Event marked by motivation, camaraderie and bonding as delegates from all parts of the country get together.
Themed ‘Empowering Success’, the three-day annual Mutual Fund Round Table (MFRT) Summit organized by Kolkata’s Ask Circle group kicked off on August 15 in Agra. Over 500 financial advisers across the country attended the event.
Day one was entirely devoted to motivational thought and tips on managing funds for clients.
While Sam Cawthorn from Australia delivered an inspiring speech for IFAs which boosted their confidence, a panel of senior industry officials - Balakrishna Kini, Vice President, AMFI, Nimesh Shah, Chief Executive Officer, ICICI Prudential MF, Mahesh Patil, Co-CIO, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund and Mrinal Singh, Senior Fund Manager, ICICI Prudential MF gave insights on how to manage their client’s money effectively. The panel stressed the need to diversify investments across all asset classes so as to generate optimum return and reduce risks.
Nimesh Shah, in his presentation to IFAs, spelt out the rationale behind launching series of its value and growth funds. He said the industry – both the manufacturers and distributors, should take cues from international players and improve their services. They should try to tap opportunities available in the market even before it become trend, he added.
Mahesh Patil made a case for equity market scaling new peaks in the next few years based on pure fundamentals and shared a few insights on how to communicate this to clients.
On day two and three, eminent financial advisers and senior executives of fund houses shared their ideas on various issues related to business development, client management, etc.
While giving a presentation on ‘How to create happy families’, Karan Datta, Chief Business Officer, Axis Mutual Fund said that IFAs need to transition from short term planning to long term planning, shift from return based approach to goal based approach and shift from random investments to planned investments.
A four-member panel of Ashish Goel, Rajesh Chheda Sunil Bhagat and Bishnu Sahu shared their experiences on how they have created happiness for their clients and their families. The panel stressed the need to identify goals of their clients before advising any product. The panel advised IFAs to keep themselves happy. “Clients love to work with happy and energetic advisers,” the panel said.
Saugata Chatterjee, Reliance MF shared the emerging trends in the mutual fund business and how advisors should position themselves to ride these trends profitably. He also chaired a panel discussion on how advisors could use technology to increase their productivity.
Aashish Somaiyaa, Managing Director, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund gave insights on equity market and explained the ‘Buy right sit tight’ strategy of his fund house.
In another panel discussion on ‘Client Engagement and Asset Allocation’ moderated by Prem Khatri, Founder of Cafemutual, experts like Dhirendra Kumar, CEO, Value Research, KS Rao, Head Investor Education & Distributor Development, Birla Sun Life MF, DP Singh, CMO, SBI MF, Aniruddha Chaudhuri, ICICI Prudential MF and Debashish Mohanty, EVP, UTI MF gave interesting tips on client engagement.
Other interesting speakers were Kailash Kulkarni, CBO, L&T Mutual Fund and Rajiv Maniar, Head – New Initiatives, HDFC MF who made presentation on emerging trends in mutual fund industry, opportunity from past experience, international perspective, recipe for successful IFAs etc.
A few AMCs and service providers hosted a workshop on tools and technology, asset allocation strategy and mind mapping for IFAs.
The organizers also felicitated IFAs with Samman Puraskar who have created a major difference in mutual fund industry by adding values to clients through their services. Also, AMCs were awarded for their outstanding contribution in the field of investor awareness, training, education, etc.
The ASK Circle team led by Bhavik Udeshi, Bhavesh Shah, Shifali Satsangee, Suresh Mohta, Rajesh Koradia, Kanak Jain, S K Bagaria and other members were widely praised for this initiative by the participating IFAs and sponsors.
The ASK Circle group was formed in June 2007 and held its first annual conference in 2009. The group has 79 life members, majority of them from the east.
Going by the enthusiasm, MFRT 2015 which is scheduled to be held in Pune should have no problem in getting enthusiastic IFAs to participate.
Cafemutual was the online media partner for MFRT Summit 2014.
