• How (in)efficient are the emerging markets?
• Is the region still risky or is it time to re-examine this perception?
• Do emerging market managers generally add value?
• Bubbles and crashes … Galore!
• Do fundamentals matter in emerging markets?

• Key differences and similarities within the emerging markets universe
• Does the convergence play have much further to go?
• Are BRICs still the engine room in a core portfolio of emerging markets?
• The best kept investment secrets of the emerging world: discovering the potential of Pakistan, Vietnam, Korea, Emerging Europe and beyond
• Are investors paying for the risks they are no longer taking?

• The current macro and volatility environment
• The changing commodities scene: supply, demand and impact on the emerging markets economies
• The commodities as an asset class – more than just an inflation hedge?
• Energy and utilities vs consumer fuelled industries: where do future opportunities lie?
• Which sectors can be best served by derivatives?

• Are derivatives really seen by pension funds as more user-friendly?
• Are traditional asset managers and mutual funds catching up with hedge funds?
• What are the implications of these changes and how can the problems be overcome?
  - the need to improve the industry knowledge and expertise of the buy-side
  - acquiring new technology as a pre-requisite of the successful move into the derivatives space
  - adapting front and back office processes to the change
• Geographic widening of the investor base: Asia Pacific and Emerging Europe

• Pension funds’ criteria for selecting an index
• Why are index-linked derivatives a more cost-effective vehicle for gaining exposure to emerging markets?
• Pros and cons of using emerging markets derivatives
• What are the costs of hedging risks? Are the current risk premiums too high?
• The value of derivatives as asset allocation tools
• Winning strategies of combining passive exposure with active management

• Drivers for the growth of derivative products
• What impact does it have on the industry as a whole?
• Today’s ‘complex’ trades - tomorrow’s vanilla products: what does the future brings?

• The role of local and global exchanges in creating synergies between options prices, volatility and credit risk
• Examining current disadvantages of the OTC market vis-a-vis exchange traded derivatives:
  - relatively low levels of standardisation
  - bilaterally negotiated contracts
  - insufficient volumes
• Is the competition between the two accelerating or are they increasingly complementing each other?

The revolutionary, exciting, quick and non-pressurised way to meet fellow conference delegates and industry peers in a forty minute session. These brief meetings are the starting point for conversation and networking throughout the conference. This is where long lasting and fruitful relationships begin.

• Recent changes in the legislation: country updates
• How are the markets being liberalised?
• What domestic regulators are doing to boost market liquidity
• Providing legal protection to all derivatives-based deals
• Tax issues: evaluating the practical implications
• Where does the future lie? Cloning existing Western models or creating a unique domestic style?

Not a ‘cheap play’ any longer? The main handicaps of going long only in emerging markets
A growing need among pension funds and other institutional investors to offset the volatility of their long-only investments
Main drivers of diversifying into market neutral strategies
Are long/short funds increasingly coming to the fore of investment return performance?

• Has long-only outlived itself?
• Discussing the value of a long/short strategy
• Sourcing appropriate instruments to implement the long/short approach
• Analysing risk/reward ratio and pricing issues

Hear rare insights from some of the most successful fund managers on how they use derivatives to hedge risks and find above average returns in emerging markets across the globe

• The importance of keeping abreast of all developments at the micro level
• The market choppiness as a good setting for pursuing a hedging strategy
• What strategies have proved most successful and why?

• Increasing the allocation of the fixed income portfolio to emerging markets
• What deterred pension funds from using credit derivatives in the past and what has changed now?
• Using credit default swaps (CDS) to speculate on declines in the creditworthiness of corporate issuers

• Investor appetite for EM assets and indices
• Emerging market collateralised debt obligations (CDOs)
• Local emerging market asset products

• Implementing exposure to emerging markets
• Gaining leverage through long and short vehicles
• Comparing alternative products
• Identifying the optimal product mix and investment strategies to achieve the most successful derivatives portfolio

• How to design a portfolio with a high probability of meeting its risk/return objectives
• Effective country allocation using a quantitative model
• Differentiating between different algorithmic strategies: what works best?
• To what extent are emerging markets influenced by the global liquidity crisis?