The CFI Debate 2017
The Centre for Finance and Investment held its 6th debate on Thursday 9 February 2017. The debate for the evening was "Ethical investment is the pursuit of shareholder value". The event was organised in partnership with the Scottish Government-backed Ethical Finance Hub, which offers a platform to promote collaboration, research, innovation and growth in the ethical finance market.
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CFI Annual Debate 2014
The Centre for Finance and Investment (CFI) held its 5th Annual Debate on 23rd October 2014. The debate examined the subject of fan ownership of football clubs and asked the question: “Can fan ownership rescue Scottish football?” The audience consisted mainly of practitioners from the local financial community, people from the world of professional football, academics, students and alumni. The Principal, Prof Steve Chapman, first welcomed the attendees and Prof Ian Thomson, Head of the Department of Accountancy, Economics and Finance, introduced the speakers: Ann Budge, Chair and Chief Executive of Heart of Midlothian Football Club; Andrew Adams, Professor of Finance at Heriot-Watt University; Stephen Morrow, Senior Lecturer in Sport Finance at the University of Stirling; and Mike Mulraney, Chairman of Alloa Athletic Football Club. Ann and Stephen spoke in favour of fan ownership while Andrew and Mike set out the opposing view.
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CFI Annual Debate 2013
The CFI held its 4th Annual Debate on 8 October. This joint event with the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society examined whether Quantitative Easing (QE) had been a mistake and asked “What Now for QE?”. The speakers were: Professor David Cobham, Chair in Economics at Heriot-Watt; Professor Robin Angus, Executive Director of Personal Assets Trust; Russell Napier, consultant with brokers CLSA; and Bill Jamieson, former Executive Editor of The Scotsman. The presentations were followed by a Q&A session and Haig Bathgate, Chair of the CFA UK Scottish Committee, made the closing remarks.
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CFI Annual Debate 2012
CFI Annual Debate 2011
The Centre for Finance & Investment Annual Debate 2011 was held on Wednesday 5 October 2011 with practitioners from the Edinburgh financial community, academics and postgraduate students in attendance. The debate, entitled "Should more Investment Trusts become Open-ended Structures?", examined whether or not, following the decision by Electric & General Investment Trust to convert into an open-ended investment company in August 2011, more investment trusts should become open-ended structures. The main speakers were Colin McLean of SVM Asset Management and John Moore of Brewin Dolphin. A question and answer session followed, with Professor Paul Draper joining the speakers for this. To conclude the audience was asked “should more investment trusts become open-ended structures – yes or no?” with 90% of the audience voting ‘no’