The volume and type of sustainable debt instruments have expanded significantly since 2015. Starting with innovative green bonds in 2007, sustainable debt instruments now extend to various forms of “use of proceeds bonds” to also include social bonds, sustainability bonds, blue bonds, gender equity and SDG bonds. This segment has been further bolstered in recent years to include sustainability-linked bonds and notes. In fact, this combined market segment reached about $3.8 trillion in financing by the end of 2022. But even with annual issuance projected to reach about $1.0 trillion this year, volumes and targets still do not rise to levels required to meet environmental and social development goals.

The event addressed the role that innovative financing solutions plays in addressing the world’s environmental and social development needs. Going beyond green, social and sustainable bonds, the focus will be on new bond structures that have already been introduced, such as various forms of securitization, debt for nature swaps, emission reduction linked bonds, or “outcome-based” bonds, to mention a few. At the same time, other designs, such as carbon-linked bonds and Climate Resilient Development Bonds, have been announced but these are still in the development phase.

Hosted by the Fixed Income Analysts Society (FIASI) together with the Fordham University Gabelli School of Business, the event included a keynote address, followed by a series of case-study type discussions that drilled down on innovative capital raising environment-directed financial structures, audience Q&A as well as a networking opportunity.

Keynote Speaker:

• Thomas Lee, CFA, Head of US Credit Research, Fixed Income, APG | Asset Management US Inc.

Panelists:

• Joseph S. Fichera, CEO, Saber Partners
• Peter Gardett, Financial and Capital Markets Executive Director, S&P Global
• Bob Litterman, Ph.D. Chairman of the Risk Committee and a founding partner of Kepos Capital, NY
• Fiona Stewart, World Bank, Lead Financial Sector Specialist, Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation

Location: Fordham University, Gabelli School of Business | 140 W 62nd St, New York, NY 10023

Third Annual FIASI-Gabelli School Student Research Competition on environmental, social and governance (ESG) focused investments and innovations in sustainable finance

The first prize winners include:

• Claudio Rizzi, Ph.D. candidate in Finance at the University of Miami:  pdf Nature as a Defense from Disasters: Natural Capital and Municipal Bond Yields (1.17 MB) .  
• Paul Yoo, Ph.D. candidate in Finance, University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School: pdf ESG Investing: A Tale of Two Preferences (2.71 MB) . 

Conference Agenda: 

• 8:30am -- 9:00am: Registration
• 9:00am -- 9:10am: Welcome Remarks
  • Henry Shilling, Director of Research, Sustainable Research and Analysis and FIASI Board Member
• 9:10am -- 9:45am: Keynote Speaker
  • Robert Litterman, Ph.D. Founding Partner & Chairman of Risk Committee, Kepos Capital
    • To see his slides  pdf click here (1.10 MB)
• 9:45am -- 10:45am: Relevance of Companies’ Energy Transition Plans to Credit Analysis: Risks and Opportunities
  • Moderator: 
    • John D. Finnerty, Ph. D., Professor of Finance at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business 
  • Panelists
    • Michael Ferguson, CFA, CPA, CAIA, CFE, Americas Team Leader, Sustainable Finance, S&P Global
    • Alex Griffiths, CA, Managing Director, Head of EMEA Corporate Ratings, Fitch Ratings
    • David Knutson, CFA, FRM, CMT, Head of US Fixed Income Product Management, Schroders
    • Michael Ridley, Ph.D. IMC, Head of Fixed Income ESG & Climate Research, MSCI
• 10:45am -- 11:00am: Break
• 11:00am -- 12:00pm: The Economic and Investment Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022
  • Moderator:
    • Stanislas Rouyer, Financial sector and climate risk analyst, credit research leader
  •  Panelists
    • Ravina Advani, Managing Director & Group Head of Energy, Natural Resources & Renewables, BNP Paribas
    • David Burton, JD, Tax Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright
      • See his slides  pdf click here (694 KB)
    • Stephanie Dontas, CFA, Credit Portfolio Manager, J.P. Morgan Chase
    • Alexa Gordon, Vice President, Portfolio Management, Head of ESG for Municipal Fixed Income, Goldman Sachs
• 12:00pm -- 12:15pm: Fordham / FIASI Research Competition Announcement of Winners
  • Lerzan Aksoy, Ph.D., Dean & Professor of Marketing, Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University
• 12:15pm -- 1:15pm: Lunch & Networking
• 1:15pm -- 1:45pm: Special Guest Speaker on European Union Regulations
  • Magdalena Kuper, Ph.D., Head of Sustainability, Vice President Legal, German Investment Funds Association BVI
    • See her slides  pdf click here (742 KB)
• 1:45pm -- 2:45pm: What are the Implications of Reforming the World Bank and IMF Mandates?
  • Moderator:
    • Tom Byrne, President & CEO, Korea Society
  • Panelists:
    • Edward Fitzpatrick, III, CFA, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, Head of US Rates, J. P. Morgan
    • Renzo Merino, Vice-President, Senior Analyst, Moody's Investor Service
    • Emily Slater, Executive Director, Bretton Woods Committee
• 2:45pm -- 3:00pm: Break
• 3:00pm -- 4:00pm: Sustainable Finance Debt Instruments: Will Issuance Pass the $1 Trillion Level in 2023? 
  • Moderator:
    • Caroline Flammer, Ph.D., Professor of International and Public Affairs and of Climate at Columbia University 
  • Panelists:
    • Meredith Chiampa, North American Head of ESG, Global Markets, Citi Global Markets
    • Ramzi Issa, Managing Director, Global Head of Credit Investor Products Structuring, Credit Suisse
    • Stephen Liberatore, CFA, Lead PM for ESG Fixed Income Strategies, Nuveen
• 4:00pm -- 4:15pm: Closing Remarks
  • Monica Aggarwal, CFA, President FIASI and Managing Director, Fitch Ratings

