Leaders of the global investment funds industry gathered in Osaka, Japan this week to discuss challenges and opportunities in today’s global economic environment, as they celebrated the 30th anniversary of the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA).
More than 80 people representing 30 fund associations and guests from around the world attended the IIFA conference.
The leaders discussed many issues affecting their businesses, including fund distribution, fund governance, fiduciary duty and socially-responsible investing.
They also discussed demographic trends and their implications to the pension systems and the funds industry, as well as the recent changes in business environment, focusing, in particular, on the fund passport initiatives, information technology, cybersecurity and the increasing role of exchange-traded funds.
“We recognize the need to proactively respond to the increasingly important global regulatory initiatives in identifying and dealing with systemic risks in the financial system, as well as the need to strengthen investor protection in light of the increasingly important cross-border investment flows,” said Paul Schott Stevens, chairman of the IIFA and president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Investment Company Institute, in a news release.
IIFA’s 31st annual conference will be held in Zurich, Switzerland in October 2017.