3rd Local Investment Research Challenge & Charter Award Ceremony: December 13, 2010
CFA Pakistan held its 3rd Local Investment Research Challenge (IRC) on December 13, 2010. Investment Research Challenge (IRC) organized by CFA Pakistan gives students from the Pakistan’s top business schools the opportunity to learn from industry experts and compete with their peers. The challenge teaches participants best practices in equity research through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills. This time seven teams comprising of four to five students selected from IBA, SZABIST, NUST, IoBM, Greenwich, Iqra and MAJU participated in this event. The subject company for research this year was HUB Power Company (HUBCO).
National University of Science & Technology (NUST) won the challenge. The finalists will now represent the country at Regional level in Bali, Indonesia in February 2011.
Volunteering to participate in the Global Investment Research Challenge is an excellent opportunity for Members to become actively involved in CFAAP activities and give back to their profession and country and CFA Pakistan would like to thank all the industry experts who took time out of their busy schedules to make IRC a success once again. We are also grateful to Mr. Vice Harris, CEO, Hub Power Company, to grace the event with his presence as Chief Guest.
Guest Speaker Session by Dr. Marc Faber: August 9, 2010
If Marc Faber had to choose one asset class for the next 10 years it would be gold. Cash and US treasuries would be his least preferred decennial investment. US equities would be a reasonable choice for wealth protection, though not necessarily grow much when adjusted for inflation. But his most favorite investment destination remains Asian Economies with weak currencies, favorable external balance and low household leverage. This was the broad message that the author of The Gloom, Boom and Doom Report delivered to speaker session organized by CFA Association of Pakistan in association with ABL Asset Management during August in Karachi.
Dr Faber believes that Mr. Bernanke is committed to printing money and will in any case have very little choice because of entitlements and the US constitution. Thus Fed’s monetary policy would be strongly inflationary. Dr Faber pointed out that with the US so deep in debt, Fed thinks it cannot allow asset prices to drop below a certain point because that would devastate the balance sheets of the banks with debt deflation. But he thinks in the long run this is just rolling up another crisis for the future that will destroy the US dollar and cause an even bigger financial crisis.
Declaring himself the ‘most pessimistic of forecasters, nobody is more pessimistic than me’ Dr Faber outlined a scenario in which the dollar has to be replaced by another unit after a future inflation, and holders of cash and bonds lose virtually everything in the process. He drew an interesting parallel with the fate of the Mexican Peso in the 1980s and how the value of that currency was destroyed, while equities priced in Pesos at least held their value in real terms because they represented real assets. Bond and cash holders in Mexico lost almost everything. Dr. Faber, therefore, advises long-term investors to buy gold and equities, although the timing to do so may not be exactly right now, and to do so on a globally diversified basis.
Excellence Award Ceremony- June 25, 2010
CFA Pakistan organized its 7th Annual Award Ceremony in Karachi Marriott Hotel on June 25th 2010. Mr. Hussain Dawood, Chairman, Dawood Group was Chief Guest for the occasion.
Award Winners:
Corporate Finance - Debt House of the Year 2009 - Habib Bank Limited
Corporate Finance - Debt House of the Year 2009 (Runner Up)- National Bank Limited
Corporate Finance - Equity/Advisory House of the Year 2009- Allied Bank Limited
Corporate Finance - Equity/Advisory House of the Year 2009 (Runner Up) - KASB Bank Limited
Transaction of the year 2009- Pakistan Mobile Communication Limited Euro-bond BuyBack
-Standard Chartered bank Pakistan Limited
-Deutsche Bank Pakistan
-Citibank Pakistan
Investor relations Award 2009 – Engro Corporation Limited
Best Research Analyst of the year 2009 – Hamza Marath
Best Research Analyst of the year 2009(Runner Up) - Fawad Khan
Best Trader of the year 2009 – Mustafa Iqbal
Best Trader of the year 2009 (Runner Up) – Qasim Lakhani, CFA
Best Brokerage House of the Year – KASB Securities
Best Brokerage House of the Year (Runner Up) - Foundation Securities
Bank of the Year – 2009 (Large Banks) – Allied Bank Limited
Bank of the Year – 2009 (Mid Size Banks) - Bank Al-Habib Limited
Bank of the Year – 2009 (Small Banks) – Deutsche Bank
Islamic Bank of the Year – 2009 – Meezan Bank Limited
Most Stable Bank of the Year – 2009- MCB Bank Limited
DAWN Education Expo- February 2010
CFA Pakistan participated for the first time in DAWN Education Expo during February and March 2010. DAWN Education Expo is a unique higher education platform, specially conceived to facilitate the enrolment of Pakistani students in universities and institutes of higher learning. It was held in three major cities of Pakistan namely Karachi, Lahore & Islamabad.
A large number of post graduate, undergraduate and college students attended this exhibition. Our goal was to inform people about the CFA program and to recommend it to those who in our judgment had the time, ability and financial resources to successfully complete the program. We were able to pull up around fifty volunteers from all three cities (CFA Charterholders, Level II & III Candidates) to manage this event, which was received well by the visiting students.
Networking Event February 01, 2010
On February 01, 2010 CFA Pakistan organized a social dinner to facilitate professional networking amongst society members. The event was held on the lawns of the Boat Club, Karachi. The gathering was well attended as many members took time out from their busy work schedules to socialize with professional colleagues
Career Day January 23, 2010
CFA Pakistan organized its 2nd Annual Career Day on January 23rd, 2010. Career Day is becoming an increasingly important annual event for CFA societies worldwide. The main purpose of the Career Day is to spread awareness of the CFA Program and its benefits on career development. This time around we had a full day open-house, which was offered to all university students through invitations to the relevant faculty advisors.