To watch the full program click here.

Bloomberg Intelligence panel discussions: 

• Panel 1: Banking Turmoil and Ripple Effects Across Financials
• Panel 2: Health and Outlook of the Global Consumer with the impact on Consumer & Industrial Sectors.
• Panel 3: Energy Discussion and important capital allocation decisions that need to be made
• Panel 4: Relative value update on the TMT sector, including how to optimize Bloomberg functionality and data.

Moderator: Joel Levington, CMA

Panelists: 

• Himanshu Bakshi
• Mike Campellone
• Spencer Cutter
• Stephen Flynn
• Matt Geudtner
• David Havens
• Mike Holland
• Arnold Kakuda
• Jody Lurie, CFA
• Rob Schiffman

Conference Agenda:

• 2:30: Registration
• 3:00: Opening Remarks FIASI and Women in Fixed Income Conference
  • Monica Aggarwal, President, FIASI and Managing Director, US Corporates, Fitch Ratings
• 3:15: Keynote:
  
  • Anna Kovner, Ph.D., Director, Financial Stability Policy Research, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
  • Interviewer: Ritika Gupta, On-Air Reporter, Bloomberg TV
• 3:45: Session I: Macro Outlook: The Economy, Rising Inflation and Rates and Strategies for a Volatile Cycle
  
  • Dana Peterson, Chief Economist & Center Leader of Economy, Strategy & Finance at The Conference Board
  • Rebecca Patterson, Former Chief Investment Strategist at Bridgewater Associates
  • Meghan Robson, CFA, Head of US Credit Strategy, BNP Paribas
  • Moderator: Erin Lyons, Global Head of Business Strategy, CreditSights
• 4:30: Session 2: Market Outlook: Is 2023 a Comeback Year for Fixed Income Markets
  • Janet Clay, CFA, Managing Director of Research for the High Yield and Leveraged Finance asset classes, Fidelity Investments
  • Penelope Foley, Group Managing Director, Emerging Markets and Member of the Board, TCW Group
  • Julie Remache, CFA, Senior Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
  • Moderator: Joyce Chang, Chair of Global Research, JP Morgan
• 5:15: Promoting Financial Literacy for Girls: Insights from Girls Inc. NYC
  
  • Pamela Maraldo, Executive Director, Girls Inc. of NYC
  • Facilitators:
    Cate Luzio, Founder and CEO, Luminary and Board Member of Girls Inc., NYC and
    Joyce Chang, Chair of Global Research, JP Morgan and Board Member of Girls Inc, National
• 5:30: Closing Remarks
  
  • Ralph DeCesare, CFA, CAIA, Head of Credit Research, TD Asset Management
  • Mark Howard, CFA, Senior Multi-Asset Specialist, BNP Paribas
• 5:45: Cocktails & Hors d'oeuvres

Thank you to these vendors as well:

• Luminary, NYC for being such a wonderful partner
• Catered by Kat Alexander, Founder, Portable Provisions and Adriana Livanos, Co-founder, Stray Dog Gin
• Sweets curated by Bridget Johns, Co-founder, CEO, To&From

John C. Williams, Ph.D., President & CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

President Williams, Ph.D. is a voting member of the FOMC and gave his views on monetary policy and the U.S. economic outlook. 

