The CFA Society of the UK, supporting ASIP, CFA and IMC professionals.

 Tue 06 Jan 2009

UK Society of Investment Professionals - CFA Institute

Advocacy

The advocacy function acts as the voice for the investment professional.

Representing the interests of the individual rather than the firm, the society aims to encourage debate within the investment industry, particularly amongst our members. This allows the society – working with other interested bodies – to promote improvements in standards and practices.

Based within a framework of high ethical standards and recognising that members have clear fiduciary responsibilities and a duty of care to clients, the aim is to protect the integrity of the profession and to ensure that the markets operate efficiently and fairly.

advocacy issues are overseen by two committees: the Accounting Advocacy Committee and the Investment Profession Advocacy Committee (IPAC).


Take a look through our recent activities and progress:

Contracts for Difference (CfD)

FSA heeds practitoners' concerns for disclosure regime - July 2008
CFA UK welcomes FSA's amendments to the new disclosure regime for holdings of CfDs.


Supporting change for CfD disclosure regime - February 2008
CFA UK supports changes to the disclosure regime but rejects FSA's preferred option. See results of member survey.


Ethics

Raising ethical standards - November 2003
Professional bodies can help to raise ethical standards through high quality, professional training.

Conflicts of interest

Investment research and issues of securities - May 2003
The society opposes prohibition of personal dealings in securities - firms' personal account dealing rules should govern practices.



Financial Reporting

Financial Statements

Annual reports survey - October 2008
Members give their views on what they would like from companies' annual reports.

Fair Value

Level playing field between US & Europe - October 2008
CFA UK letter urges European Commission not to create carve-out for IAS 39: Recognition and measurement of financial instruments.


Fair value accounting should stay - October 2008
Letter to the Financial Times disagreeing with Congress's stance on fair value accounting during the banking crisis.


Use current values and disclose valuation methods - October 2008
CFA UK argues that current values should be used and valuation methods disclosed. See the society's comments on the IASB consultation paper: Reducing Complexity in Reporting Financial Instruments.


Headline Earnings

CFA UK publishes definition for headline earnings - September 2007
The Financial Times uses CFA UK's definition of headline earnings to calculate the P/E ratios reported in the London Share Service's pages, published daily.


Pensions



Fixed Income

Secondary bond market

No market failure in transparency and price setting - December 2005
UKSIP advocates that there is little need for the FSA to introduce additional regulation in the UK secondary bond market. Read the letter to the FSA.


Hedge Funds

'Comply or explain' for hedge funds? - November 2007
Response to the Hedge Fund Working Group supporting emphasis on disclosure rather than regulation but urges proper application of 'comply or explain' regime.



Liquidity Support

Liquidity support: To disclose or not to disclose? - September 2008
Survey of CFA UK members concludes no perfect solution on whether to disclosure liquidity support for solvent financial institutions.



Listing Regime

CFA UK favours two tier listing regime - April 2008
Broadly agrees with FSA's two tier listing regime and supports the retention of super-equivalent requirements.


Rights issue period - August 2008
CFA UK encourages the Pre-Emption Group of the Financial Reporting Council to shorten the "rights period".

Market Abuse

Short selling can help create efficient markets - August 2008
The society points out inconsistencies in the FSA's ruling on short-selling positions held during a rights issue.


Retain superequivalent provisions of market abuse regime - May 2008
Letter supporting HM Treasury's proposes to extend the superequivalent provisions (the so-called sunset clauses) of the UK’s market abuse regime.


Pensions

Pensions accounting – Survey Results - August 2008
Members divided on the discount rate of future liabilities, but believe that expected future salary increases should not be excluded from the liabilities calculations. See response to ASB consultation paper and results of member survey.


Code of practice: Trustee knowledge and understanding - June 2005
UKSIP supports a modular approach to building pension trustees' knowledge.



Private Equity

'Comply or explain' for Private Equity? - September 2007
The society questions whether the 'comply or explain' regime, used by listed companies, will work for private equity. Read the comments on a David Walker Working Group consultation paper on Disclosure and Transparency in Private Equity.



Training and Competence

Standards for financial services skills - August 2007
In a letter to the Financial Services Skills Council, the society questions whether a single set of standards can be applied to different roles, with different skill sets.

Continuing professional development essential - May 2007
UKSIP shares FSA's view of the need for ongoing training for the wholesale and retail investment practitioners. The society also supports retention of an examination requirement for the retail sector. Read UKSIP's response to the FSA's consultation paper.

Examinations essential for wholesale sector - October 2005
UKSIP opposes the abolition of requirements for wholesale sector workers to sit an approved exams and to be approved by the FSA.

Code of practice: Trustee knowledge and understanding - June 2005
UKSIP supports a modular approach to building pension trustees' knowledge.