CFA Capital Market Awards and Forecast Dinner 2019 on 20 June

The annual flagship event of CFA Society Sri Lanka, the CFA Capital Market Awards and Forecast Dinner, will be held for the seventh consecutive year on 20 June, at the Cinnamon Grand, Colombo. 

Manjula De Silva, Chairman of National Insurance Trust Fund and also a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, will be delivering the keynote speech covering the ‘Insurance Sector and its contribution to the development of capital markets in Sri Lanka’ followed by a panel discussion. 

Amana Life Chief Executive Officer Gehan Rajapaksa and Fairfirst General Insurance Managing Director Dr. Sanjeev Jha will be accompanied by the keynote speaker for the panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Milanthi Sarukkali who is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spark Actuarial and Risk Consultants, and a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, USA. 

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 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 five categories, namely the Best Equity Research Report, Best Sector Research Report, Best Investor Relations, Best Stock Broker Research Firm, and Best Unit Trust.

A rigorous, and 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. The Judging criteria highlights the industry best-practices that are bench-marked to CFA Institute’s standards; professional competence, integrity, standards of excellence to non-CFA’s.

Best Equity Research Report and Best Sector Equity Research Report Award:

A panel of well-experienced industry experts will evaluate company equity research reports to select the Best Equity Research Report on incisive criteria including; (i) industry overview and competitive landscape, (ii) company overview, value drivers and share dynamics, (iii) financial analysis, (iv) valuation, (v) risks and (vi) recommendation and investment rationale. Best Sector Research Report will be selected by evaluating; (i) industry overview and regional comparison, (ii) competitive landscape, industry challenges and risks and (iv) industry attractiveness.

Udeeshan Jonas, CFA who won the Gold Award for Best Equity Research Report in 2018 states, “Capital Alliance Research won four major awards including the Best Research report Award at the last year’s Capital market Awards. The recognition was a testament for the drive within us to provide critical and market beating insights and which in return, reinvigorated the trust our clients have on us.”

Best Equity Research Team Award

The process for choosing the Best Stockbroking Research Team includes a survey conducted among user groups and evaluation criteria based on (i) depth and breadth of coverage, (ii) accuracy in forecasts and facts, (iii) quality of research, (iv) industry knowledge and sector experience, (v) timeliness and responsiveness and (vi) compliance with the CFA Research Objectivity Standard. 

Kavinda Perera, Senior Vice President, Research at Asia Securities Ltd. which won the Best Equity Research Team Gold Award for last two consecutive years says, “CFA Capital Market Awards recognises excellence and inspires action by creating an environment of continuous growth. Asia Securities’ unwavering effort in bringing the best market insights and transparency to investors is affirmed by CFA’s endorsement of it as the Best Research Team.”

Best Investor Relations Award

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

According to National Development Bank PLC Director and Group Chief Executive Officer Dimantha Seneviratne, “NDB is honoured to have been a part of the CFA Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards since 2014, and the Winner – Best Investor Relations category for three consecutive years from 2016-2018. The awards, whilst paving a platform for our consistent endeavours in maintaining sound investor relations to be externally endorsed, have guided and motivated us in enhancing our processes, adopting best practices and setting standards in this sphere, which we believe will contribute towards a more efficient capital market.”

Best Unit Trust Fund Award

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

Sumith Perera, Director of Guardian Acuity Asset Management which won the Gold Award in Best Unit Trust Fund in 2018 reiterated, “Winning the Best Unit Trust Fund Award, was a proud recognition that our processes and systems keep in line with CFA Sri Lanka’s message of putting clients first and highlights the care we take to ensure our clients get the investment experience that they deserve. Studying industry trends and practices encouraged us to benchmark against global best practices and helped further improve our systems.”

CFA Institute and CFA Sri Lanka Society

CFA Institute is a global association of investment professionals. The organisation offers the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement designation, and the Investment Foundations Certificate. CFA Institute stands for creating an environment where investors’ interests come first, markets function at their best, and economies grow. The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) credential is held by over 150,000 professionals around the world. The charter gives a strong understanding of advanced investment analysis and real-world portfolio management skills. 

CFA Sri Lanka is the local affiliate of the global CFA Institute.