The Asia Pacific Association for Fiduciary Studies (APAFS) recently held its 9th Annual Pacific Region Investment Conference in Manila which was attended by over 200 finance professionals from all over the Asia-Pacific region. Participants were a mix of banking and investment professionals, students, fund managers, members of legislature and house representatives from countries such as Guam, Micronesia and Palau. APAFS’ annual and country conferences aim to raise the bar for the professional standards and practices.

The association emphasizes that the role of a fiduciary has changed from mere management to responsible guardianship of people’s funds. Since pension and retirement funds comprise most of accounts handled by fiduciary institutions, fiduciaries, in effect, are entrusted with the futures of their clients – a responsibility not to be taken lightly in any given day now made even more critical as the world slowly recovers from the economic slowdown.

Says Daniel Roland, Executive Director of APAFS, “In light of current economic uncertainty, it is even more imperative that fiduciaries apply best practices. As a prudent steward of people’s funds, a fiduciary must not put their personal interest before their duty and ensure that each decision and step they take is an informed one.”

APAFS, through its country and annual conferences promotes prudent stewardship and serves as the region’s source for “Best Practices” and industry developments. Within these conferences, delegates can benefit from the extensive network of connections gaining the opportunity to interact fully with other members in the region, thereby learning not only from the featured speakers but also from each participant.

Working together with the different governments who are the ultimate fiduciaries of their citizens, APAFS challenges the fiduciaries of the region to raise the level of understanding and the standards of practice of their industry.

For the fourth time in a row, APAFS’ annual conference was held in Manila tackling topics such as Dr. Mark Mobius’ keynote address on Emerging Markets Investments and Outlook. Other topics discussed during the conference were Lessons in Fixed Income, The Investment Conundrum: Active, Passive and Other Investment Solutions, Corporate Governance Issues Facing Investment Fiduciaries, Protection Against the Risk of a Systematic Meltdown, The Perfometer ®: Measuring a Government’s Financial Health and Success, the Evolution of Retirement Funds, an Introduction to Bonds and an Introduction to Stocks. Aside from delivering their updates on the different topics, the global experts also fielded questions on the outlook for fixed income markets and equity markets.

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About APAFS: The Asia Pacific Association for Fiduciary Studies (APAFS) a non-profit educational association with the aim of providing educational forums for fiduciaries in the region. It was formed by a forward thinking group of fiduciaries throughout Asia in 2000.