SGX Inks Partnership with CFA Singapore to Enhance Investment Competencies

Singapore Exchange (SGX) and CFA Singapore (CFAS) jointly announced on Monday a partnership to enhance the level of investment competencies in Singapore.

The collaboration will see SGX Academy and CFAS adopt a two-prong approach: firstly, to enhance the competencies of trading representatives and financial advisers; and secondly, to equip young investors with basic investment knowledge.

For a starter, both parties will come up with customised educational materials for the traders and investors and reach out to them through a series of investment forums for the next two years starting July 2012.

The lectures will be delivered by prominent CFA charter holders.

For trading representatives and financial advisers, the content will be based on a practitioner’s perspective, focusing on investing, portfolio management and trading with a strong ethics overlay to promote trust and integrity in the industry.

For young investors, the emphasis will be on prudent investing and developing an investment plan. SGX Academy and CFAS will also work with investment clubs of tertiary institutions to develop champions of investor education.

“This series of investment forums will be structured to impart practical and relevant knowledge to trading representatives and financial advisers, and be delivered with the same high quality standards as our CFA programme,” remarked Dan Schaefer, President of CFA Singapore.

For Chew Sutat, SGX Executive Vice President who oversees the Academy, the collaboration will help raise the level of competencies and standards of service delivered by trading representatives and financial advisers in order to benefit customers.

“Young investors will also benefit substantially from the high quality and structured education format delivered by CFA speakers. By developing champions of investor education, we hope to convert a nation of savers into investors,” he added.

“When we did our global survey, we found that an issue faced by our industry is the need to build greater trust. I am glad to see a strong ethics component in this programme as greater professionalism and trust will help push the community forward,” said Ashvin Vibhakar, MD Asia Pacific, CFA Institute.