The Malta Association of Fund Managers and Administrators (MAFMA) organised its first Malta Fund Industry Seminar on 28 April. This event was held at the Malta Stock Exchange premises and it was well attended by participants from the local financial services industry.

Kenneth Farrugia, chairman of MAFMA welcomed the delegates. He delivered a short address wherein he introduced the association and he explained the factors leading to the rapid and significant expansion of the fund industry in Malta. Mr Farrugia stated: “The objectives of the Association are broadly threefold; to represent the common interests of its members when communicating with the government and the regulator on fiscal, regulatory and legal matters; sharing of best practice between members; and to foster increased awareness of the interest in the fund management industry in Malta and abroad”.

Steven Tedesco, chief investment officer at HSBC Fund Management (Malta) Ltd delivered a presentation concerning the evolution and investment strategies used by hedge funds. He explained the basic short selling as well as the arbitrage concepts that underpin the main investment strategies adopted by Hedge Fund Managers. Against this backdrop, Mr Tedesco also discussed some of the main investment strategies, namely long-short equity, fixed income arbitrage and global macro.

Aldo Scardino, head of capital markets and institutions at Bank of Valletta plc, tackled the subject of Credit Default Swaps. Among others, he explained the pricing of CDSs and highlighted how the use of these derivative instruments for credit protection are now being increasingly used for both hedging and investment purposes. He also dwelt on how the use of these investments could have exacerbated the sub prime crisis in the USA.

In view of the strong attendance to its first seminar, it is the intention of the Committee of the Malta Association of Fund Managers and Administrators to organise similar topical seminars in the near future.