The WU Gutmann Center for Portfolio Management is a co-operation project of Bank Gutmann and WU (the Vienna University of Economics and Business). The aim of this project is to continue and develop the successful collaboration started by Bank Gutmann and the University of Vienna in 2001.
Since its foundation, the WU Gutmann Center for Portfolio Management has consistently pursued three key objectives: Scientific research into new developments in the financial industry (creation of knowledge); providing access to the latest research findings for students at the University of Economics and Business (dissemination of knowledge); and finally the creation of a platform for exchanges between researchers and practitioners through a range of activities (bridging).
The long-standing collaboration has yielded concrete benefits for our partners and clients: We are continuously exploring fresh views and trends in research into portfolio management for integration into our investment methodology. We also evaluate our ideas jointly with Gutmann Center experts. Finally, this gives us the opportunity to meet and recruit the best young talent for careers with Gutmann, in the best interest of our clients.
Gutmann Academy
Since the winter semester of 2006, Bank Gutmann and the WU Gutmann Center for Portfolio Management at WU (the Vienna University of Economics and Business) have been offering the Gutmann seminar on “Private Wealth Management” as part of the activities of the Gutmann Academy. The aim of this course, which is held as an integrative workshop, is to introduce interested clients of Bank Gutmann as well as students of the Vienna University of Economics and Business to the theory and practice of private wealth management.
Working in small groups supported by doctoral students of the Vienna Graduate School of Finance and Bank Gutmann professionals, participants investigate a variety of aspects of private wealth management on the basis of selected case studies. After completion, the results of this work are presented as part of the course. Participation in the workshop is not conditional upon any prior knowledge in finance or portfolio management. Participants learn the required theoretical basis at an introductory lecture.
All participants who actively participate in the workshop receive a certificate of attendance. Students attending the workshop as part of their regular course of studies are awarded grades based on the quality of their work, presentation, and contributions.
Statements on the WU Gutmann Center for Portfolio Management:
Friedrich Strasser, member of Bank Gutmann's board of management, summarises the intention of the initiative as follows: “Beside financial co-operation, the primary objective is to attract international top experts and thereby promote the domestic financial industry’s participation in the world-wide transfer of knowledge.“
For University Professor Dr. Stefan Bogner, head of the newly created Department for Finance, Accounting and Statistics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, this co-operation offers an opportunity for testing and applying the Department’s significant range of capabilities in the fields of finance, accounting, and statistics/mathematics to current problems.
Alois Geyer, spokesman of the WU Gutmann Center Executive Committee, is pleased that the long-standing successful co-operation has firmly established the Gutmann Center in the financial community as a brand standing for an international outlook, state-of-the-art research, and an intensive dialogue between academics and practitioners.
Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe, honorary member of the Academic Advisory Board and developer of the Sharpe Ratio, a widely used measure for financial performance, draws positive parallels to experiences in the United States. “In the US, collaboration between research and practice has significantly accelerated scientific and technological progress.”