Darrell Duffie Presented his views on how to reform the US Treasury Market

Darrell Duffie, Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Darrell is currently Resident Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.  He will join us at our holiday party and share his views about the ongoing reform of the US Treasury market.  The last chapter of his most recent book Fragmenting Markets: Post-Crisis Bank Regulations and Financial Market Liquidity, DeGruyter, 2022 covers the views he will be sharing. 

Christine Harper, Editor of Bloomberg Markets magazine, and Paul Volcker biographer, discussed what the Chairman went through when he was aggressively tightening monetary policy in the 1980's. What are the similarities to today's markets and what should current Fed chair Jay Powell expect? 

• Speaker: Christine Harper is the editor of Bloomberg Markets magazine, and the co-author of Paul Volcker’s 2018 memoir, Keeping at It: The Quest for Sound Money and Good Government.

MODERATOR: Taylor Riggs, CFA, co-hosts Bloomberg Television’s “The Close.”

SPEAKERS:

• Priya Misra, Managing Director and Global Head of Rates Strategy at TD Securities
• Van Hesser, Senior Managing Director and Chief Strategist at KBRA

Lev Dynkin, Ph.D. founder and Global Head of the Quantitative Portfolio Strategy (QPS) Group at Barclays Research

The Fixed Income Analysts Society (FIASI) in collaboration with Fordham University’s Center for Research in Contemporary Finance and the O’Shea Center for Credit Analysis and Investment were pleased to host a virtual presentation by the authors of two winning research papers in the ESG in Fixed Income Research Competition.

On May 20, 2022 FIASI and Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business announced the winners of two Graduate student research papers, as part of the second annual Student Research Competition on environmental, social and governance (ESG) focused investments and innovations. The following winners presented their research paper findings and engaged in brief Q&A sessions.

• First prize winner --   pdf Fresh Start or Fresh Water (2.23 MB) :  The Impact of Environmental Lender Liability submitted by pdf Aymeric Bellon (84 KB) , Wharton School
• Runner upper winner-- pdf Climate Change and the Partisan Divide (1.22 MB) , and Exposure to Climate Risk, submitted by pdf Song Zhang (250 KB) , Boston College

Moderator: Taylor Riggs, CFA, co-hosts Bloomberg Television’s “The Close.”

Panelists:

• Laurie Goodman, Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute
• Ed Pinto, Consultant to the housing finance industry
• Mark M. Zandi, Ph.D., Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics

Listen to the experts debate and discuss their views on the following topics:

• Is the housing market over/fairly/under-valued?
• What is your forecast for pricing?
• What will be the broad impact to the economy/jobs/banking system/Mortgage backed securities? 

This two day conference was held on May 19, 2022 and May 20, 2022 

Thursday, May 19, 2022 | 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm EST:

•  1:30 pm - 1:45 pm:
  • Opening of the Conference, Day I - Henry Shilling, FIASI Board Member and Director of Research Sustainable Research and Analysis

• 1:45 pm - 3:00 pm:
  • US Infrastructure policy agenda with a focus on environmental and social considerations:
  • A moderated panel discussion consisting of fixed income portfolio managers and ESG analysis. The panel  will focus on the implications of infrastructure investments on various segments of fixed income investing.
  • MODERATOR: Chris Hartshorn, Climate Tech, Impact and ESG Strategy
  • PANELISTS:
    • Trevor d'Olier-Lees, Senior Director, Sector Lead Global Renewables and North American PPP, S&P Global Ratings
    • Emma W, Griffith, Senior Director and the Head of Surveillance, GIG and Project Finance Group, Fitch Ratings
    • Leonard Jones, Managing Director - Public Finance, Moody's Investor Service
    • Timothy Winter, CFA, Portfolio Manager, The Gabelli Utilities Fund, GAMCO

• 3:00 pm - 4:15 pm
  • The role of central banks and regulators in greening the financial system and making it more sustainable.
  • A moderated panel discussion focused on some of the initiatives at global and national levels and how these are impacting banks, insurance companies and markets. 
  • MODERATOR: Rian Pressman, CFA, Director, S&P Global
  • PANELISTS:
    • Paul Fisher, Ph.D., Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)
    • Joydeep Mukherji, Managing Director, S&P Global Ratings
    • Claudia Ramirez, Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the General Directorate for Financial Stability, Banco de México (Mexico’s Central Bank), 
    • Vitaline Yeterian, Senior Vice President - Global FIG, DBRS Morningstar

