund regulation and discuss the lessons that can be drawn from the subprime crisis.
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• 21/09/07:
  EDHEC sets up a research chair on Regulation and Institutional Investment in partnership with AXA Investment Managers
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre has created a research chair, "Regulation and Institutional Investment", in partnership with AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM). Following the study conducted by EDHEC, with the support of AXA IM, on the impact of the International Financial Reporting Standards and the Solvency II directive on the financial management of European insurance companies ("The Impact of IFRS and Solvency II on Asset-Liability Management and Asset Management of Insurance Companies," Noël Amenc, Philippe Foulquier, Lionel Martellini and Samuel Sender, November 2006) it became clear that the interaction between regulation and institutional investment management was a key issue for European institutional investors.
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• 12/09/07:
  Dr. Florencio López-de-Silanes appointed Finance Professor at EDHEC Business School
  We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Florencio López-de-Silanes as Finance Professor at EDHEC Business School. Florencio López-de-Silanes holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard University. Before joining EDHEC, he taught at Harvard University, Yale University, Amsterdam Business School (University of Amsterdam), and at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. Dr. López-de-Silanes’ research interests lie in the fields of International Corporate Finance and Financial Markets, and Legal Reform and Privatization. Prior to joining EDHEC, he was an advisor on these topics to several governments, international institutions and corporations.
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• 10/09/07:
  An EDHEC survey shows that investors are dissatisfied with the stock market indices they use as benchmarks: More than 80% plan to change benchmark now or in the near future
  A new survey from EDHEC, entitled Reactions to the EDHEC Study "Assessing the Quality of Stock Market Indices", and conducted by Felix Goltz and Guang Feng of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, reveals that investors and managers are dissatisfied with the stock market indices they use as benchmarks. The investors surveyed all agree that they need a benchmark, but are dissatisfied with equity indices.
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• 16/08/07:
  Pierre Mella-Barral appointed Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School
  Pierre Mella-Barral has been appointed Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School. Pierre Mella-Barral is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers and earned his Doctorate in Economics from the University of Cambridge. Before joining EDHEC, he taught Finance and Economics at HEC Paris from 2004 and Finance at the London School of Economics as well as at the London Business School.
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• 09/08/07:
  René Garcia joins EDHEC as Professor of Finance
  We are very pleased to announce the appointment of René Garcia as Professor of Finance with EDHEC Business School. Professor Garcia received his doctorate in economics from Princeton University. Before coming to EDHEC, he was a professor at the Université de Montréal, where he taught econometrics and finance. He is also the holder of the Hydro-Québec chair in integrated risk management and financial mathematics as well as the recipient of a research fellowship from the Bank of Canada.
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• 30/07/07:
  Dr. Devraj Basu appointed Senior Research Engineer at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre
  Dr. Devraj Basu has been appointed Senior Research Engineer at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. Dr. Basu’s areas of research include Asset Pricing, Asset Allocation, and Continuous Time Finance. In his new role at EDHEC, he will be focusing on designing efficient benchmarks and hedge fund replication. Prior to joining EDHEC, Devraj Basu was a lecturer in finance at Cass Business School, City University in London and at Warwick Business School in Coventry (UK), where he taught Fixed Income Securities and Derivatives, Stochastic Methods and Asset Pricing.
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• 27/07/07:
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance release the Alpha League Table 2007 for Switzerland
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their annual rankings of the top Swiss asset management companies: the Alpha League Table. The Alpha League Table is constructed on the basis of a genuine measure of alpha, using a state-of-the-art methodology developed by EDHEC. The Alpha League Table 2007 for Switzerland reveals that the winner of the 2007 edition is the Geneva private bank Lombard Odier Hentsch & Cie. With 38.4% alpha frequency and an average alpha rate of 3.8%, LODH & Cie has a score of 1.5%. Bank Sarasin, in third place in 2006, climbs a spot on the strength of improvements in average alpha (from 2.9% last year to 3.1% this year) and in the frequency of “alpha” funds (from 31.9% to 43.4%). In third place, with average alpha of 3.5% and a frequency of 35.8%, giving it a score of 1.2%, is Swisscanto, the joint venture for investment and pension services of the Swiss cantonal banks.
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• 24/07/07:
  Will European insurers be able to continue to invest in hedge funds? EDHEC surprised by the 45% capital charge set by CEIOPS in QIS3 for all alternative investments and hedge funds
  Within the equity risk sub-module of the third Quantitative Impact Study (QIS3) undertaken by the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pension Supervisors (CEIOPS), a preamble to the Solvency II supervisory standard, all alternative investments are subject to a capital charge of 45%, nearly 50% higher than the 32% applied to regular equity exposures. EDHEC’s work clearly shows that this capital charge is totally inconsistent with the real risk profile of hedge funds. Indeed, hedge funds as an asset class are far less risky than stock indices: over the past ten years funds of hedge funds have an empirical downside risk with a 5% confidence interval of 3.69%, three times less than the S&P500’s downside risk of 10.73%.
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• 19/07/07:
  EDHEC to organize seminar on measuring, optimizing and replicating hedge fund betas in New York on October 16
  EDHEC will be presenting the latest findings of its research into alternative betas and hedge fund replication at a seminar on Alternative Betas and Hedge Fund Replication organized at the Grand Hyatt hotel in New York on October 16. Designed and delivered by the Scientific Director of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Center, this intensive seminar will equip participants with a workable knowledge of the state-of-the-art techniques for maximizing hedge fund benefits both at the fund level and for end investors.
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• 28/06/07:
  EDHEC to organise the third edition of the EDHEC Alternative Investment Days in London on November 20-21, 2007
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre will be staging the third edition of the EDHEC Hedge Fund Days in London on 20th and 21st November 2007. To accommodate the latest developments in the alternative investment industry, the 2007 event is being rebranded as EDHEC Alternative Investment Days, and will be opened up to new asset classes, including commodities, real estate and alternatives to hedge funds, such as long-only absolute return funds.
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• 27/06/07:
  Solvency II: in its response to QIS3, EDHEC regrets that the prudential treatment of equity risk is still so unsatisfactory
  In a position paper produced jointly by the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and the EDHEC Financial Analysis and Accounting Research Centre, EDHEC responds to the third quantitative impact study (QIS3) undertaken by the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pension Supervisors (CEIOPS), a necessary preamble to the Solvency II supervisory standard. In this new paper, EDHEC regrets the prudential treatment of equity risk—especially the lack of consideration for the insurer’s risk-management ability. To accept the notion that the economic capital set against equity risk should allow for a 32% annual drop in equity markets is to ignore the entire arsenal of dynamic allocation and risk management techniques available to the asset manager.
