The 2nd 'Light Your Life Workshop' and the 105th Economic Forum, co-organized by the STU Business School and UBS Hong Kong, were held on 20th May.
In her address in the opening of the workshop, MS Amy Lo, UBS Managing Director and Regional Market Manager Hong Kong, said she was glad to have the opportunity to introduce to STU students the essences of finance and banking.
A number of UBS delegates gave their presentations in a variety of realms. MR Frankie Law, Country Team Head of Wealth Management, briefed UBS' development of wealth management in the Asia-Pacific region; MS Debora Cheng, Head of Corporate Advisory Group HK, introduced UBS’ institutional structure and practical operational models; MR Charles Kwok, who is a portfolio specialist with over 17 years of investment experience in the industry, demonstrated the financial market with realistic examples; MS Angel Ng, Director of the UBS Business University, shared with the attendees her experiences in planning for a career path in the financial industry and offered advices for achieving career success; MS Grace Cheung, Campus Recruiter at the UBS Human Resources Department, provided some techniques and hints to succeed in job interviews.
In the evening, the 105th Economic Forum was held in the new library's lecture hall. Senior executives from several UBS departments were invited to the event. Professor Lin Danming, Vice President of STU, addressed in the opening and chaired the forum.
Guest lecturers MR Pu Yonghao, Head Wealth Management Research APAC and Chief Investment Strategist APAC of UBS, and Professor Yao Hongxin from STU Business School, delivered their respective keynote speeches. Professor Xu Erming, consultant of the Business School, MR Wang Aiyang from Shumyip Holdings Co., Ltd, and MR Jiang Liqi, chief director of Huawei’s Innovation Department, were invited as special guests.
MR Pu's lecture focused on the challenges confronted by governments and enterprises in the face of inflation. By presenting virtual charts and figures in illustrating his comparison between the inflation index in the past 25 years and CPI data of the last decade, MR Pu pointed out that inflation has been one of the most unpredictable variables, politically and generally.
He argued that domestically, the excessive supply of currency and rapid accumulation of loans in the past decade, with 2009 in particular, has been the driving contributor to the ongoing inflation; substantive appreciation of the RMB was not observed in the context of globalization, whilst CPI index soared in the recent few years. Moreover, the significantly higher inflation rates recorded in world’s major economies in 2011, combined with blistering and prolonged increase of input costs and crude oil price, have fueled the soaring inflation in China. MR Pu predicted that the US and Japan are likely to maintain their low interest rates in the foreseeable future and thus Chinese enterprises should direct significant efforts towards minimising inflation's impacts on profits.
Professor Yao's speech, on the other hand, concentrated on the trend of gold price in an era of overall inflation. He analyzed the possible causes to the heated commodity and the risks and irrationalities associated with investing in precious metals. Basing on his studies on the trend of gold price in the past 4 decades, he argued that gold have served as currency, investment product and industrial consumption commodity. By analyzing the underlying logics among them, he went on to argue that the hyper heat of gold is consistent with the general cyclical trends of commodities.
According to Professor Yao, gold is a more complicated kind of commodity, given its acceptability as an alternative currency; when inflation is first expected, gold price began to increase; taking account of the general periodic trend and the bursting point in 1980, hitting US$2000 per ounce is just a matter of time. The cyclical increase of gold price occurs every 20 years. After separating from the frustration period of the general economy, Professor Yao argued, buying stocks would yield more than purchasing gold. Close observation of products’ price trends, as he concluded, are vital in making investment decisions.
In the second part of the forum, Professor Xu analyzed matters regarding the societal consequences that inflation has brought about with historian perspectives. MR Jiang encouraged students to prepare themselves for challenges ahead; MR Wang shared his experiences in his pursues of career achievements.
Discussions and Q&A were carried out between guests and attendees in the later part of the forum.
Translate: Seann Huang, for comments and/or complaints please email conghuang@stu.edu.cn
