Forecast Dinner 2022 gathered Society members together for a superb evening
CFA Society Finland Forecast Dinner was able to be held again in-person on 24th March 2022. Close to 50 members assembled at Restaurant Sunn in central Helsinki. Sunn provided a wonderful stage for the event, we got to enjoy a marvelous dinner as well enjoy the beautiful scenery to the Helsinki Cathedral. CFA Society Finland board members, Niina Arkko, CFA and Antti Raappana, CFA acted as the hosts for the evening.
The audience was able to listen to two excellent speakers on very topical themes. Elina Valtonen, Member of The Finnish Parliament and vice-chair of the center-right National Coalition Party, spoke on economic policy, central bank policy and the current status of life account. Elina’s presentation was held virtually from France, but was still able to be kept very interactive. Elina concentrated on the current political turmoil in Europe: the financial policy, the role of interest rates in the US and Europe, current acts of armed aggression in Europe and its’ possible effects in Europe and the global impacts on political relations. Her pet project is the life-account, and Elina covered its role and purpose for the citizens of the European Union. The audience was excited to listen to Elina and we hope that she will join us again for updates in the future.
The second presentation was offered to us by Mika Anttonen, the Chairman of the Board of energy company St1 Nordic. Mika spoke on the green energy policy and whether the global green energy transition is possible. The presentation featured some refreshingly honest opinions on the challenges of the green transition, the need for extensive funding to facilitate green energy sources as well as the political state of mind in Europe and globally. More and more countries and companies claim the green stance as their leading policy, but there are some practical hurdles in the way that need to be solved in near future. As we need to move away from the fossil fuels, we must have other energy sources to replace the need right away. This could mean more nuclear power as well as creating efficient renewable energy, such as hydrogen, a reality for the growing population. Mika spoke also on interesting St1 “Biogas” and “Green Ammonia” projects for future energy needs.
At Forecast Dinner it is tradition that two awards are given out to deserving CFA Society Finland members. The first award, Forecaster of the Year 2021 was given out to Toni Iivonen, CFA, who managed to foresee the markets best last year. Congratulation Toni, also the acting Vice President of CFA Society Finland!
The second award goes to Volunteer of the Year. This is the fourth time this award was given out to a member, who has proven to be a supporting member in various Society activities. This year the Society board wanted to award this diploma to Bryn Lane, CFA, a longstanding member of the Society, an active volunteer in Research Challenge annually as well as a positive presence in many Society events and public service projects. Congratulations Bryn! As Bryn could not join us this time at the event, he had left a video message to the audience.
Thank you everyone who attended the Forecast dinner, we hope to see many of our members next year as well!