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• 04/06/07:
  EDHEC to present latest research on hedge fund replication in London on 28 June
  EDHEC will be presenting the latest findings of its research into hedge fund replication at an evening seminar organised at the Marriott Renaissance Chancery Court in London on 28 June. At the seminar, Lionel Martellini, Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School and Scientific Director of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre will be making an exclusive premiere presentation of the results and conclusions of EDHEC’s forthcoming survey, “The Myths and Limits of Passive Hedge Fund Replication” co-written by Lionel Martellini with Noël Amenc, Walter Géhin and Jean-Christophe Meyfredi.
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• 25/05/07:
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance publish the Alpha League Table 2007 for Spain and Italy
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their 2007 rankings of the top Italian and Spanish asset management companies: the Alpha League Table. The rankings were constructed on the basis of a genuine measure of alpha, using a state-of-the-art methodology developed by EDHEC.
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• 11/05/07:
  CAIA^SM candidates to top 4,000 in 2007: Alternative Certification Growth Reflects Institutionalisation, Convergence
  Against the backdrop of record institutional investments into private equity, hedge funds, real estate, commodities, and derivatives, the number of candidates for the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst^SM designation is set to top 4,000 this year, up from 2,500 in 2006. Sponsored by the not-for-profit CAIA Association®, the charter attests to an individual’s mastery of the concepts, tools and practices essential for managing alternative vehicles.
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• 19/04/07:
  EDHEC replies to the CESR’s public consultation on best execution under MiFID
  In response to the CESR's public consultation on best execution under MiFID, EDHEC strongly defend the idea that the analysis of the total net proceeds of financial transactions represents the most important factor for assessing execution quality. In order to contribute to the public debate, EDHEC have put together a detailed analysis of the various aspects of Transaction Cost Analysis, a review of the pertinence and biases exhibited by current practices and an introduction to EDHEC's innovative framework which was published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Asset Management
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• 30/03/07:
  Second edition of the EDHEC/EuroPerformance Alpha League Table for France shows that most previous winners have stayed in the top flight
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their 2007 rankings of the top French asset management companies for long-only equity funds: the Alpha League Table. These second rankings for France reveal considerable stability in the production of alpha, with 17 of the 25 ranked companies appearing for the second time. This confirms that the alpha being produced is the result of a management process that is more to do with the talent of the asset managers than with the configuration of the markets.
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• 26/03/07:
  EDHEC study points out the shortcomings of MiFID, the European financial services directive
  In a study entitled "MiFID: the (in)famous European directive?", EDHEC, while recognising that the directive allows the conditions in which investment companies can operate on the regulated markets or over-the-counter to be harmonised, warns of the eventual adverse effects relating to the obligation of transparency for systematic "internalisers" and the obligation of "best execution". The authors of the report, Jean-René Giraud and Catherine D’Hondt, who are also co-authors of the recent publication "MiFID: Convergence towards a Unified European Capital Markets Industry," find, in the case of the obligation imposed on systematic “internalisers” to maintain a public spread of prices, that it is prejudicial for this restriction to be removed for the least liquid securities. This provision will lead, in a certain number of cases, (small-caps on markets that are centrally organised at present), to a deterioration in the pre-trade transparency that is currently provided to investors.
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• 19/03/07:
  EDHEC Asset Management Days 2007 in Geneva a major success
  The second edition of the EDHEC Asset Management Days took place in Geneva on 12-13 March, enabling a wide audience of industry practitioners, some from as far afield as the Bermuda Islands, Canada and the United Arab Emirates, to explore and debate with EDHEC’s research team how to use the most recent research advances and the latest industry innovations as new sources of value in investment management. With 720 registered delegates, comprising a large number of institutional investors, private bankers and institutional money managers, this latest international conference organised by the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre proved to be a great success.
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• 14/03/07:
  Dr. Daniel Giamouridis joins the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre as Research Associate
  We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Daniel Giamouridis as Research Associate at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. Dr. Giamouridis' areas of research include derivatives and alternative investments, with a particular focus on option valuation/hedging and hedge funds (portfolio choice/investment decisions, pricing, return predictability, risk management). He has published in a number of international academic journals and is also a frequent speaker at academic and practitioner conferences.
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• 12/03/07:
  An EDHEC study reveals that asset-liability management techniques can add real value to private wealth management
  Working from the observation that the contribution of asset-liability management techniques developed for institutional investors is not yet familiar within private banking, a new study from the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, entitled "Asset-Liability Management Decisions in Private Banking" shows the expected benefits of a transposition of that kind. According to the authors of the study, Noël Amenc, Lionel Martellini and Volker Ziemann, asset-liability management represents a genuine means of adding value to private banking that has not been sufficiently explored to date.
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• 01/03/07:
  EDHEC reports on positive hedge fund performance in 2006 and wonders where all the talk about a "capacity effect" has gone to
  In a report entitled "Hedge Fund Performance: A Vintage Year for Hedge Funds?", Véronique Le Sourd, Senior Research Engineer with the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre provides a comprehensive account of the performance of each hedge fund strategy included in the EDHEC Alternative Indexes. EDHEC notes that with the positive figures for 2006, there is now very little talk of a "capacity effect" in the hedge fund industry.
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• 27/02/07:
  Almost 10,000 European mutual funds analysed by the EuroPerformance-EDHEC Style Rating database
  Having progressively extended its coverage in Europe from France to Switzerland, Spain, Italy and the UK, EuroPerformance and EDHEC's European fund rating method based on alpha, the EuroPerformance-EDHEC Style Rating, now analyses almost 10,000 European mutual funds and rates over 7,200 funds.
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• 13/02/07:
  In its reply to CP 20, EDHEC warns of the continuing inadequacies of the Solvency II project
  A new EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre position paper, "CP20: Significant improvements in the Solvency II framework but grave incoherencies remain," by Philippe Foulquier and Samuel Sender, contains EDHEC's answer to CP20, a consultation process initiated by CEIOPS (Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors) on the "Advice to the European Commission in the Framework of the Solvency II Project on Pillar I Issues". In the current paper, EDHEC defends the idea that the necessity of a relatively simple formula that can be implemented in all institutions should not hinder the evolution of the sector and in particular its ability to manage its risks.
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• 07/02/07:
  Ms. Joëlle Miffre joins EDHEC as Associate Professor of Finance
  We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Joëlle Miffre as Associate Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School where she will be teaching Fixed-Income Securities and Derivatives. Ms. Miffre will also participate actively in the work of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. Ms. Miffre's research focuses on portfolio management, with special emphasis on alternative assets (hedge funds, commodities, real estate), performance evaluation, non-normality risks, ETFs and momentum strategies.
