A diverse range of breakthrough technologies is rapidly emerging, disrupting traditional value creation methods. Technological innovations affect enterprises and consumers, transforming businesses and the global economy. What are the most important trends in financing emerging technologies and where will the money flow? Our panelists, bringing tremendous experience from a multitude of firms and financial institutions, will discuss the most promising technologies that will disrupt the future of finance.
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This year has already seen several major deals with Bayer’s $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto and AT&T’s $86 billion buy of Time Warner. As companies look to jumpstart growth in a slow environment, M&A has never been more important. At the same time, adverse market conditions in particular industries have forced many companies into distress and bankruptcy. Thus, restructuring, the counterpoint to M&A, is also on the rise in some industries. This panel will explore the current and future state of M&A and Restructuring across a variety of industries. Advisors from bulge-bracket and boutique firms will share their thoughts and experience from the frontlines of the financial sector. Discussion also will include insights into strategic goals of CEOs and opportunities for private equity investors.
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Today, women hold only 14% of board positions and 2% of CEO positions in the financial sector despite making up 60% of its global workforce, according to the Corporate Gender Gap Report 2010. Is the sector still a “gentlemen-only club”? What are the resistances that women still face ? Does gender matter and how does diversity add value? What are the new challenges? Please join us to share the experiences of successful women in finance and gain some valuable insights of what it means to be a woman in Finance in 2015.
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It is estimated that roughly 4 billion on the world's 6.5 billion people work and live in low income markets. While financial innovations and technological breakthroughs have been powerful drivers of growth in developed countries and communities, they have also served in creating divergent economic outcomes and increasing wealth disparity for those communities less equipped to take advantage of these changes. Fortunately, many people in the world of finance have noticed these growing differences, and have begun to use leverage financial returns as a means of encouraging positive social change and investment in areas such as water, health, and education in less developed markets and regions. This panel will examine the efforts being made across financial institutions to address the needs of those at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid, and how these groups can be powerful advocates of social and economic development.
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With anemic growth in the developed world and unconventional monetary policy reaching its limits, policymakers may turn to fiscal policy and boost spending. What opportunities exist for increased infrastructure spending and public-private partnerships? How can regulation be reformed to reduce the tension between financial innovation and traditional financial institutions. Will non-traditional financial companies continue to have a bigger impact as a result of tightened depository institution regulation and post-crisis capital rule readjustments. Moreover, with populism on the rise, what can policymakers do to continue to liberalize trade and halt protectionist impulses?
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Financial services is an increasingly diverse field with new opportunities for MBA graduates, from startups to some of the longest-established institutions. Careers in finance offer exciting intellectual challenges and allow you to shape the future of how consumers and companies will do business by helping them better manage and obtain capital. Our panelists will discuss their unique career paths and shed light on how they maintain balance between career and personal goals in a demanding industry.
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While the disparity in earnings between skilled and unskilled works has risen in the developed world at an accelerated pace after the global financial crisis, technological advances have also produced a rise in living standards throughout the globe. Moreover, socially responsible investing has helped investors not only achieve return targets, but also make investments aligned with their environmental, social, and governance standards. Can these investors help corporations reorient their outlook and focus on optimizing for the long run, instead of managing quarterly earnings? These trends could help align interests of all stakeholders, including pension funds that invest for the long term.
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