CFA Awards 2015 crown best capital market professionals

• LOLC Securities Shehan Bartholomeuz wins Gold for Best Equity Research Report
• Dialog Axiata crowned for third time for Best Investor Relations
• John Keells Stockbrokers is Best Stockbroker Research Team

Keynote speaker Russell Investments UK Managing Director Shamindra Perera 

Dialog Axiata crowned for third time for Best Investor Relations​

Best Equity Research Report Silver LOLC Securities' Damith Wasantha​

Best Stockbroker Research Team John Keells Stockbrokers​

LOLC Securities Shehan Bartholomeuz wins Gold for Best Equity Research Report​

Best Equity Research Report Bronze Acuity Stockbrokers Chethana Ellapola and Anjula Nawarathna

The flagship event of the CFA Society Sri Lanka, the CFA Capital Market Awards and Forecast Dinner continued to add fillip to Sri Lanka’s capital markets when this year it recognised those establishing industry benchmarks, spearheading governance and ethics to advance domestic financial markets. The Best Equity Research Report, Best Investor Relations and the Best Stockbroker Research Team are all reflective of the increasing improvement in quality and depth observed in the markets. 

Shehan Bartholomeuz of LOLC Securities won Gold for Best Equity Research Report for research conducted on Central Finance PLC, while the Silver was also won by LOLC Securities’ Damith Wasantha for his report on Access Engineering and the Bronze for the team from Acuity Stockbrokers comprising Chethana Ellapola, Anjula Nawarathna and Anouk Weerasinghe for their report on Textured Jersey Lanka.

Certificates of Commendation were presented for the Chevron Lubricants and Ceylon Tobacco Company equity research reports, analysed and reported on by Candor Equities’ Pasindu Perera and John Keells Stockbrokers’ Lourdeena Kudaliyanage respectively. 

This key award was evaluated by eminent industry experts in equity markets on financial analysis, valuation, industry overview and competitive landscape, company overview, value drivers and share dynamics and investment risks and recommendations. 

Assessed on the strengths of investor relations practices and responsiveness, communicating interactively with the investor community, accessibility of management, quality of disclosure and transparency, fairness in disclosure and consistency of investor relations function, Dialog Axiata was hailed from among 16 shortlisted companies as the entity having the Best Investor Relations for the third consecutive year. NDB won Silver and Sunshine Holdings gained Bronze. One part of the assessment in selecting the Best Stockbroking Research Team consisted of an independent panel of four judges evaluating the quality and extent of the coverage. 

The other encompassed an independent survey conducted among user groups including registered investment managers, licensed unit trusts and large corporate investors picked John Keells Stockbrokers for the Gold, while Certificates of Commendation were presented to Candor Equities and Capital Alliance Securities. 

The award is based on depth and breadth of coverage, forecast and stock picking accuracy, industry knowledge, timeliness of ideas, responsiveness to investor requests, timeliness and dissemination of news and reports and corporate access. 

Celebrated keynote speaker, Managing Director/Head of UK Institutional Business for Russell Investments UK which manages $ 275 b in assets in mandates across multiple assets classes invested globally, Shamindra Perera stated: “Twenty years after earning my CFA, I can truly say that having the three letters after my name has been of immense help during my career. Having held many roles at Russell Investments in Sydney, Singapore and London given its wide recognition as the pioneer and world leader in manager research and multi asset, multi-manager investing, my insights gleaned on what makes a good fund manager based on Russell’s tried and tested beliefs and research process, will I hope, be of use to fund managers in Sri Lanka.”

One of the first of two CFAs from Sri Lanka, Shamindra began his career as an investment analyst at Capital Development and Investment Company (CDIC) Colombo and had brief stints at Seylan Merchant Bank and Asia Capital, before joining Russell.

A panel discussion that followed the keynote speaker’s address had panellists Managing Director of LYNEAR Wealth Dr. Naveen Gunawardena and Executive Chairman of Asia Securities Dumith Fernando together with Shamindra Perera discussing the best practices and service quality standards sought by international fund managers from local research houses and brokerage firms, as well as local fund managers.

Moderated by Managing Partner of Ironwood Capital Partners Chanaka Wickramasuriya, the discussion also revolved on the challenges faced by local service providers in meeting these stringent standards.

CFA Society Sri Lanka President Sanjay Kulatunga observed that the CFA Capital Market Awards had surely become the mainstay of the CFA calendar with the awards being a keenly anticipated event for the entire financial services sector.

“This is also by no means an entirely CFA membership driven effort, as a number of industry experts join us each year in varied roles, all collating their knowledge and competencies to maintain the transparency, integrity and high standards expected of the judging and germane processes that ultimately pick the winners.”

Explaining that the small but growing membership of just 150 CFAs has nevertheless given the CFA charter stature in the financial services sector, Kulatunga is keen on working with multiple stakeholders to harmonise and synergise efforts and knowledge to continue setting benchmarks for the industry.

Pix by Upul Abayasekara