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• 01/02/07:
  EDHEC to present exclusive preview of research on passive replication of hedge fund performance at the EDHEC Asset Management Days in Geneva on March 12-13
  In a session on emerging alternatives to hedge funds at the EDHEC Asset Management Days 2007 at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva on 12-13 March, EDHEC will be providing an exclusive preview of the results of a study on passive replication of hedge fund performance. In this thought-provoking research from the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, authors Walter Géhin, Lionel Martellini and Jean-Christophe Meyfredi provide a detailed critical analysis of various methodologies involved in the so-called "passive replication" of hedge fund returns, an old academic subject that has enjoyed renewed interest following recent initiatives by major investment banks such as Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. In particular, they examine the respective pros and cons of the two different and somewhat competing approaches to hedge fund replication, which are respectively known as "factor-based replication", and "payoff distribution replication".
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• 25/01/07:
  EDHEC to present ground-breaking research on ALM and Private Banking at the EDHEC Asset Management Days in Geneva
  At the EDHEC Asset Management Days in Geneva on March 12-13, 2007, EDHEC will be presenting the results of a new study entitled "Asset-Liability Management Decisions in Private Banking". This original research from the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre's Noël Amenc, Lionel Martellini and Volker Ziemann shows that current practice in wealth management does not genuinely take clients' constraints and objectives into account. Specifically, private bankers know their clients well but do not know how to use this knowledge in asset management. The EDHEC study explains how some of the most sophisticated asset-liability techniques used in the context of institutional money management can satisfactorily be implemented in private wealth management.
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• 23/01/07:
  Appointment of Dr. Fotios Harmantzis as Research Associate at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre
  We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Fotios Harmantzis as Research Associate at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. Dr. Harmantzis, who has been an active researcher for over 15 years in the fields of finance, economics and computer science and engineering, is a specialist in alternative investments, and his research interests include investment strategies and investment management.
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• 17/01/07:
  EDHEC researchers publish paper on quantifying the operational risks of hedge funds
  In a working paper entitled ‘Quantification of Hedge Fund Default Risk’, which led to the publication of a full article in the Fall issue of the Journal of Alternative Investments, Jean-René Giraud and Stéphane Daul of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, together with co-author Corentin Christory, examined numerous cases of hedge fund default in order to find the common factors behind fund failures. The objective of the paper was to provide an initial framework for quantifying the non-financial extreme risk of hedge funds with the aim of factoring it into the portfolio construction phase. The paper examines the statistical properties of hedge fund failures and attempts to identify essential risk factors that can tentatively explain why certain funds are more likely to default on their investors and creditors than others.
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• 11/01/07:
  Mr. Samuel Sender joins the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre as a Research Associate
  We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Samuel Sender as Research Associate with the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, where he will be involved in the “Asset-Liability Management and Asset Management” research programme, contributing notably to the modelling of insurance companies' liabilities.
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• 13/12/06:
  EDHEC study highlights the contradictions between the objectives of Solvency II and the application of the IFRS standards for insurance companies
  A new study jointly produced by the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and the EDHEC Financial Analysis and Accounting Research Centre entitled "The Impact of IFRS and Solvency II on Asset-Liability Management and Asset Management in Insurance Companies" reveals the contradictions inherent in the current Solvency II and IFRS provisions for insurance companies. The report shows notably that the numerous provisions proposed by the IFRS are at odds with the good risk management practices put forward by Solvency II.
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• 08/12/06:
  EDHEC to organise its second EDHEC Asset Management Days in Geneva on March 12-13, 2007
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is staging the second edition of the EDHEC Asset Management Days in Geneva in March 2007. This event will be a new opportunity for academics and practitioners to meet and to discuss the most recent research achievements of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management team.
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• 05/12/06:
  EDHEC publishes second annual French Funds of Hedge Funds rankings in financial daily La Tribune
  Following the launch in 2004 of the EuroPerformance-EDHEC Style Ratings, the innovative system for rating the performance of European mutual funds, which measures the performance with regard to the risks that were really taken by the managers while at the same time taking the extreme risks being run and the managers’ capacity to generate outperformance into account, the French financial daily La Tribune asked EDHEC in 2005 to apply the same approach to rating funds of hedge funds. The results of the second edition of the rankings were published in France on December 5th.
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• 01/12/06:
  At the IPE Awards in Paris, EDHEC’s Noël Amenc urges European institutional investors to adopt a more efficient core-satellite approach to portfolio management
  Delivering the keynote speech at the annual Investment & Pensions Europe Awards in Paris, Professor Noël Amenc, Director of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, informed the assembled institutional investors that the results of a recent EDHEC survey on the use of the core-satellite approach to investment management showed that most institutional investors see the core as being invested in major stock market indices. According to Professor Amenc, the core should instead be invested in an optimal benchmark.
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• 28/11/06:
  EDHEC survey reveals that European investors are not fully exploiting the potential of their ETFs
  In a new survey, The EDHEC European ETF Survey 2006, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre has carried out an in-depth study on the use of ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) by European investors. The results of the survey show that following rapid growth, ETFs are being widely used by European institutional investors, private bankers and asset managers.
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• 21/11/06:
  Alternative Investment Certification Comes of Age: Number of European CAIA^SM Candidates Doubles in 2006
  On the back of record commitments to non-traditional assets and strategies by institutional investors, the number of candidates for the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst^SM designation has reached new record highs. In 2006, the two exams leading to the alternative industry’s educational standard drew close to 2,500 professionals worldwide, up 62% on 2005.
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• 16/11/06:
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance's Alpha League Table shows UK asset managers are the best in Europe at producing alpha
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their rankings of the top UK asset management companies: the Alpha League Table. The Alpha League Table is constructed on the basis of a genuine measure of alpha, using a state-of-the-art methodology developed by EDHEC. The Alpha League Table 2006 for the UK reveals that compared to the results obtained by leading asset managers in France, Italy and Spain, the figures from the UK are truly remarkable, with the top five companies obtaining a score of at least 2.5%.
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• 25/10/06:
  EDHEC Business School and Olympia Capital Management join forces for the second edition of the EDHEC/Olympia Alternative Summer Camp
  Twenty-five young talents from all over the world had the opportunity to attend the second edition of the EDHEC/Olympia Alternative Summer Camp in July 2006. The Summer Camp brought together highly select students from Canada, China, South Africa, United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East, India, Singapore and France.
