Setting the standard for investment risk management and fiduciary best practice will be the focus for a meeting sponsored by Argus Financial Ltd. (AFL) today.

AFL's first annual Bermuda Investment Industry Education Forum, which will be held at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute, will feature globally-renowned investment and fiduciary expert Donald Trone.

Mr. Trone, the president and founder of the Foundation for Fiduciary Studies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was recently named the most influential person in the 401k industry by 401k Wire, an industry publication. Last year, Financial Planning Magazine listed him in the top eight most influential people in the financial-planning sector.

This year's forum, which is entitled Global Fiduciary Standards of Excellence in the Management of Investment Risk, will look at best practice investment policy statements, recent technology and tools for monitoring investment risk and the development of best-practice fiduciary standards.

Mr. Trone's keynote address will specifically address the decision-making and leadership side of the prudent investment process. He asserts that finance and investment industry decision-makers must be seen as both effective managers and leaders in order to gain the trust and confidence of their clients.

Mr. Trone, who is set to meet up with Matthew Elderfield, chief executive officer of the Bermuda Monetary Authority tomorrow, will be talking to a mixture of 65 qualified accountants, attorneys, trust professionals, investment advisors and managers, financial planners, private bankers, compliance officers and other clients about his latest book Investment Ethos and the principle of fiduciary responsibility for managing somebody else's assets and the highest standard of care owed to a client.

"The cost of breaches of fiduciary responsibility since Enron has reached $2.5 trillion and the fact is that our fiduciaries on a global basis do not know what they are doing or have not valuated that the standard of care has cost investors or customers a big sum in the past seven years," he said.

Cindy Campbell, chief operating officer of AFL, said the conference was an opportunity to tap into the knowledge and experience of some top investment planners and to examine the role the fiduciary plays in Bermuda's infrastructure and bring together those involved in the process to raise the bar for the industry.

She said the event would have three main themes from the investment policy statement and determining the goals and objectives of the fiduciary standard to monitoring those investments and how it all fits together.

"At AFL, we understand the importance of global fiduciary standards in the management of investment risk within our clients' portfolios, pensions and endowments," she said.

"Our goal is to be at the forefront of developing and sharing current investment trends with fellow professionals in the finance industry in Bermuda.

"We believe that this will help us to preserve and enhance the wealth of our clients as well as continue to elevate Bermuda's reputation as an international finance centre."

Gerald Simons, president and CEO of the Argus Group, said: "Argus Financial Ltd. is pleased to bring someone of Don's stature to our inaugural investment industry education forum. With the large number of investment decision makers based here in Bermuda, his passion for and focus on the responsibilities of global fiduciary management is most relevant."

Mr. Trone's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Foundation for Fiduciary Studies aims to develop and advance global fiduciary standards of care for investment stewards (trustees), investment advisors and investment managers and he has been writing, teaching and preaching about investment fiduciary responsibility for more than 20 years.

He is also the co-founder and co-director of the Centre for Fiduciary Studies, which operates in association with the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business. In addition, he is co-author of two bestselling industry books, Procedural Prudence and The Management of Investment Decisions.

The conference, which is also sponsored by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners Bermuda and FORS Ltd., which provides accounting and investment reporting solutions to trust companies, takes place between 8.30 a.m. and 12 p.m.

• The Bermuda Monetary Authority has issued a code of conduct for licensed fund administators covering duties, requirements and standards to be complied with and procedures and principles to be observed.

The move is part of the roll out of the new regulatory regime for Bermuda's fund administrators, in the wake introducing the Investment Funds Act.

When the Authority conducts its on-site visits to the fund administration firms, it will review and assess whether the firms are in compliance with the code, as specified under the Act.