In 1995, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam was first introduced in the Philippines, with the support of the Capital Markets Development Council, Inc. (CMDCI). On July 1997, a group of CFA candidates, practitioners from the investment community and members of the academe gathered to form a society in response to the growing need to set higher standards in the investment community - in terms of knowledge, competence, professionalism and, above all, ethics. Thus, the Association of Invesment Professionals - Manila (CFAP) was established.
CFAP's mission and vision is to be a premier association in the Philippine investment and finance profession by promoting competence, professionalism and the highest ethical standards. As of April 2008, CFAP has 92 regular members and 2 affiliate members.
What is the role of CFA Philippines in this society? One founding member of CFA Philippines offers his views.
"Professionals like doctors, lawyers, or investment managers tend to band together to address common concerns. For instance, they collectively deal with threats to the profession's prestige. They know painfully well, that any bad press would harm the practitioners' ability to earn a living. When it comes to dealing with threats to prestige, a better method is, actually, for the practitioners to promote high standards. This is a more positive, or proactive way, of guarding against bad press. It is easier to "defend" a profession by making it work for the good of the clients, for the good of society.
In Manila, the CFA Society has brought together the 80 or so CFA charterholders in the Philippines as of 2007, to work toward such goals: the projects of the society are aimed at raising standards in the investment profession, in terms of competence and ethics. Once the standards are high, clients, in general, should benefit. If the clients sense that they are treated well, they would have no qualms placing their trust in the investment professionals who handle their pension funds or mutual funds.
No client ever wants deal with an incompetent investment manager who loses money, keeps no records, has wrong priorities, or who cannot even articulate his strategy. What the CFA society wants to avoid are situations in which investment professionals get accused of carelessness, in dealing with the hard-earned money of investors. They want to avoid accusations that investment professionals are neglecting clients' needs, for instance, by not customizing the investment policy to the specific objectives and constraints of the investor client, or by failing to match the client's stated objectives with the opportunities in the financial markets.
Note that there are 101 other ways to deceive an investment client, which the client would not even notice. Therefore, investment professionals need to be brutally honest in all dealings with clients; to tell on themselves, even when the client would not notice the fault. They should also be thoroughly competent. To this end, the CFA society expends great effort to promote best practices and practical learning (via the CFA study program). Individual members of the CFA society often point out that this great effort to achieve certification, has been a worthwhile investment of their time.
By encouraging people to enroll in the CFA program, the CFA society aims to raise industry standards on both counts, competence and ethics. This form of encouragement or "pressure" gives the practitioners a hard time. Yet it is a very welcome sort of pressure, one that "forces" one to be very knowledgeable about the profession. It "forces" the practitioner to be up-to-date with best practices. It obliges the practitioner to know all his duties to clients, to the investing public, and to society at large.
Today, it is widely acknowledged that investment professionals need both the technical training to do their job, and the wisdom to do what is right. The right training and the right wisdom are amply represented in the curriculum for the CFA exam. CFA charterholders encourage junior professionals to take the CFA exams, because it leads them to do a better job and to be ethical. Ethics classes are given a heavy weight in the CFA program. The emphasis on ethics often leads to the happy result, that the investment professionals make an honest living. If they do make a pile of money, it is because of excellent service to the client, and not because of any ethical shortcuts.
These are just a few of the benefits to society, that the CFA society strives to bring about.
Alexander Gilles, CFA"