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• 13/10/06:
  Initial results of the EDHEC European ETF Survey suggest that ETFs have a brighter future than Futures
  Initial results from the EDHEC European ETF Survey, a comprehensive report on current ETF practices by asset managers and institutional investors in Europe, indicate that more than half of the survey respondents expect the use of ETFs to increase in the future, well ahead of the corresponding figures for futures, index funds and total return swaps. The EDHEC European ETF Survey will be presented exclusively at the EDHEC ETF Summit, which will take place in Paris on November 21-22 as part of the EDHEC Institutional Days 2006.
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• 10/10/06:
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre welcomes Mr. Stefan Bichsel to its international advisory board
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is pleased to announce that Mr. Stefan Bichsel, president of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), and a partner of the group holding company Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie, has joined its international advisory board.
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• 06/10/06:
  EDHEC to present the results of a major survey on the use of ETFs by European institutional investors at the EDHEC ETF Summit
  At the EDHEC ETF Summit, which will take place in Paris on November 21-22 as part of the EDHEC Institutional Days 2006, EDHEC will be presenting the results of its EDHEC European ETF Survey, a comprehensive report on current ETF practices by asset managers and institutional investors in Europe.
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• 02/10/06:
  EDHEC comments on the lessons to be drawn from the Amaranth debacle
  In a little over a week, Amaranth Advisors, a respected, diversified multi-strategy hedge fund, lost 65% of its $9.2 billion assets. In a paper entitled ‘EDHEC Comments on the Amaranth Case: Early Lessons from the Debacle’, noted commodities expert Hilary Till, Research Associate with the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and Principal of Premia Capital Management, LLC, examines how Amaranth could have suffered such massive losses and draws lessons from this debacle for investors, funds of fund & energy fund risk managers, multi-strategy hedge fund managers, policy makers, and the alternative investment industry as a whole.
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• 26/09/06:
  Sally Davies joins EDHEC as Conference Director
  With substantial professional experience in conferences and operations management in the financial sector, Sally Davies has taken up the position of Conference Director at the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, one of the leading European centres for financial research. Sally’s contribution will enable EDHEC to capitalise on the success of its past conferences, in particular the EDHEC Asset Management Days, held in Geneva in April 2005 (600 participants), and the EDHEC Hedge Fund Days, which were held in London in February of this year (800 participants).
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• 20/09/06:
  EDHEC replies to the CESR recommendations on the eligibility of hedge fund indices for UCITS investments
  In a document entitled "A Reply to the CESR Recommendations on the Eligibility of Hedge Fund Indices for Investments of UCITS", Noël Amenc and Felix Goltz of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre have urged the CESR to reconsider their position on suspending the eligibility of hedge fund indices.
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• 11/09/06:
  European institutional investors must take greater care in the construction of their benchmarks
  For the vast majority of European institutional investors, constructing a benchmark and measuring the performance of their portfolio in relation to the benchmark are central to their investment process. And, very often, the chosen benchmark is a market index and/or a combination of market indices. Since their design is not affected by the securities chosen by managers and since they benefit from the sound reputation of major financial institutions, credit rating agencies and major international stock exchanges, market indices appear to be the ultimate reference not only for strategic allocation but also as a measure of investment management performance. Evaluating the quality of these indices as a benchmark is therefore a question that is essential to institutional investors. It is the importance of this question that led Af2i (French association of institutional investors) and EDHEC to carry out research on the main market indices used by European investors.
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• 08/09/06:
  EDHEC to organise EDHEC Institutional Days in Paris on November 21-22, 2006
  Following on from the success of its Hedge Fund Days in London (800 delegates) and Asset Management Days in Geneva (600 delegates), the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, one of the leading academic financial research centres in Europe, will be organising its inaugural two-day EDHEC Institutional Days 2006 at the CNIT in Paris on 21-22 November next. As the only business conference in Europe that is organised by an academic research centre for the benefit of professionals, the EDHEC Institutional Days will allow for informative exchanges between institutional investors, industry professionals and leading academic researchers.
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• 06/07/06:
  EDHEC enters into a partnership with the Ecole d’Economie de Paris
  On the 15th June 2006, EDHEC and the Ecole d’Economie de Paris, signed a cooperation agreement for the creation of a programme to support young researchers in Economics. This agreement will enable doctoral students to participate in work carried out by EDHEC’s new Economics research centre as research assistants, whilst preparing their thesis within the “Analysis and Economic Policies” doctoral programme at the Ecole d’Economie de Paris.
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• 30/06/06:
  Mr. Nicolas-Jean Brehon appointed Associate Economics Research Director at EDHEC
  As part of a new Economics research centre within the EDHEC group, Mr. Nicolas-Jean Brehon has been appointed Associate Economics Research Director. Mr. Brehon will be responsible for the research programme focusing on "European Budgetary Governance". Mr. Brehon is an adviser to the French parliament, where he was notably responsible for monetary issues within the European Union for the Finance Committee.
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• 28/06/06:
  EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre welcomes distinguished new members to its international advisory board
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is pleased to announce that seven new members have joined its international advisory board. The board, which brings together distinguished scholars, representatives of regulatory bodies and senior executives from business partners and other leading institutions, held its second annual meeting in Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera on May 12th, 2006.
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• 24/06/06:
  EDHEC contests the FRR’s decision to exclude hedge funds from its strategic allocation
  At the beginning of June, the FRR (Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites) announced its decision to allocate 10% of its assets to so-called alternative products. However, the FRR’s decision to allocate 10% of its assets to alternative products is accompanied by a decision to exclude hedge funds from that allocation. FRR will concentrate the “alternative” allocation on commodities, real estate and private equity. The FRR justifies the exclusion of hedge funds through three main arguments. First of all, the risk/return profile of hedge funds is allegedly unsatisfactory. Secondly, the data displayed by hedge funds through their representative indices is biased. Finally, the diversification potential of hedge funds is unattractive and does not allow the efficient frontier of the portfolio held to be improved. EDHEC, in a document entitled “Comments from the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre on the decision by the FRR (Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites) to exclude hedge funds from its strategic allocation”, shows that these arguments are not valid when they are put to the test of the numerous empirical results obtained on the basis of methods that are appropriate for the specific characteristics of hedge funds.
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• 20/06/06:
  EDHEC disagrees with the ECB on the systemic risks of hedge funds
  An article in the June 2006 edition of the European Central Bank’s Financial Stability Review (FSR) claims that hedge fund activities pose considerable risk to the financial system. According to the article, “hedge funds’ largely unconstrained investment strategies” lead to a risk of “adverse effects of disorderly exits from crowded trades”. EDHEC disagrees with the conclusions presented in the article.
