May 2008
- Alternative Viewpoints - "Survey of hedge fund professionals: 130/30"
- CAIA Events Review
- Candidate Events - Iberia
- CAIAA Global Travels - Asia
Director's
Comments - "CAIA Growth in 2008"
2008, the fifth year of the
CAIA designation, is already shaping up to be another record breaking
year for the CAIA Association. With the March 2008 exam
results officially out, we are very excited to welcome nearly 500 new
CAIA members into the Association, and to extend our congratulations to
the over 1000 Level I candidates who are now eligible to sit for Level
II. To date, over 7000 individuals have enrolled in the CAIA
program, demonstrating not only the growing recognition of the CAIA
designation but also of the growth of the alternative investment space
in general.
The growth of the CAIA program owes a debt of gratitude to you, the
CAIA community. We at the CAIA Association are very
appreciative of all the CAIA members and candidates who are so
instrumental in spreading the word about the CAIA program.
Peer to peer conversations remains the top reason why finance
professionals choose to pursue the CAIA designation. Without
a doubt, the CAIA Association would not thrive without your efforts.
Over the past 4 months, we have had the honor of traveling to several
new destinations, meeting with members and introducing the CAIA program
to new audiences. From South Africa to San Francisco, CAIA
community members have taken the time to welcome us and to introduce us
to their colleagues and associates. The list is far too long
to list everyone who has helped to make our travels successful, and our
thanks go out to all.
So where will you find the CAIA Association next? We have
many destinations on our calendar, including several of the world's top
finance centers. For those in Hong Kong & Singapore,
we will be calling on many of you in the next few weeks.
After the hot & hazy days of summer are over, we will be
returning to Switzerland and London, as well as visiting several cities for the first time, including Madrid &
Dublin. As always, keep your eyes on the CAIA calendar and we
look forward to seeing you soon.
Best regards,
E. Craig Asche
Executive Director
September 2008 Exam Registration Now Open
* Register for an exam here
* Exam dates: March 08 - 19, 2008
* Exam registration closes July 29, 2008
Scheduling an examination appointment:
Later this week, Pearson VUE will be opening its testing centers to scheduling for the September 2008 CAIA exam period. When this occurs, you will receive an email from the CAIA Association with instructions on how to schedule your examination appointment with them. If you have not received your scheduling instructions by May 31st, please contact candidate@caia.org. For more information about the testing centers, please visit the Exam Locations.
Alternative Viewpoints...powered by CAIA
Survey
of hedge fund professionals: 130/30 "minor discussion within larger
context,"posted May 4 on AllAboutAlpha.com
Kathryn Wilkens, Ph.D., CAIA
Director of Curriculum, the Chartered
Alternative Investment Analyst Association
Last month, 440 CAIA members responded to a survey on 130/30
funds and I
presented the results at Terrapinn's 130/30 conference in
- What is the most appropriate
benchmark for 130/30 funds?
- What best describes your
opinion about 130/30 funds?
When I first posed the question to the attendees at the
Terrapinn conference, all but one responded that a
standard long-only
equity index such as the S&P 500 index or the Russell 2000 is
the
appropriate benchmark for 130/30 funds. Yet Dow Jones, Credit
Suisse, and
S&P have all recently developed 130/30 indices (see related AAA
postings Dow Jones joins the 130/30 Index Parade,
S&P follows CS into 130/30 index
business, 130/30 Indices: True indices or like playing
chess against a
computer?) Two of these indices are classified as a
type of "Strategy
Index" with another being a so-called fundamental index.
To confuse things further, an index does not have to be a benchmark...
AllAboutAlpha.com's column, Alternative Viewpoints, aims to provide the thoughtful and reasoned opinions typical of CAIA members on the various topics covered by AllAboutAlpha.com. AllAboutAlpha.com is read by over 10,000 unique readers each month in the hedge fund and greater asset management industry.
JAI Featured Article - "The Impact of Non-normality Risks and Tactical Trading on Hedge Fund Alphas"
In recent years hedge funds have become very popular with institutional investors. This article contributes to the debate on hedge fund performance by quantifying the omission of non-normality risks and tactical trading when evaluating hedge fund returns.
This quarter's highlighted article, "The Impact of Non-normality Risks and Tactical Trading on Hedge Fund Alphas", is only available to JAI subscribers and through our website.
CAIA Events Review
Candidate Events - Iberia
Candidates in Iberia are invited to join CAIA members at the next CAIA Iberia educational event on May 23rd. The topic of this presentation is "Collateral Management in a Credit Crunch Market".
Our members look forward to seeing you there!
CAIAA
Global Travels - Asia
We have just returned from an energizing week of outreach meetings and presentations in New York and southern Connecticut. With the assistance of our members and candidates, we gave CAIA presentations to interested investment professionals at a variety of firms, including investment banks and fund of fund firms. Following is a recap of our upcoming schedule for the next several months:
|
2008 Spring/Summer
Travel Schedule
| |
|
June
| |
|
2nd - 3rd
| |
|
4th - 6th
| |
|
August
| |
|
24th - 29th
| |
*Please
note that these dates are subject to change.
If you would like to schedule a private presentation for your firm to learn more about the CAIA program, please email us at events@caia.org.
Stay tuned for more exciting news as CAIAA continues to expand its global reach. Hope to see you in the coming months!
CAIAA is Hiring
Interested in joining the CAIA Association team? We're looking for exceptional professionals to help us meet our growing outreach and program development needs.
The Association is experiencing unprecedented growth and offers competitive salary and benefits. Contact the CAIA Association at hr@caia.org for more information.
Program Director
The Program Director is responsible for oversight of the curriculum and examination development process. The Director coordinates the work of both the Director of Curriculum and the Director of Examinations ensuring their smooth operation.
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Industry Relations Associate
The Industry Relations Associate supports the strategic objective of promoting the CAIA designation by coordinating and executing outreach to the investment community. These institutions include, but are not limited to, financial firms, industry associations, and regulatory bodies.
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Exam Item Coordinator
The primary purpose of this position is to assist in the management of examination items, including but not limited to the revising and organizing of new and existing items.
The secondary purpose of this position is to manage the CERTS database by designing a proper hierarchy structure of our program and organizing the movement of items in and out of CERTS. The position contributes directly to the main mission of the examinations area.
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