CFA Institute Chief in Sri Lanka next week

Friday, 26 July 2019 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

 


  • Key visit to endorse investor education efforts for CFA Society Sri Lanka For the first time since its inception, the CFA Institute President and CEO Paul Smith, CFA, is visiting Sri Lanka to recognise several key community service and public engagement initiatives undertaken by the CFA Society Sri Lanka. 

This visit is an acknowledgement of continued efforts of the CFA Society Sri Lanka to improve financial literacy and to promote the highest ethical standards and professional excellence within the local investment community. 

CFA Institute President 

and CEO Paul Smith



Paul Smith, CFA has been the president and CEO of CFA Institute since 2015. He brings extensive leadership experience in the investment management industry, having held a variety of top positions in major financial centres over 30 years. Smith started his career in asset management progressively taking up roles of increasing responsibility in London, Paris, and Dublin. He served as HSBC’s global head of alternative funds administration working in Hong Kong and New York, where he was responsible for more than $250 billion of assets. He is a CFA charterholder and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. Smith holds a master’s degree from Oxford University.

During his visit, Paul Smith will attend several key advocacy and outreach initiatives conducted by the CFA Society Sri Lanka. The first of these will be the ringing of the opening bell to commence trading at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) on 31 July. This will be followed by the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka and CFA Society Sri Lanka to promote stakeholder consultations and best practices on governance. The MoU is a key strategic initiative of the CFA Society SL to advance its advocacy and outreach objective of promoting fair and transparent capital markets and investor protection.

Smith will also launch the ‘Train the Trainer’ program in Sinhalese, a collaborative initiative between the CFA Society SL and Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to promote greater financial literacy in Sri Lanka. The program which is to be conducted at the at the Centre for Banking Studies, auditorium, Rajagiriya on 1 August is aimed at improving the financial literacy by empowering institutional trainers with knowhow and training material to conduct public awareness and capacity building programs particularly in Sinhala and Tamil. The training will be conducted by industry veteran and author of the book ‘Financial Literacy to Achieve Your Financial Wellbeing’, Ravi Abeysuriya, CFA who serves as Director/Advocacy Chair for the CFA Society Sri Lanka and counts over 35 years of finance experience in asset management, banking, insurance and private equity. The books in all three languages are available at www.cfasrilanka.lk to download, free of charge.

A global non-profit organisation, the CFA Institute is the world’s largest association of investment professionals. The CFA Institute is a champion of ethical behaviour in investment markets and a respected source of knowledge in the global financial community. With over 164,000 members and 151 local member societies worldwide, its mission has been to lead the investment profession globally by promoting the highest standards of ethics, education, and professional excellence for the ultimate benefit of society. 

CFA Society Sri Lanka is the local chapter of the global CFA Institute, and was founded in 2000, as an organisation supporting the professional development and advancement of CFA Charterholders in Sri Lanka. In addition to providing its members with a forum for the exchange of ideas, networking and educational programs, CFA Society Sri Lanka has continuously engaged with industry stakeholders for the benefit of the general investing public.

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