Welcome to the CFALA e-newsletter, a periodic publication with stories about noteworthy events and programs sponsored or hosted by the society, guest articles by members, book reviews, and other items of interest to CFALA members. Click on the headlines below to read the full stories. And if you’d like to contribute a story suggestion or, even better, write an article, we’d love to hear from you. Please email Executive Director Laura Carney at laura@cfala.org.

*Please note that the content of this e-newsletter should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of  CFA Society Los Angeles.

In this issue ...

• Career Expo and Job Fair Offers Multiple Networking Opportunities

• Ethics Resources for the Financial Services Industry

• The Elderly, Cognitive Decline and Banking

• How Do We Ensure Transparent and Trustworthy AI in Fintech?

• Why Fiduciary Fund Selection is Go in a Fintech World

• xkcd: Why Asimov Put the Three Laws of Robotics in the Order He Did

• What The Experts Got Right In 2016

Career Expo and Job Fair Offers Multiple Networking Opportunities

On April 6th 2017 at the LA Hotel Downtown, the CFA Society Los Angeles Career Development Committee will once again hold its largest event of the year, the CFALA Career Development Expo and Job Fair. Our team is working hard to line up speakers, panelists, networkers, and hiring employers! If history is any indication, this should be our most successful event yet. We have seen ever increasing interest the past few years, with 2016 crossing 250 attendees – more than double just 4 years prior.
The format of the event is simple. We start with a presentation portion at 3pm and proceed with a talk from the CFA Society Los Angeles President, followed by our Keynote Speaker. In 2016 our Keynote was David Cooley, Director of Alumni Career Services & Career Coach for UCLA Anderson School of Management’s Office of Alumni Relations. His talk was fantastic and very well received by the audience. The attendees then break into two panel sections: those very early in their career, and those a bit farther along. Panelists for these sections are selected on the basis of being uniquely qualified to provide the career advice relevant to each room’s participants. You will hear all sorts of tips and tricks for getting ahead at every career level. At that point we begin the interactive portion of the event - the networking session and Job Fair.
We will have numerous CFA Charterholders present to interact with the attendees and answer any questions they may have. This is a great way to learn about CFA Society Los Angeles events, the quality of our network, the culture of the networkers’ firms, the networkers’ career histories, and of course anything else.
For our Job Fair, we will procure upwards of 20 hiring employers and recruiters eager to meet our attendees. In 2016 we had the following groups: Allstate Insurance, Alpha Careers LLC, California Organized Investment Network (COIN), Capital Group, Causeway Capital Management, Century Group, Covington Capital Management, FastPay, Houlihan Lokey, Lyft, Inc., New York Life, Prudential, Robert Half Management Resources, TCW, United States Securities and Exchange Commission, University of California, Riverside - School of Business Administration, Wedbush, and Western Asset Management Company. If you think your employer might also be interested in participating as an exhibitor at the Job Fair (which is free), please have them reach out to CFA Society Los Angeles!
Overall the Career Expo is an outstanding way to learn about CFALA, receive outstanding career advice from many sources, add to your network, and meet hiring employers. If you are a young professional reading this article and aren’t sure if you want to attend the event, ask yourself, will I be better off in 5 years staying home and watching TV on April 6th, or attending the CFA Society Los Angeles Career Expo….hopefully your competition stays home. Hope to see you there!
David S. Bradley, CFA, CAIA
Career Development Committee Co-Chair Back To Top ^^

Ethics Resources for the Financial Services Industry

At some point we will all have to deal with an ethical quandary regarding our firm, our coworkers, or our clients. The question is, if you face an ethical question or an outright violation of ethics or the law, where do you turn? The following guide is a list of email and phone number resources, provided by the CFA Society Los Angeles, for investment professionals and the general public to receive guidance regarding questions about ethical issues, and to report clear violations that have occurred. Read more...  Back To Top ^^

The Elderly, Cognitive Decline and Banking

According to this Economist article, many banks are finally recognizing the need to respond when elderly customers show signs of cognitive decline. One expert on Alzheimer's even feels that banks and their technology are uniquely positioned to support "Whealthcare" -- timely detection based on signs of a decline in financial skills. Read more...  Back To Top ^^

How Do We Ensure Transparent and Trustworthy AI in Fintech?

Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems (AI/AS) have the potential to transform Fintech, so it is critical to build ethics into the core of their design. Royal Media Associate Editor Grace Noto explores just what it's going to take to achieve this in this piece for Bank Innovation, a Fintech blog/accelerator. Read more... And more...  Back To Top ^^

Why Fiduciary Fund Selection is Go in a Fintech World

The subject of ethics for Fintech AI brings to mind the Three Laws of Robotics from the works of science fiction author Isaac Asimov. In this wide-ranging promotional essay for FundForum Asia 2017, UK-based author and consultant Jon Beckett muses about the applicability of those laws to the "fiduciary Robo-Adviser and Robo-Selector." Read more...  And more... Back To Top ^^

xkcd: Why Asimov Put the Three Laws of Robotics in the Order He Did

In his "webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language," cartoonist Randall Munroe takes a lighter-hearted look at Asimov's Three Laws. Read more... And more...  Back To Top ^^

What The Experts Got Right In 2016

It's time once again to assess the accuracy of predictions made for the previous year. In this ETF.com blog post, author and BAM Alliance principal and director of research Larry Swedroe provides a final review how his annual list of financial market "sure things" fared for 2016. We've also provided a link to Swedroe's 2017 list, published on 2/1/2017, for those who might be interested. Read more...  And more... Back To Top ^^