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• 02/06/06:
  Ms. Hilary Till joins the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre as a Research Associate
  The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is very pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Hilary Till as Research Associate. Hilary Till is a co-founder of Premia Capital Management, LLC in Chicago and an internationally acknowledged expert in the field of commodities trading and natural resources futures markets. Formerly equity derivatives analyst and commodity futures trader with Harvard Management Company, and then senior vice president and head of the Derivative Strategies Group with Putnam Investments in Boston, Ms. Till has a B.A. in Statistics from the University of Chicago and an M.Sc. in Statistics from the London School of Economics. She studied at the LSE under a private fellowship administered by the Fulbright Commission.
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• 22/05/06:
  The Alpha League Table for Switzerland is released by EDHEC and EuroPerformance
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their rankings of the top Swiss asset management companies: the Alpha League Table. The Alpha League Table is constructed on the basis of a genuine measure of alpha, using a state-of-the-art methodology developed by EDHEC. Out of the 51 companies that were eligible, only the best ten have been distinguished by taking account of the number of funds analysed and the steady creation of alpha. The results are extremely tight.
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• 04/05/06:
  European Transaction Cost Analysis Survey
  EDHEC-Risk Advisory, the consultancy arm of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, will be conducting a pan-European survey on industry practices and needs with regards to transaction cost analysis. The survey is being carried out in conjunction with the Global Equities business unit of HSBC Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets. As part of the implementation of the newly introduced MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive), transaction cost analysis will become a significant part of the obligation by investment firms to execute client orders in their best interest (“Best Execution” obligation).
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• 03/05/06:
  Buoyant European markets boost growth of alternative certification
  EDHEC training yields 90% success rate at CAIA® exams
  Increased commitments to non-traditional asset classes by institutional investors have translated into a bumper year for the European alternative investment industry with funds flowing into private equity, real estate, hedge funds and commodities reaching all-time highs. In 2005, funds raised by European venture capital funds more than doubled to €60bn, investment in commercial real estate shot up 40% to €141.7bn, and assets under management at hedge funds grew 26% to €274bn. Fuelled by a European boom, 2005 was also the best year ever for the alternative industry’s global educational standard as the two exams leading to the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst^SM designation drew over 1,500 professionals worldwide.
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• 31/03/06:
  EDHEC professor co-edits a new publication on bond portfolio management
  Lionel Martellini of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, together with fellow leading fixed-income experts Frank J. Fabozzi, the internationally acclaimed author and editor, and Philippe Priaulet, have recently published “Advanced Bond Portfolio Management: Best Practices in Modeling and Strategies” with Wiley Finance.
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• 13/03/06:
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance release the Alpha League Table for Spain and Italy
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance have released their rankings of the top Italian and Spanish asset management companies: the Alpha League Table. The rankings were constructed on the basis of a genuine measure of alpha, using a methodology developed by EDHEC which corresponds to the state-of-the-art in financial research.
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• 07/03/06:
  Privatisation of the French motorways: An undervalued price and, above all, a highly debatable financial decision
  In a study on the valuation of the French State’s holding in ASF (Autoroutes du Sud de la France), EDHEC has challenged the validity of the sale of the State’s holding.
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• 27/02/06:
  Mrs. Maya Bacache-Beauvallet appointed Economic Research Director at EDHEC
  As part of a new economic research centre within the EDHEC group, Mrs. Maya Bacache-Beauvallet has been appointed Economic Research Director. Mrs. Bacache-Beauvallet, who will be based in Paris, will be responsible for the research programme focusing on “Financing the Social Model and State Reform”.
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• 02/02/06:
  According to a study by EDHEC, managed accounts can considerably reduce the operational risks of investing in hedge funds
  A study carried out by Jean-René Giraud of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and entitled "Mitigating Hedge Funds’ Operational Risks: Benefits and limitations of managed account platforms", shows that, when accompanied by appropriate risk monitoring and adequate structuring of the relationship with the hedge fund manager, managed accounts today represent a very efficient approach to mitigating operational risks, especially when the size of the investments does not allow for a dedicated operational due diligence and risk monitoring team to be set up.
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• 16/01/06:
  A study by EDHEC shows that an allocation of 20% to hedge funds can reduce a fund’s probability of extreme loss by 50%
  A new study carried out by Lionel Martellini and Volker Ziemann of the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, entitled "The Benefits of Hedge Funds in Asset Liability Management", shows that it is possible to construct diversification benchmarks that allow the risk related to holding stock or bond portfolios to be reduced in a very significant and robust way by appropriately selecting the alternative strategies and optimising these with proven techniques (minimising the extreme risks, as measured by the Value-at-Risk of the overall portfolio).
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• 09/01/06:
  EDHEC publish the results of a major survey on the diversification practices of European institutional investors
  Results show that institutional investors do not know how to benefit from hedge fund investments
  The results of the EDHEC European Alternative Diversification Practices Survey, which received responses from 151 major European institutional investors and enabled EDHEC to produce a detailed assessment of current institutional practices in Europe, were published on January 9th. The questionnaires for the survey were addressed to the top 1,000 institutional investors in Europe in the first half of 2005. The study generated responses from 151 European institutional investors representing, at 30/09/2005, a total volume of over one trillion euros of assets under management. The survey shows that 51% of European institutional investors are already exposed to hedge fund strategies. These represent, on average, 7% of their global assets. The main conclusion of the survey is that institutional investors do not know how to take advantage of the diversification possibilities of hedge funds because they have both insufficient knowledge of the risks to which their assets are exposed and an ineffective asset allocation policy.
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• 22/12/05:
  EDHEC disagrees with most of the conclusions of the FER statement on hedge funds
  Following its meeting in Sonoma, California on July 10-11, 2005, the Financial Economists Roundtable (FER), an international group of senior financial economists, issued a statement in which it warned about the risks involved in investing in hedge funds. The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, which has carried out a multi-faceted research programme on hedge funds over the past three years, has published a paper by Noël Amenc, PhD, and Mathieu Vaissié in response to the FER statement in which it comments on the FER’s recommendations.
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• 19/12/05:
  EDHEC teams up with French financial newspaper La Tribune to produce the first Funds of Hedge Funds rankings in France
  Following the launch of the EuroPerformance-EDHEC Style Ratings, the innovative system for rating the performance of European mutual funds, which measures the performance with regard to the risks that were really taken by the managers while at the same time taking the extreme risks being run and the managers’ capacity to generate outperformance into account, the French financial daily La Tribune asked EDHEC to apply the same approach to rating funds of hedge funds. The results of the inaugural rankings were published in France on December 13th.
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• 13/12/05:
  EDHEC paper shows that active style allocation can add significant value to a hedge fund portfolio
  A new research paper from the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, ‘Investing in Hedge Funds: Adding Value through Active Style Allocation Decisions’, by Lionel Martellini, Mathieu Vaissié and Volker Ziemann, shows that significant value can be added in a hedge fund portfolio through the systematic implementation of active style allocation decisions, both at the strategic and tactical levels.