• 4:15 pm - 5:00 pm - Keynote
  • Q&A with Hester M. Peirce, Commissioner of the US Securities & Exchange Commission

Friday, May 20, 2022 | 9:15 am to 12:45 pm EST:

•  9:15 am - 9:30 am:
  • Opening of the Conference, Day II - Monica Aggarwal, CFA, FIASI Board President and Managing Director, Fitch Ratings

• 9:30 am - 10:00 am - Keynote
  • Paul Taylor, President and CEO, Fitch Group
  • Interviewer: David Wessel, senior fellow in Economic Studies at Brookings and director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy

• 10:00 am - 10:15 am
  • Announcement of Fordham University / FIASI ESG in Fixed Income Research Competition award winners
    • John D. Finnerty, Ph.D., Professor of Finance at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business
    • Mark Howard, CFA, Senior Multi-Asset Specialist at BNP Paribas

• 10:15 am - 11:30 am
  • ESG Data and Technology
  • A moderated panel discussion with panelists from major ESG data firms will cover the latest trends and developments in providing ESG data solutions that focus on the more complex nature of fixed income instruments, from corporates to structured securities.
  • MODERATOR: Bahar Gidwani, CFA, FSA, Cofounder & CTO, CSRHub
  • PANELISTS:
    • Libby Bernick, CEO, Impact-Cubed
    • Cornelius Graubner, FactSet Truvalue
    • Maximilian Horster, Ph.D. ISS ESG
    • Ashwin Joshi, CFA, Associate, Global Fixed Income Responsible Investing, BlackRock
    • Maria Mähl, Arabesque

• 11:30 am - 12:45 pm
  • The implications of a commitment to the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative for asset management firms, and climate risk analysis
  • A moderated panel discussion with executives from asset management firms that are signatories to the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative as well as asset management industry analysts.
  • MODERATOR: Joyce Chang, Chair of Global Research, J.P. Morgan
  • PANELISTS:
    • Simone Andrews, Responsible Investment and Governance Manager at APG Asset Management
    • Carey Buxton, Head of Sustainable Investing Business, Brown Advisory
    • Kay Herr, CFA, Head of Research, Global Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities, J.P. Morgan Asset Management
    • Josh Stein, CFA, FSA, Senior Research Analyst, Breckinridge Capital Advisors
    • Malika Takhtayeva, Sustainable Fixed Income Lead - EMEA, BNP Paribas Asset Management

Intro to Bloomberg Intelligence: Joel Levington, CMA

Explosion of M&A Activity and Credit Implications:

• Arnold Kakuda – Banks
• Spencer Cutter – Energy
• Joel Levington, CMA – Industrials
• Jody Lurie, CFA – Consumer
• Stephen Flynn – Telecom, Media

Picks & Pans: 

• Mike Holland – Healthcare
• Mike Campellone – Retail
• David Havens - Real Estate
• Himanshu Bakshi – Financials
• Mary Ross Gilbert, CFA – Consumer
• Robert Schiffman – Tech
• Matt Geudtner – Industrials

Both panels will be followed by a Q&A session.

Featured Speakers:

First Panel: 

Lale Topcuoglu, Swiss Re, Managing Director, Head of Credit

Winnie Cisar, CreditSights, Global Head of Strategy

 Priya Misra, TD Securities, Head of Global Rates Research

Second Panel:

Joyce Chang, J.P. Morgan, Chair of Global Research

Janet Henry, HSBC, Global Chief Economist

Cathy Hepworth, PGIM, Head of Emerging Markets Debt

A Talk with Jim Bianco, President and Macro Strategist at Bianco Research, L.L.C. Jim discussed his views on the fixed income markets, the Fed and his year-end outlook. 

Sustainable municipal investing through funds still represents a small segment of the overall sustainable investing universe, yet there is developing interest in the area.  In addition to impact-oriented funds as well as funds that integrate ESG, there is now a green bond municipal ETF and just last month, a new actively managed ETF was launched.  Most products rely on ESG integration approaches but assessing factors relevant to munis may be more nuanced.  Also, with about 50,000 different state and local governments and other issuing authorities in the US of varying sizes and tax bases, social and environmental data disclosures vary and oftentimes may be insufficient.  ESG rating firms are stepping up to fill the gaps but many asset managers have developed their own approaches to integrating ESG into their investment management practices.  The panel focused on developments in the sustainable municipal sphere and shared their views on investment approaches, data challenges, disclosure practices and how these may be aligning with investor expectations. 

