Third Joint BIS/ECB/World Bank Public Investors Conference

Basel, Switzerland, 2 and 3 November 2010

The Bank for International Settlements, the World Bank, and the European Central Bank are jointly organising the Third Joint Public Investors Conference
Call for papers

Deadline for submission: 30 July 2010

The conference is targeted at quantitative experts from the community of central banks and sovereign wealth managers as well as academics. It aims at facilitating an ongoing dialogue between the reserve and asset management specialists of the participating organisations, encouraging knowledge sharing and collaboration across organisations, and fostering the development and dissemination of best practices in public sector portfolio and risk management. The event will take place at the Bank for International Settlements, Basel, Switzerland, on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 November 2010.

Public institutions differ markedly from their private sector peers in their investment activities. Investment rationale, preferences, eligible investments, governance structures and accountabilities as well as considerations relating to the availability of human and technical resources are unique to public investors. These idiosyncrasies have profound effects on how portfolio and risk management activities are organised and performed in public sector institutions. Against this background, the Bank for International Settlements, the World Bank and the European Central Bank are co-organising the Third Public Investors Conference on Portfolio and Risk Management for Central Banks and Sovereign Wealth Managers.

The conference is targeted at quantitative experts from the community of central banks and sovereign wealth managers (including commodity savings funds and sovereign pension funds) as well as academics. It aims at facilitating an ongoing dialogue between the reserve and asset management specialists of the participating organisations, encouraging knowledge sharing and collaboration across organisations, and fostering the development and dissemination of best practices in public sector portfolio and risk management.

The event will take place at the Bank for International Settlements, Basel, Switzerland, on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 November 2010.

Having observed and discussed initial reactions to the financial crisis at the Second Public Investors Conference held last year at the World Bank in Washington DC, we have a continued interest in how public investors have revised governance structures, asset allocations, as well as processes and methods in reaction to the financial crisis. The organisers encourage submissions on the implications of the financial crisis in the following areas:

• Organisation and governance of the investment functions at central banks and sovereign wealth funds.
• General equilibrium considerations for public investors in the design of asset allocation strategies.
• Asset and liability management at central banks and sovereign wealth managers.
• Optimal currency allocation for foreign reserves portfolios.
• Dynamic approaches to asset allocation, portfolio construction and risk management.
• Processes and techniques for the active management of foreign exchange reserves and sovereign wealth funds.
• Specific public sector considerations in the design of incentive structures for inhouse and outsourced portfolio management.
• Risk control versus risk management in the context of an active portfolio management.
• Methodology for measuring and managing market and credit risk.
• Risk budgeting techniques for active management.
• The specific requirements public investors have in performance and risk attribution.

Submissions on other topics in the field of investment activities of public investors will be considered as well.

Papers should be submitted (extended abstracts will also be considered) in electronic format by Friday 30 July 2010.

All papers will be reviewed by the conference’s organising committee. Authors will be informed of the outcome by mid-August 2010. In this process, the organisers aim at a balanced representation of the topics listed above. The selection of the papers will be based, among other things, on quality and relevance to the conference.

Authors are encouraged to contact one of the three coordinators, Messrs Coche, Nyholm or Petre (see contact details below) to discuss the scope and focus of possible contributions.

Final versions of the selected papers are due by end-September 2010. Selected papers will be published in the conference proceedings.

Inquiries about the conference may be directed to:

Joachim Coche (Joachim.coche@bis.org), Ken Nyholm (ken.nyholm@ecb.europa.eu), Gabriel Petre (gpetre@worldbank.org)

Your submission should be sent with the paper submission form and a short curriculum vitae by email to:

Jane Scoby-Smith jane.scoby-smith@bis.org

Postal address:
Jane Scoby-Smith
Bank for International Settlements
Centralbahnplatz 2
4051 Basel Switzerland
Tel: +41 61 280 6523
Fax: +41 61 280 9100