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• 05/12/05:
  EDHEC study finds that funds of hedge funds add value through strategic allocation rather than active management
  Despite institutional investors’ growing interest in funds of hedge funds (FoHF), little attention has been paid so far to their added value and/or the sources of their added value. This is all the more striking in that funds of funds are not particularly transparent and are, with their double-fee structure, relatively costly investment vehicles. A new study by Noël Amenc and Mathieu Vaissié of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, entitled 'Determinants of Funds of Hedge Funds’ Performance', has found that 89% of the 100 top funds of hedge funds in the sample turn out to add value at the strategic allocation level, but only 31% at the active management level (20% created value through both strategic allocation and active management).
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• 25/11/05:
  Mr. Gérard Maarek appointed Senior Economic Adviser at EDHEC
  As part of a new economic research centre within the EDHEC group, Mr. Gérard Maarek has been appointed "Senior Economic Adviser" to EDHEC. Mr. Maarek will advise EDHEC on the orientation of its research work in economics and will participate in validating the results of its research teams’ projects.
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• 15/11/05:
  EDHEC and EuroPerformance publish the first rankings of European asset management firms based on their capacity to deliver alpha: the Alpha League Table
  In November 2004 in Paris, Edhec and EuroPerformance presented the first fund ratings based on alpha: the EuroPerformance-EDHEC Style Ratings. These ratings provide a response to both academic and professional criticism directed at traditional fund ratings. The latter rely on relative rankings defined within categories that do not take the risks that were really taken by the manager over the analysis period into account and do not therefore allow the performance of active management to be evaluated and rewarded, whether the performance comes from stock picking or tactical allocation. In 2005, on the basis of the Style Ratings, EDHEC and EuroPerformance have set up special rankings that aim to distinguish European asset management companies according to their capacity to deliver alpha for all of their “equity” funds: the Alpha League Table.
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• 09/11/05:
  Edhec to organise its second Edhec Hedge Fund Days in London from February 14-16, 2006
  After the success of its inaugural Hedge Fund Day in London last year, the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, one of the leading academic financial research centres in Europe, will be returning to London for the three-day Edhec Hedge Fund Days 2006 at The Brewery on February 14th, 15th and 16th next. As the only business conference in Europe that is organised by an academic research centre for the benefit of professionals, the Edhec Hedge Fund Days will allow for constructive interaction and informative exchanges between hedge fund industry professionals and leading academic researchers on alternative investments.
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• 07/10/05:
  Alternative certification draws record numbers
  The number of candidates for the examinations leading to the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst^SM designation has more than doubled last year. A record 800 professionals enrolled for the July sitting of the CAIA^SM tests, and registrations for the February 2006 session of the global certification programme are expected to break the 1,000 mark. More than 3,000 individuals from 46 countries worldwide have received or are seeking the professional designation that is becoming the alternative investment industry’s hallmark of excellence. The CAIA Association handpicked Edhec, the French business school, a year ago to serve as its ‘exclusive official provider’ of preparatory courses in Europe owing to its ‘excellent reputation’ within the industry.
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• 27/09/05:
  Mr Philippe Foulquier joins Edhec as associate professor
  Following an extensive professional career as a financial analyst specialised in the insurance sector, Mr Philippe Foulquier has joined the Edhec group as an associate professor. Mr Foulquier will be in charge of IFRS/Solvency 2 issues for institutional investment management within the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. He will also participate with the accountancy-control department’s research team in a study programme on the impact of the new accounting standards on the perception of listed companies’ risk premia.
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• 13/09/05:
  EDHEC ranked in the top 12 in the Financial Times Masters in Management Rankings 2005
  For the first time, the Financial Times, a worldwide reference with regard to business education rankings, has published a list of the top 25 European Masters in Management programmes. 7 French schools are among the 16 highest ranked establishments, a recognition of the French system of “Grandes Ecoles” as the best in Europe.
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• 12/09/05:
  Appointment of Mr. Daniel Capocci as Research Associate at the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre
  Daniel Capocci has been named as a Research Associate with the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre. He will be contributing regular papers on hedge fund strategies to the centre’s web site and will also be lecturing in finance at EDHEC Business School. Daniel, who works as a Fund of Funds Manager with the Institutional & Fund Management division of Kredietrust Luxembourg, speaks and writes regularly on issues related to alternative investment.
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• 09/08/05:
  EDHEC survey shows that industry professionals do not feel overly threatened by the “capacity effect”
  In a major survey of 183 industry players, including institutional investors and hedge fund and fund of hedge fund managers, conducted from May 31st to July 8th 2005, the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre has found that alternative investment professionals are upbeat about future prospects for the industry and do not see the so-called “capacity effect” as a major threat to future profitability.
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• 04/07/05:
  World’s First Hedge Fund Summer Camp Opens
  Thirty young talents from fifteen countries have gathered in the capital of the French Riviera to take part in the EDHEC OLYMPIA Alternative Investment Summer Camp. Aimed at helping European students to discover one of the fastest growing and yet least understood sectors of the asset management industry, the world’s first hedge fund summer camp is taking place on the Nice campus of EDHEC, the French Business School.
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• 01/07/05:
  Leading academic fixed-income experts find evidence of predictability in the shape of the term structure of interest rates
  A recent research paper by the internationally acclaimed author and editor Frank Fabozzi and pre-eminent fixed-income experts Lionel Martellini of the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and Philippe Priaulet, entitled Predictability in the Shape of the Term Structure of Interest Rates, investigates the predictability of bond portfolio returns and concludes that the shape of the term structure of interest rates is to some extent predictable.
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• 16/06/05:
  Much Ado about Nothing: There is absolutely no proof of a ‘capacity effect’ in the hedge fund industry
  In a study entitled “The Right Place for Alternative Betas in Hedge Fund Performance: an Answer to the Capacity Effect Fantasy”, the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre contradicts the conclusions of two recent reports on the capacity effects in the hedge fund industry.
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• 10/06/05:
  Edhec calls on the hedge fund industry to adopt an investor-driven approach to the packaging of alpha
  A new research paper, "From Delivering to the Packaging of Alpha", shows how the alpha benefits of using fixed-income derivatives can be successfully transported to a core portfolio reflecting the investor’s strategic asset allocation.
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• 30/05/05:
  The Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre holds the inaugural meeting of its international advisory board
  In line with the best practices of corporate governance, the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre has set up an international advisory board. The board, which brings together distinguished scholars, representatives of regulatory bodies and senior executives from business partners and other leading institutions, held its first meeting in Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera on May 27, 2005.