• Moderator:
  • James Colby, Senior Municipal Strategist & Portfolio Manager, VanEck

• Panelists:
  • Tim Coffin, Senior Vice President & Director of Sustainability, Breckinridge Capital Advisors
  • Wayne D. Godlin, Managing Director, is a member of the Global Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities (GFICC) Group, J. P. Morgan Asset Management
  • Ksenia Koban, Senior Vice President & Co-Head of ESG Committee, Head of Municipal Research, Payden Rygel

Webcast conversation with the co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree, and FIASI Hall-of-Fame member, Howard Marks, CFA as he discussed his investment philosophy. This talk was hosted by Taylor Riggs, CFA of Bloomberg TV.

Private Debt has become THE area for fixed income over the past couple of years, growing at a faster clip rate than most other areas of the capital markets. Two truly Outstanding Investors addressed private debt nuances, challenges, and opportunities. We also heard from the well-regarded author of Private Debt – Opportunities in Direct Lending.

Panelists:

• Theodore L. Koenig, CEO, Monroe Capital
• Randy Schwimmer, Senior Managing Director, Co-Head of Senior Lending, Churchill Asset Management LLC

The program also included a summary of the outstanding book Private Debt: Opportunities in Corporate Direct Lending by Stephen Nesbitt, a well-written, comprehensive book on private debt.

Martin Fridson, CFA presented empirical research that leads to some surprising conclusions about the high yield market, including.

• The best predictor of spreads on high yield bonds is not leverage, coverage, or free cash flow.
• Index-based spreads between rating categories provide misleading signals to sector rotators.
• There is no systematic underpricing of speculative grade busted convertibles.
• There are instances where yield and price move in the same direction.
• Market-cap-weighted indexes do not cause investors to be overweighted in the most leveraged credits.
• One previous study found that the high yield spread curve is positive. Another found that it is negative. Both were wrong.
• The reported volatility of the high yield asset class is unquestionably understated

CLOs occupy the intersection of corporate credit analysis and structured finance. Despite the fears of many, CLOs have weathered the COVID crisis in good shape. The real action in this area is with the subordinated tranches and few have seen more than our well-regarded, well-respected panelists.

Our experts explain the ins and outs of this durable asset class from the perspective of investors: how to make money, avoid losses, and grow a solid business.

Moderator:

• Lee Shaiman, Executive Director for the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA), 

Panelists: 

• Charles Arduini, Partner, Ares Credit Group
• John Kim, CEO and CIO of Panagram Structured Asset Management
• Tom Majewski, CEO of Eagle Point

The Fixed Income Analysts Society (FIASI) in collaboration with Fordham University’s Center for Research in Contemporary Finance and the O’Shea Center for Credit Analysis and Investment are pleased to host an early evening virtual presentation by the authors of three winning research papers in the ESG in Fixed Income Research Competition.

On April 23, 2021 FIASI and Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business announced the winners of three undergraduate and graduate student research papers, as part of the first annual Student Research Competition on environmental, social and governance (ESG) focused investments and innovations. The following winners will present their research paper findings and engage in brief Q&A sessions.

• Undergraduate research paper
  • Julia de Xavier, Resham Sansi (faculty advisor: N.K. Chidambaran):  pdf The Impact of ESG Scores on Bond Yields and Bond Characteristics (469 KB) . The paper examines whether issuer ESG ratings affect bond yields, bond ratings, and the covenants on bonds.   
• Graduate research papers
  • Eun-Hee Kim and Mingying Cheng:  pdf Strategic Environmental Disclosure and Financial Materiality (868 KB) . The paper evaluates how firms with poor environmental performance manage the tension between the pressure to disclose environmental information and the desire to avoid financial repercussions.
  • Elsa Allman and Joonsung Won:  pdf The Effect of ESG Disclosure on Corporate Investment Efficiency (467 KB) . The paper examines the effect of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure on investment efficiency using the adoption of Directive 2014/95/EU as a quasi-natural shock on disclosure quality.

We held a discussion about the automakers and their credit worthiness, views from rating agencies, sell-side and buy-side research as the autos undergo a generational change. 

Moderator: 

• Ralph DeCesare,  Managing Director and Head of Credit Research, TD Asset Management

Panelists:

• Bruce Clark, Senior Vice President, Moody's Corporation
• Nishit Madlani, Director, Corporate Ratings - Manufacturing & Transportation, S&P Global 
• Peter Troisi, Director in the Credit Research group, Barclays