I'm delighted to work with the Professional Risk Managers' International Association ("PRMIA") in delivering four (4) educational webinars about retirement plan risk management. According to its website, PRMIA is a "non-profit professional association" with forty-five chapters in various countries around the world. Click to download the PRMIA brochure for more information about membership. I hope you will join us in February and March for what should be an exciting and timely quartet of live events. If you cannot attend in real time, the webinars will be archived for later use. See below for details. Click here for registration information.
Lead Instructor: Dr. Susan Mangiero, AIFA®, CFA®, CFE, FRM®, PPC™, PRM™
Thursdays from 10:00 - 11:15 am EST / 3:00-4:15 GMT
February 23 | March 2 | March 9 | March 16
A Virtual Training Series
This series consists of four webinar lectures, each one delivered with the goal of providing actionable information that can be used by the audience right away.
With approximately $100 trillion in global assets under management, retirement plan fiduciaries and their attorneys and advisors face numerous challenges in the aftermath of the worldwide credit crisis that began in 2008. Market volatility, investment complexity and compliance with new accounting standards and government mandates, alongside a strident call for better accountability and transparency, are a few of the pain points that keep pension executives up at night. Litigation and regulatory investigations are on the rise. As a result, enlightened pension decision-makers are turning their attention to risk management technology and techniques as a way to mitigate economic, legal and operating trouble uncertainties. Those who ignore the adverse impact of longer life spans, statutory capital requirements, binding financial statement reporting rules and broader fiduciary duties are destined for trouble. In some countries, trustees may be personally responsible for poor plan governance and may have to pay participants from their own pockets.
Who Should Attend
This series should be of interest to a broad range of financial and legal professionals since poor governance and/or too few resources being devoted to pension risk management within a fiduciary framework can (a) force benefit cutbacks for participants (b) lead to a ratings downgrade which increases a sponsor’s cost of capital (c) force a plan sponsor to come up with millions of dollars (pounds, euros, etc.) in cash for contributions (d) result in a costly lawsuit and/or regulatory enforcement (e) thwart a merger, acquisition or spin-off and/or (f) cause a sponsor to be out of compliance with financial and statutory reporting requirements.
Both senior-level decision makers and staff members can benefit from viewing this series of webinar lectures. Representative titles of likely audience members include: • Directors of the board • CFOs, treasurers, controllers and VPs of finance • Members of a sponsor’s pension investment committee • Pension consultants • Pension advisors • Pension and securities attorneys • Pension and securities regulators • Rating analysts • Financial journalists • Derivatives traders • Executives with derivatives and securities exchanges • ERISA, municipal and sovereign bond and D&O liability insurance underwriters • International, U.S. federal and state lawmakers • Think tank researchers • Industry associations • Chambers of Commerce in various countries • Economists who cover demographic patterns and • Risk management students.
Session 1, February 23: Establishing Risk Management Protocols for Defined Benefit Plans and Defined Contribution Plans
Session one examines risk management for retirement plans from both a governance and economics perspective. Topics to be discussed include the following:
• Procedural prudence and the costs of ignoring fiduciary risk;
• Risk management differences by type of retirement plan;
• Industry norms and pitfalls to avoid;
• Role of Chief Risk Officer, investment committee members and in-house staff; and
• Suggested elements of an Investment Policy Statement.
Session 2, March 2: Use of Derivatives in Pension Plans
Session two looks at how derivatives are used by retirement plans, whether directly or indirectly. Topics to be discussed include the following:
• Current usage of derivatives by retirement plans for hedging purposes;
• Financially engineered investment products and governance implications:
• Fiduciary duties relating to monitoring risks and values of derivatives; and
• Suggested elements of a Risk Management Policy Statement.
Session 3, March 9: Liability-Driven Investing and Other Types of Pension Risk Transfer Strategies
Session three examines the reasons why the number of pension restructuring deals is on the rise, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom, and the type of transactions being done. Topics to be discussed include the following:
• Nature of the pension risk transfer market and various approaches being utilized;
• Regulatory considerations for fiduciaries in selecting an annuity provider;
• Action steps associated with implementing a pension risk transfer; and • Case study lessons learned.
