ARX Series
Student Corner
Editor's selection of articles with high educational value for students of business, finance, economics, and other disciplines, who are considering a career in the financial industry.
Introduction
Education is a core principle of CFA Institute and the Asia-Pacific Research Exchange. In addition to Professional Learning for charterholders and finance professionals, we support initiatives aimed at university students who are considering careers in banking or finance. With our student readers in mind, ARX editors, with the help of practitioners, educators, and student volunteers, have curated a selection of ARX posts of high educational value.
For more educational content we encourage you to visit the Professional Learning and Webinars sections, or to browse ARX's repository of more than 3000 posts.
Check out also the annual CFA Institute Research Challenge — a global competition of teams of university students, who are tested on their financial analysis skills and professional ethics.
Career and Professional Development
WEBINAR: Invest in Your Career to Reach the Top: Equity Research
Equity research analysts work at a variety of companies, such as asset managers, investment banks, insurance, hedge funds, pension funds, and brokerages, which need to crunch data to spot trends or to decide on a valuation.
11 November 2020 | CFA Society Philippines: Charles William Ang, CFA | Video: 1 hr 2 min.
WEBINAR: Handling Publicity and the Media Like a Pro
A media training workshop presented by CFA Society Malaysia, helps learn how to master a variety of situations naturally when it comes to speaking in public or on the air.
21 September 2020 | CFA Society Malaysia | Video: 1 hr 20 min.
Towards a Digitised and Flexible Future: Asia’s Recruitment Trends
A growing caution from employers in response to market uncertainty, undimmed expectations of candidates, a growing acknowledgement of skill gaps and their impact on innovation are among trends highlighted in the annual recruitment and salary guide.
20 Mar 2020 | Hays
Smart Women and Risk-Taking
A focus on smart women and risk-taking, 100% based on qualitative interviews. It looks at the gender gap – and particularly how many women have been socialized not to talk about money – and women’s risk tolerance in investing.
12 Mar 2018 | Barbara Stewart, CFA
WEBINAR: Career Insights: Closing the Skills Gap - How to Transform Yourself into a Work-Ready Professional
Many young finance professionals in India lack technical skills, soft skills, and adequate business awareness. This is a growing problem, leading to frustration for both employers and employees. What do new hires need to hit the ground running and find fulfilment in their careers?
12 Mar 2018 | Binod Shankar, CFA, Biharilal Deora, CFA, CIPM | 1 CE | Video: 1 hr 9 min
For more "Career Insights" webinars, visit the Webinars section or browse ARX posts under Research.
CFA Institute Career Guide
This Career Guide is designed to help professionals to identify the necessary building blocks to succeed in the investment profession. Education and a professional designation are vital. But as the Chartered Financial Analysts featured in this guide will tell readers, learning continues throughout your career.
17 Oct 2017 | Heda Bayron | CFA Institute
Professional Accountants: The Future
This reports identifies the main drivers of change that will have the most impact on the profession, plus the technical, ethical and interpersonal skills and competencies that will be required in the future.
14 Oct 2016 | ACCA Global
Asset Management
Webinar Series: Islamic Finance
A series of webinars on Islamic finance, presented by CFA Institute, CFA Society Bangladesh, CFA Society Indonesia, CFA Society Malaysia, and CFA Society Pakistan:
- Part 1: Fundamental Principles of Islamic Finance, 27 August 2020
- An overview of the fundamental principles governing Islamic finance. The panellists discuss the origins of Islamic finance, the fundamental principles of Shariah law, asset-based structure, and risk-sharing. - Part 2: Innovation in Islamic Banking, 21 October 2020
- To compete with the conventional players, Islamic financial institutions must provide a unique and attractive proposition to consumers and investors, while complying with requirements of Shariah law. - Part 3: Practices and Opportunities in Islamic Capital Markets: 15 December 2020
- Capital market practitioners and Islamic finance experts discuss the fundamental principles of Shariah law governing capital markets, opportunities for companies to issue sukuk for funding projects, and more…
Top 10 Trends in Sustainable Investment in China 2020
Effects of climate change, materiality of ESG disclosures, product diversification, incorporation of ESG into fixed income, and Sustainable Development Goals as a product theme, are some of the new trends on China’s sustainable investing landscape.
11 Feb 2020 | SynTao Green Finance, China SIF
Factor Investing Considerations
This paper addresses questions that are frequently asked by clients. It focuses on S&W and compares it to the Bottom-up FTSE Russell Tilt approach. It covers a number of topics including; Is one approach superior to another? How should one formulate a fair comparison? What is the role of correlation? Can diversified weighting schemes help?
4 Dec 2019 | FTSE Russell
Islamic Finance: Ethics, Concepts, Practice
Islamic finance, widely regarded as one of the fastest-growing segments of global finance, is the subject of many debates. Should religion have anything to do with finance? Can guidance on economics and finance be derived from Islam? What exactly is meant by the prohibition of riba in Islam? Is equity financing superior to debt financing for long-term economic prosperity? These are but a sample of the larger debates regarding Islamic finance.