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• 25/05/05:
  Creation of Edhec Investment Research: a structure for transferring the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre’s technology and know-how in the area of asset allocation
  Today, there are 28 professors, research engineers and associate researchers who are contributing to making the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre one of the leading European research teams in asset allocation in traditional and alternative asset classes. The essential element of the centre’s strategy, and more globally of Edhec’s strategy, is its relationship with the industry. The aim of all the actions undertaken is to make the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre a pole of expertise and an acknowledged reference point for asset management companies and institutional investors. 2005 sees the implementation of a consulting offering for asset allocation and investment product design that is benefiting from the results of the centre’s research: Edhec Investment Research. From the time it was set up, this new activity has been the object of genuine interest from European asset management professionals. Lyxor (Société Générale group) is the first French partner for developing innovative management offerings based on the expertise in the area of multi-style, multi-class allocation.
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• 20/05/05:
  EDHEC recommends that institutional investors allocate a significant proportion of their portfolios to structured products
  The “Structured Forms of Investment Strategies in Institutional Investors’ Portfolios” research paper, which was written by Lionel Martellini, PhD, Koray Simsek, PhD and Felix Goltz of the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, shows that the benefits of structured products are based on two fundamental results from modern portfolio theory:
  • Structured products accentuate diversification benefits through the access that they give to risks and returns that investors find difficult to manage, or indeed to find.
  • Structured products correspond to dynamic forms of allocation which are known to be more general than, and therefore superior to, static allocation.
  The research examines the proportion of buy-and-hold investors’ portfolios that should optimally be allocated to structured products and is the first ever academic study to explore this topic. Through investing in structured products (strategies involving long and short positions on equities, indices or funds, using derivatives and leveraging effects, with risk-free assets and packaged into investment vehicles that are easily accessible by investors), it may be possible for institutional investors to enjoy the benefits of dynamic asset allocation strategies while keeping the same investment throughout the period. The authors conclude that the addition of a guaranteed structured product into an investment which includes stocks and bonds leads to an improvement in efficient frontiers (the best risk/return combination).
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• 13/05/05:
  EDHEC creates 5 investable indices: the EDHEC Investable Hedge Fund Indices
  In spite of the recent advances in hedge fund indexing, designing good hedge fund indices remains a particularly challenging task in the face of challenges that are specific to the alternative investment industry. Two distinct purposes have to be distinguished: i) an index can be used as a benchmark for investments in specific styles, instruments or locations; or ii) it can be used as an investment vehicle. Each of these two purposes is associated with some challenging construction requirements. In particular, indices that act as benchmarks have to be representative, i.e., they should accurately reflect the whole universe of hedge funds following a particular style. On the other hand, indices that act as investment vehicles are obviously required to be investable in addition to being representative. In 2003, EDHEC proposed an original solution to the challenge of representativity by introducing a set of alternative indices (known as the EDHEC Alternative Indexes), which can be thought of as the most representative possible portfolio of hedge fund returns for a given style, based on factor analysis of competing indices. In 2005, EDHEC has adapted the methodology behind the EDHEC Alternative Indexes to propose a solution to the challenge of investability and offer a set of investment vehicles (known as the EDHEC Investable Hedge Fund Indices) while maintaining a focus on representativity.
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• 03/05/05:
  The Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre releases research that is critical of the existing ratings systems: Rating the Ratings
  In 2002, EuroPerformance, which is the leading French firm for the dissemination of mutual fund data, approached the Edhec research centre to consider the implementation of a value-added offering in the area of external analysis of the performance and risks of European investment funds. The method followed to implement the design of these new ratings was to carry out a thorough study of the insufficiencies of the existing rating methods in order to correct them by relying on the state-of-the-art in portfolio risk and performance measurement in a business context. The Rating the Ratings document constitutes a detailed summary of the critical study and puts into perspective the responses given to the inadequacies of the existing ratings by the EuroPerformance-Edhec Style Ratings.
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• 01/03/05:
  Appointment of Mr. Timothy Spangler as Research Associate at the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre
  Timothy Spangler has been appointed Research Associate at the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, where he will be a regular contributor to the centre’s web site, www.edhec-risk.com, on European Hedge Fund Regulation. Timothy, a New York qualified lawyer and English solicitor, is a partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) in the funds group and regularly advises clients globally on the structuring, promotion and operation of a wide variety of private investment vehicles, as well as the full spectrum of securities and regulatory issues typically associated with such transactions.
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• 17/02/05:
  Edhec releases results of European consultation on Funds of Hedge Funds Reporting
  The development of alternative investment has not yet been accompanied by a genuine consideration of the specific characteristics of the risks and returns of hedge funds with regard to the provision of information to investors. This inadequacy clearly came to light in a study published by Edhec in 2003 which showed that a very large majority of European hedge fund managers were satisfied with a reporting method designed for investment in traditional asset classes. This method proposes a mean variance structure that is totally inappropriate for the risk and return profiles of alternative investment and does not inform investors of extreme risk and risk factors affecting the different returns of the hedge fund strategies in which the funds of funds are invested. To address this issue, Edhec launched, in 2004, an international consultation process for the implementation of a new framework for Funds of Hedge Funds reporting.
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• 01/02/05:
  Appointment of Mr. Koray Simsek as Assistant Professor of Finance at Edhec
  Koray Simsek has been appointed assistant professor of finance at Edhec, where he is responsible for teaching classes in financial modelling and quantitative methods in finance. He is also a member of the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre where he is co-head of the Asset Liability Management (ALM) programme.
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• 30/11/04:
  Mr Jean-François Lepetit Nominated Chairman of the Working Group on Transposing the European Takeovers Directive into French Law
  Mr Jean-François Lepetit, associate professor with Edhec, has been nominated by the French Minister for the Economy to chair the working group on transposing the European takeovers directive into French law. The role of the working group is to put forward proposals to the French government for transposing the European takeovers directive, which must come into effect by May 2006 at the latest. The group’s first report is expected to be submitted by March 31, 2005. More

• 19/11/04:
  Appointment of Mr. Stéphane Daul as Research Associate at the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre
  As part of its research partnerships programme, the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre is pleased to announce the arrival of a top-level member from the Swiss company EIM, Stéphane Daul, who has a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Fribourg and is head of risk research at EIM.
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• 10/11/04:
  Alternative Investment Specialists Launch Summer School
  International investment manager Olympia Capital Management (OCM) and EDHEC, the French business school, have teamed up to organize the first annual summer programme in alternative investment. Aimed at helping young talents from Europe and French-speaking Africa to discover one of the fastest growing and yet least understood sectors of the asset management industry, the first edition of the EDHEC OLYMPIA Alternative Investment Summer Camp will take place in July 2005 on the school’s French Riviera campus.