Session 4, March 16: Service Provider Due Diligence
Session four looks at the growth in the Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (“OCIO”) and Fiduciary Management markets and explains service provider risk. Topics to be discussed include the following:
• Fiduciary considerations of delegating investment responsibilities to third parties:
• Risk mitigation practices for selecting and monitoring vendors such as asset managers and advisors;
• Types of lawsuits that allege fiduciary breach on the part of third parties and related regulatory
imperatives; and
• Identifying warning signs of possible vendor fraud.
Fee: Fee includes access to all four live sessions (75 minutes each), access to the recorded session for 60 days, and digital program materials.
Sustaining Members: $355.00
Contributing Members: $395.00
Free/Non-Members: $465.00
Registration: You may register for this course by clicking on Register at the bottom of the page. For questions regarding registration please contact PRMIA at training@prmia.org.
Cancellation: A refund (less a 15% administration fee) will be made if formal notice of cancelation is received at least 48-hours prior to the date of the first session. We regret that no refunds will be made after that date. Substitutions may be made at no extra charge.
Important Notice: All courses are subject to demand. PRMIA reserves the right to cancel or postpone courses at short notice at no loss or liability where, in its absolute discretion, it deems this necessary. PRMIA reserves the right to changes or cancel the program. PRMIA will issue 100% of registration refund should cancelation be necessary.
About the Presenter
Dr. Susan Mangiero is a forensic economist, researcher and author. With a background in finance, modeling and investment risk governance, Susan has served as an expert on numerous civil, criminal and regulatory enforcement actions involving corporate retirement plans, government retirement plans, hedge funds, private equity funds, foundations and high net worth individuals. She has been engaged by various financial service organizations to provide business intelligence insights about what institutional investors want from their vendors. As founder of an educational start-up company, Susan raised capital from outside investors, created a fiduciary-focused content library and developed a governance curriculum for institutional investors and their advisors. Prior to her doctoral studies, Susan worked at multiple bank trading desks in the areas of fixed income, foreign exchange, interest and currency swaps, financial futures, listed options and over-the-counter options.
Susan Mangiero is a managing director with Fiduciary Leadership, LLC. She is a CFA® charterholder, Professional Risk Manager™, certified Financial Risk Manager®, Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst®, Certified Fraud Examiner and Professional Plan Consultant™. Her award-winning blog, Pension Risk Matters®, includes nearly 1,000 essays about investment risk governance and has well over a million views. She is the creator and primary contributor to a second blog about investment compliance at www.goodriskgovernancepays.com. Susan is the author of Risk Management for Pensions, Endowments and Foundations. Her articles have appeared in multiple publications such as RISK Magazine, Bloomberg BNA Pension & Benefits Daily, Corporate Counsel, American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, Mergers & Acquisitions, Business Valuation Update, CFO Magazine and the Journal of Corporate Treasury Management.
Susan has testified before the ERISA Advisory Council and a joint meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) and the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (“IOPS”). She lectured at the Harvard Law School and addressed groups such as the American Institute of CPAs (“AICPA”) – Employee Benefits Section, Financial Executives International, and the National Association of Corporate Directors. She can be reached at contact@fiduciaryleadership.com or followed on Twitter @SusanMangiero.
This webinar series qualifies for 6 CPE credits.
In order to receive CPE credit for any Live Webinar you must:
Stay on for the entire program and respond to all questions asked during the Live Webcast in order for the participant to receive the stated CPE credits.
Request a certificate at the conclusion of the webinar by e-mailing webinars@prmia.org.
CPE credit is only available to Sustaining or Contributing Members.
Important Note: Unfortunately, CPE credits will not be awarded should technical difficulties arise. Additionally, we are prohibited from awarding CPE credits to those participants who do not satisfy the attendance and participation requirements set forth for all Live Webcast Events as outlined above.
Prerequisites: PRMIA webinars require basic financial markets knowledge at the BSc level. PRMIA webinars require a prerequisite knowledge and understanding of banking and finance.
Program Level: Intermediate
Delivery Method: Group Internet-based
PRMIA is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.learningmarket.org.