New SFI Newsletter released!

The 2008 January edition of the Swiss Finance Institute Newsletter is here!

My news story covers the 2007 research prize winner, the December 4th Annual meeting, new courses, and news about the launch of the Executive Courses in Finance Emissions Trading course.

Links 2008 01 16 McKinsey on planning, fine tasting cheap wine, Prediction markets woes

Being strategic about strategic planning - McKinsey on Finance Podcasts
How to improve strategic planning (Renée Dye and Olivier Sibony) - January

Results from a survey of 800 managers reveals "frustration" with their efforts in strategic planning. Dye and Sibony emphasize the importance of covering the issues and asking open questions before setting forth to gather data and forecast. The Podcast also recommends that managers should participate more actively in strategy review and defines ways in which this can be done in a time-efficient manner.

BBC online about wine
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have shown that a person's enjoyment of wine can be heightened if they are simply told that it is expensive.

The market gets it wrong about US presidential candidates

Online prediction markets enable individuals to bet on the outcome of dozens of events.

"The best known of the online prediction markets, Intrade, gave Obama a 70.7 percent chance of winning in the Granite State and Clinton a 27 percent chance."

Who's afraid of Sovereign Wealth?

Swiss biz news journal Bilanz interviews Government of Singapore Investment (GSI) Director Ng Kok Song about sovereign wealth investments in UBS.

A second piece appears in the same edition of Bilanz entitled "Swiss Banking Under Palms". Mr Ng is an Advisory Board Member of Singapore Management University and the article describes the association between the Swiss Finance Institute and the SMU's Wealth Management Program.

Le Temps reports on Swiss Finance Institute research award

Jean-Pascal Baechler (Le Temps) reports on the winners of the SFI 2007 Outstanding Paper Award.

McGill University researchers Susan Christoffersen and Sergei Sarkissian received the award for their publication showing that big city mutual fund managers outperform their peers in smaller financial centers. Sergei Sarkissian gave a full presented on the paper at a special event at the Société de Lecture, Geneva on December 6th.

Download a pdf of Baechler's article (French).

Links 2008 01 08

UBS investor upsets shareholders
Brief interview with Haig Simonian (Financial Times) about the reactions of shareholders to UBS' financial arrangements with a Saudi investor.

"Involuntary asset growth" and the beginnings of the "true" credit crunch in 2008
Sam Jones posting on FT.com about the addition of €450bn in illiquid assets to the balance sheets of European Banks.

SFI PhD graduate: Jijun Niu

Jijun Niu, a recent graduate of SFI and the University of Lausanne, started his new career as an Assistant Professor of Finance at Simon Fraser University in September.

Jijun Niu worked as an engineer in China before resuming studies for an MBA. This sparked an interest in research and teaching, ultimately leading him to a SFI Ph.D. in finance from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

During his first semester at Simon Fraser University, Jijun taught courses in Finance Institutions. He told Swiss Finance Institute views "I have learned a great deal from my dissertation advisor, Prof. Erwan Morellec, about doing well both in research and in teaching."

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The Swiss Finance Institute is a private foundation created in 2006 by Switzerland's banking and finance community in cooperation with leading Swiss universities. It supports and advances research, doctoral training and executive education in banking and finance. The Institute is supported by the Swiss banks, the Swiss Stock Exchange, Swiss universities and the Swiss Federal Government.