The RAMA Podcast: Recent Episodes
RAMA Team
Through conversations with portfolio managers, research analysts and professors, the students at the Rotman Asset Management Association explore some of the hottest topics in financial markets.
On this new episode of the RAMA podcast, our guest is Kiki Oyerinde. Kiki currently works at RBC Global Asset Management as an analyst on the North American Equities desk. We discuss her transition from law into asset management, her experience emigrating to a new country, and her journey through the RBC GAM Leadership Development Program!
In the second episode of the 2022-2023 RAMA podcast series, we discuss the CFA journey and asset allocation funds with Igor Ivanic. Igor is a manager at Canada Life Investment Management Limited, together with a team of 4 other investment professionals, they manage the $28 billion asset allocation funds for Canada Life's retail and institutional clients. We start the conversation discussing his transition into portfolio management and close out discussing target date funds and other asset allocation funds.
In our first podcast of the 2022-2023 series, listen to learn all about Rotman's signature Case Competitions featuring executive team members from both the Rotman Asset Management Association (RAMA) and the Rotman Finance Association (RFA). In this podcast, we cover the types of case competitions in the finance/investment stream, structure and team dynamics, strategies to building your slide deck, presentation tips and how to master the Q&A.
In our fourth episode, we dive deep into tech investing with Vitali Mossounov, Vice President with Equity team at TD Asset Management. We chat with him about why the current tech boom is different, the future of Big Tech, risk of regulation, the recent sell-off and the vibrant tech scene in Canada.
Timestamps:
- 00:45 - Why the excitement about tech?
- 2:01 - What’s the difference between the tech boom of today and that of 80’s?
- 5:15 - Why has there been a sharp sell-off? Is it the end of bull run?
- 8:13 - Do you think that the liquidity from the stimulus bill will impact the sector rotation?
- 11:50 - What do you foresee as the future path of this industry say 5-10 years down the line? Will new companies displace incumbents?
- 14:55 - How do you think regulation will impact this sector going forward?
- 18:20 - Thoughts on Australia’s decision to charge Google and Facebook for news
- 22:00 - How does the Canadian tech scene look?
- 24:25 - Which industry will be the next to be disrupted?
- 29:00 - Circling back on SPACs which did ~$100bn in transactions in February 2021. Do you see it as a sustainable mode of financing?
- 32:00 - Who do you think would be the next famous person to start a SPAC?
For our third episode we spoke to Paul Taylor, Vice President and Portfolio Manager, Multi Asset Strategies team at Mackenzie. He shares his thoughts on whether markets are overvalued, what to expect from a Biden administration, low interest rates and its impact on financials, and SPACs.
- 1:00 - Are equities overvalued?
- 6:36 - How much of the current bull run is fueled by ‘Robinhood traders’? Thoughts on Gamestop saga
- 8:45 - Challenges for the Biden Presidency and implications for the Republican Party of a democratic senate
- 12:30 - Impact of Biden’s move on Keystone XL pipeline on Canada as well as on crude prices
- 16:00 - How far along are companies in the process of energy transition?
- 19:20 - Impact of low interest rates on financials
- 23:28 - Growth in residential mortgages and if there are any signs of a housing bubble
- 27:00 - Which assets still have value?
- 30:00 - Divergence in performance of alternative assets, especially real estate
- 34:20 - What are SPACs and if he has considered investing in one
- 39:00 - Any other tail risks that he is worried about
In this episode we spoke to Prof. Hull about Machine Learning and its application in finance. We discuss Neural Networks, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and his view on bitcoin! Prof. Hull is the Maple Financial Professor of Derivatives and Risk Management at Rotman and Academic Director of Rotman Financial Innovation Hub (FinHub). He is renowned for his work in derivatives and since the last few years, has been venturing into the world of Machine Learning.
For ordering his book visit - http://www-2.rotman.utoronto.ca/~hull/Second%20edition%20Online%20Files/mlindex2_2ndEd.html
Vincent Zheng is a Managing Director, Canadian Fixed Income at Manulife. He joins the RSIF podcast to talk about the Canadian fixed income industry and his experience with the asset class. Specifically, we discuss how to analyze corporate, provincial and sovereign bonds, how relevant is the 60:40 portfolio and the role of bonds in a low interest rate environment, and the impact of forward rate guidance by central banks on yield volatility. All of this sprinkled with anecdotes from his Rotman experience!
Music: Piano & Sax by Joakim Karud
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