CFA Capital Market Awards and Forecast Dinner on 26 June

The annual flagship event of CFA Society Sri Lanka, the CFA Capital Market Awards and Forecast Dinner, will be held for the sixth consecutive year on 26 June, at the Cinnamon Grand, Colombo.  

The Capital Market Awards is the only Industry Awards Ceremony of its kind in Sri Lanka that recognises and rewards best performance in Sri Lanka’s capital market. 

The fundamental objective of the awards is to inspire and incentivise capital market participants and the broader stakeholder groups to strive for standards of excellence. 

SEC Director – External Relations and Surveillance Thushara Jayarathna stated, “Some Sri Lankan investors and some stockbroker firms do not possess the habit of basing investment decisions on research. The CFA Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards filled a vacuum that had been there in the Capital Market for a long time. SEC appreciates CFA Sri Lanka’s contribution in promoting professional excellence and best practices in the capital market and thereby supporting its development.”

The evening will host regulators, stockbrokers, analysts, CFA charterholders and senior management of listed companies. The awards recognise Gold, Silver and Bronze winners in four categories in the past, namely the Best Equity Research Report, Best Investor Relations, Best Stock Broker Research Firm and Best Unit Trust. This year, the organising committee has introduced a fifth award - The Best Sector Research Report, to recognise the efforts made by stock broker research firms to broaden sector coverage in order to meet the increased demand from local and foreign institutional investors. CFA Sri Lanka believes that the availability of insightful sector reports based on fundamental research would help facilitate and promote more foreign investment.

Asia Securities Ltd., Head of Research Kanishka Perera, who won the Gold Award for Best Equity Research Report and the Best Stock Broker Research Firm in 2017 says, “The CFA Capital Market Awards gives the extra push towards developing the local capital market through recognition of excellence across the ecosystem and gives an impetus to innovate and deliver true insights and value to clients.”

A rigorous, comprehensive process will be followed by the hand-picked panel of judges comprising dedicated and experienced CFA charterholders and non-members who volunteer to evaluate the submissions under each category. Criteria showcase best practices benchmarked to CFA Institute’s standards - professional competence, integrity, standards of excellence to non CFA’s. Post shortlisting, the judges will evaluate the top equity research reports to select the Best Equity Research Report on incisive criteria including industry overview and competitive landscape, company’s value drivers, dynamics, financial analysis, valuation, risks and recommendations. The process for choosing the Best Stockbroking Research Team includes a survey conducted among user groups and evaluation criteria based on coverage, forecast and stock picking accuracy, industry knowledge, timeliness and responsiveness. 

For the Best Investor Relations Award, 16 companies will be shortlisted based on the strength of their investor relation practices. Accessibility of management, quality and transparency of their disclosure and the company’s reaction to reports that are not necessarily favourable were some of the attributes evaluated.

Best Unit Trust Fund will recognise and reward fund management companies that place unit holder interest first; promote better compliance and transparency to investors; encourage adoption of best practices in Asset Management and deliver competitive risk adjusted returns to clients.