22 Sep 2018 | Usman Hayat, CFA, Adeel Malik, PhD
Clear Path Analysis Report: Sustainable Smart Beta Investing: For institutional investors
A white paper by Clear Path Analysis into why asset owners should combine ESG and smart beta to create effective and sustainable investment strategies.
16 Nov 2017 | Jeremy Randall, et al. | FTSE Russell
Mergers & Acquisitions: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Year-to-date, over $800 billion of merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activity has been announced in the U.S. Should acquiring-company shareholders expect to benefit? The study shows that among Russell 3000 firms with acquisitions greater than 5% of acquirer enterprise value, post-M&A acquirer returns have underperformed peers in general. A number of deal-related and fundamental attributes can be used to separate the ‘good’ from the ‘bad’ (and, sometimes, the really ugly).
25 Mar 2017 | Richard Tortoriello, Temi Oyeniyi, CFA, David Pope, CFA, Paul Fruin, CFA, Ruben Falk
European Capital Markets Union
This CFA Institute white paper gives an overview of the European Commission’s Capital Markets Union (CMU) initiative, and what it could mean for investors in the EU and globally. The white paper also covers the European Commission’s public consultations on the revision of the Prospectus Directive and on simple, transparent, and standardised securitisation.
12 Jun 2016 | Maiju Hamunen | CFA Institute
Equity Investments
WEBINAR: Practitioners’ Insights: Valuing IPOs
Over the last 15 years, the number of listed companies in India has increased significantly. Many new businesses at early, growth, or mature stages were listed, creating immense wealth for investors (individual and institutional). While many created wealth, many also disappointed, especially during the boom years of power/infrastructure (2007-08) and as recent as SME IPO pickup during the frenzy of small caps in 2017. While the principles of research for IPO stocks remain the same, additional diligence/research is required on management bandwidth, business’ ability to scale, and even the need for an IPO.
8 Aug 2019 | Nitin Bhasin, Shreenivas Kunte, CFA, CIPM | Webinar: 1 hr 5 min.
For more "Practitioners' Insights" webinars, visit the Webinars section or browse ARX posts under Research.
What Goes Down Must Come Up!: Investigating Companies with Negative Book Value
The paper attempts to study the historical performance of US companies with negative book value relative to the broader US equities, as well as to identify the factors that drive the performance of companies with negative book value.
17 Jul 2019 | Solactive AG
FinTech 2018: The Asia Pacific Edition
To bring more clarity to the question of how FinTech will affect the prospects of financial institutions and careers of our members and other stakeholders, CFA Institute has compiled the report FinTech 2018: The Asia Pacific Edition. The report is a compendium of articles and expert interviews, which can be read in any order. The common areas across the report include Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and FinTech development in China.
18 Dec 2018 | Larry Cao, CFA | CFA Institute
WEBINAR: Adrenaline, Testosterone and Equity Investing: The unholy trinity
Sound investing principles are no mystery—Benjamin Graham, known as the “father of value investing,” and his tribe practiced and taught these concepts many times over—yet common investing mistakes refuse to go away. What is it that prevents many people from becoming successful investors? Does raw intelligence (IQ) alone matter? Or is it a combination of IQ and emotional intelligence (EQ)? Vikas Khemani, CFA, believes that mental tenacity matters, and that it’s just as important as subject matter expertise in any field, but especially in investing.
10 Dec 2018 | Vikas Khemani, CFA, Shreenivas Kunte, CFA | Webinar: 1 hr 2 min.
For more webinars, visit the Webinars section or browse ARX posts under Research.
WEBINAR: Advanced Accounting for Equity Research
This webinar explores advanced accounting for equity research, with the ultimate goal of achieving investment excellence (portfolio optimization).
10 Dec 2018 | Nimisha Pandit, CFA; Shreenivas Kunte, CFA, CIPM | CFA Institute | Webinar: 1 hr 3 min.
For more webinars, visit the Webinars section or browse ARX posts under Research.
The Belt and Road Initiative: Reshaping the global value chain
This report provides an overview of China’s ambitious Belt and Road (B&R) initiative, drawing from various sources internationally as well as from within China, including authoritative official accounts and Chinese research.
30 Jul 2018 | ACCA and SSE Research
Top 9 Mistakes in Valuation
Andrew Stotz, a valuation expert and CEO of A.Stotz Investment Research, discusses the 9 most common valuation mistakes.
11 May 2018 | Andrew Stotz PhD, CFA | A. Stotz Investment Research
- Part 1: Overly optimistic revenue forecasts >
- Part 2: Underestimating expenses causing unrealistic profit >
- Part 3: Growing fixed assets slower than revenue >
- Part 4: Confusing growth with maintenance CAPEX >
- Part 5: Forecasting drastic changes in cash conversion cycle >
- Part 6: Underestimating working capital investment >
- Part 7: Valuing a stock using the calculated Beta >
- Part 8: Choosing an unreasonable cost of equity >
- Part 9: Not properly fading return on invested capital >
Fundamental Analysis and Stock Returns in International Equity Markets
This paper investigates whether a simple fundamental analysis strategy yields significant returns to investors in 65 international equity markets. FSCORE can distinguish winners from losers in most of these markets.