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• 27/09/04:
  EDHEC Becomes Exclusive Official CAIA^SM Association Course Provider
  The Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association^SM has selected EDHEC, the French business school, as its "exclusive official provider" of CAIA^SM exam preparatory courses for Europe. A not-for-profit and independent organisation, the CAIA Association^SM sponsors the CAIA^SM designation, the global professional certification that is quickly becoming the hallmark of excellence in the booming alternative investment industry.
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• 14/06/04:
  Impact of the updated European Investment Services Directive with regards to Best Execution
  With the objective of conducting a European survey on Best Execution, Edhec-Risk Advisory has approached more than 150 institutions, including the largest European investment managers. The final results of this initiative were presented on Wednesday 9th June at the Hôtel Crillon in Paris. The presentation provided 50 representatives of the largest investment firms, as well as the main brokerage houses, with the opportunity to discuss the difficult challenge of implementing best execution controls, as can now be expected following the agreement on the revised European Investment Services Directive.
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• 07/06/04:
  Appointment of Professor Lionel Martellini to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Portfolio Management
  Lionel Martellini has been appointed to the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Portfolio Management. The Journal of Portfolio Management is the leading academic source of cutting-edge strategy and analysis in institutional investment management. It provides technical analysis of portfolio management theories and concepts, covering portfolio and fund management techniques. Its editorial advisory board is comprised of prominent academic experts in the field of investments, including William Goetzmann (Yale University), Richard Roll (UCLA), Steve Ross (MIT), Mark Rubinstein (UC Berkeley) or Paul Samuelson (MIT, a Nobel prize laureate in Economics).
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• 24/05/04:
  Appointment of Mr. François Champarnaud at Edhec-Risk Advisory
  François Champarnaud joins Edhec-Risk Advisory as an associate with responsibility for the compliance and risk management offerings. A graduate of the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Bordeaux, and holder of a degree and a masters in economic science, François Champarnaud is a former pupil of the French National School of Administration (ENA).
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• 19/05/04:
  Edhec Hedge Fund Day 2004
  Edhec Business School has organised its first annual European conference devoted to hedge funds. Edhec Hedge Fund Day 2004, supported by AIMA , took place in London on 13th May at Haberdashers’ Hall, where more than 500 industry professionals met for a full day conference. The aim of Edhec Hedge Fund Day was to present alternative investment professionals with the results of the research carried out by Edhec in the area of alternative investment, to provide genuine transmission of expertise, and to debate current hedge fund themes proposed by the Edhec research team.
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• 23/04/04:
  New Development in Portable Beta and Portable Alpha Strategies
  Research work recently carried out by the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and sponsored by Eurex demonstrates that active portfolio managers, who attempt to generate abnormal profits through bets on well-identified risks, can benefit from using suitably packaged derivatives satellite portfolios as portable alpha and beta vehicles. These portfolios, based on active asset or sector allocation decisions, can be used either as standalone absolute return alpha providers, or as overlay portfolios customized to help managers modify the exposure of their portfolios with respect to a variety of sources of risks on which they have no desire to bet.
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• 30/03/04:
  Launch of a European consultation process for the improvement of fund of hedge fund reporting
  Following on from the Edhec European Alternative Multimanagement Practices Survey, Edhec Business School has decided to set up a European consultation process for the improvement of fund of hedge fund reporting. This initiative is intended to be a response to criticism of the inappropriate content of the reports produced by European multimanagers that are addressed to European investors, as highlighted by the Edhec European Alternative Multimanagement Practices Survey. These recommendations are detailed in a 32 page discussion paper aimed at asset management professionals and European investors.
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• 26/03/04:
  Appointment of Mr. François-Serge Lhabitant as Associate Professor at Edhec
  François-Serge Lhabitant has been appointed associate professor at Edhec. In this capacity, he will be responsible for the alternative investment classes that have been set up as part of the finance major on the campus of Nice. He will also continue to participate actively in the work of the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, with which he has been affiliated as research associate since the end of 2002.
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• 24/03/04:
  The Use of EuroMTS Trackers in Institutional Investment
  On the occasion of the introduction onto the market of the EuroMTS trackers, Euronext commissioned Edhec to conduct a study on the advantages of using this type of support in institutional investment, the results of which were presented on the 24th March 2004 at 5.30 pm at the Palais Brogniart. This study concludes that beyond the traditional and passive use of trackers, which enables the return on reference indices, such as the EuroMTS indices, to be replicated at a lower cost, it is also possible to build active investment strategies using this type of investment vehicle.
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• 19/03/04:
  Appointment of Mr. Jean-François Lepetit at Edhec
  Mr. Jean-François Lepetit, former chairman of the "Commission des Opérations de Bourse" (COB) has been appointed associate professor with the Edhec group. In this capacity, he will teach classes on the campuses in Lille and Nice. In addition to his teaching duties, Mr Lepetit will participate in the research work of the Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and will chair its international orientation committee.
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• 11/12/03:
  The Edhec European Alternative Multimanagement Practices Survey
  Edhec Group, the largest of the major French Business Schools, has published the results of an extensive survey into Alternative Multimanagement (Funds of Hedge Funds) in Europe. Conducted over the second half of 2002 and supplemented by analysis and interviews during 2003, the survey took in 61 respondents together managing some €136bn at July 31, 2002.
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• 28/11/03:
  Indices are not always good Benchmarks
  The conference on the theme "Benchmarks: Challenges & Ambiguity" jointly organised by Edhec and the Europlace Institute of Finance with the support of Misys Asset Management Systems, enabled an audience of almost 200 asset management companies and European investors to demystify the concepts and practices of benchmarked management. While passive management is currently growing in popularity, notably due to the success of trackers with institutional investors, the Director of Edhec's asset management research centre, Professor Noël Amenc, considered it important to recall that the choice of an index has significant consequences on a manager's performance.
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• 20/11/03:
  Tactical Style Allocation for Hedge Funds: A new form of hedge fund promoted by Edhec
  One of the leading French business schools, Edhec, which was already in the news at the beginning of 2003 for the launch of the first hedge fund indices of indices, has innovated again by demonstrating that it is possible to manage Long/Short and Equity Market Neutral funds without using securities, but only by investing in ETFs.
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• 21/05/03:
  The Edhec European Asset Management Practices Survey
  On May 21st, Edhec presented the first edition of its survey on the practices of European asset management firms: “The Edhec European Asset Management Practices Survey” in Haberdashers’ Hall in London. The survey aims to assess the application of the latest academic and professional research results within the European asset management industry.
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