10 Dec 2017 | Chi Cheong Allen Ng; S. Ghon Rhee | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, et al.
Download PDF >Emerging Markets Equities: An Australian Perspective
Emerging markets should be viewed as a high-risk, but potentially high-return, sub-class of world equities rather than a diversification opportunity. In addition, a positive correlation with the Australian dollar can help to offset the impact of equity fluctuations, enhancing the attractiveness of emerging markets for Australian investors.
7 Nov 2016 | Daniel Radcliffe, Geoffrey Warren
Debt Investments
Webinar Series: ESG in Credit
A series of webinars on ESG in credit, presented by CFA Institute and Fitch Ratings:
- Part 1: ESG in Fixed Income, 4 August 2020
- The remarkable growth of interest in ESG investing has created a demand for ESG products and services that cater to the needs of asset owners and investment managers. Although initially the focus was on equities, the much bigger fixed income market has also attracted an increased interest of ESG investors. It covers a broad range of products: financial and non-financial corporate bonds, public finance, project finance, and structured debt. - Part 2: ESG Integration in Fixed Income in Practice, 17 November 2020
- Compared to equities, ESG integration in the fixed-income space can be more complicated, with a greater variety of issuer types (such as private companies and sovereigns), and differences in maturities and structures (such as securitisations). Investors have been rapidly evolving their ESG frameworks to address these complexities.
Why Green Bonds Continue to Grow
Explore what’s driving the uptick in global issuance and the growing range of applications for green bonds with S&P DJI’s Kevin Horan and VanEck’s William Sokol.
16 Jan 2020 | Kevin Horan, William Sokol | S&P Dow Jones Indices
Tomorrow Never Dies: Bond, Renewable Bond
A study of the historical performance and characteristics of a basket of sovereign bonds weighted according to their issuing country’s renewable energy generation capacity shows that such strategy outperforms a market-weighted bond portfolio.
10 Sep 2019 | Timo Pfeiffer, et al. | Solactive AG
The Carry Concept in Fixed Income
This paper, which is the second in the series of Fixed Income Factor Research, provides an in-depth analysis of the carry concept in bond markets. Unlike in our previous paper on value, the carry factor discussed here has no direct equity counterpart, instead deriving from fixed income concepts only and more specifically the yield curve.
15 Jul 2019 | FTSE Russell Global Market Research
ASEAN Green Financial Instrument Guide
This guide highlights financial instruments and mechanisms available from and for public and private entities in the ASEAN region looking to fund green assets.
18 Apr 2019 | Climate Bonds Initiative
Alternative Investments
WEBINAR: The Future of Blockchain - Blockchain Pushes Information Economics to the Next Stage, Trust Economics
Prof. Eric Maskin of Harvard University and Chen Long, Luohan Academy Executive Director, discuss the operation and mechanism design of blockchain technology, information asymmetry, signaling and other economic issues.
25 October 2020 | Luohan Academy: Ming Qiu, Ruobing Han | Video: 1 hr 3 min.
WEBINAR: Understanding Cryptocurrency and the Future of Money
Aaron Tang, Country Manager of Luno Malaysia and Faridq Ridzuan, CFA, discuss the evolution of money and its value, cryptocurrency as an alternative asset class, and trading with cryptocurrency.
11 October 2020 | CFA Society Malaysia | Video: 1 hr 5 min.
Investing in Listed Real Estate: Practical Considerations
Direct property investors face all the challenges of selecting a location, due diligence, legal documents, operational costs, taxation and unexpected structural issues or expenditures. However, investors can circumvent most of these issues by hiring professionals, lawyers, surveyors, market analysts etc, through unlisted funds or listed real estate companies. This paper seeks to inform investors of the practical aspects of investing in listed real estate.
10 Oct 2019 | FTSE Russell
WEBINAR: Career Insights - Private Equity Market in India
In this webinar, Namit Arora, Managing Partner, IndGrowth Capital, discusses competencies, entry requirements, roles, career paths and opportunities in India's private equity market.
27 May 2019 | Namit Arora, CFA, Biharilal Deora, FCA, CFA, CIPM | CFA Institute | Video: 1 hr 15 min
For more "Career Insights" webinars, visit the Webinars section or browse ARX posts under Research.
Asian Structured Products
The paper examines the nature of structured products, why they are used, and by whom. It considers the size of the industry and some of its most popular products in the context of Asian capital markets. Finally, it identifies a variety of risks for each of the parties involved: issuers, intermediaries, and investors.
14 Sep 2017 | Angel Wu, Clarke Pitts | CFA Institute Research Foundation
About the Author(s)
Senior Director: Scott Lee
Project Manager: Natalie Yiu
Coordinator: Christy Leung