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Chartered Financial Analyst®

CFA® Program

KORNERSTONE is a member of the CFA Insitute Approved Prep Provider Program

Overview

The CFA® designation is a qualification for finance and investment professionals, particularly in the fields of investment management, investment banking and financial analysis of stocks, bonds and their derivative assets. The CFA® Program focuses on portfolio management and financial analysis, and provides a general knowledge of other areas of finance, equipping you with a strong foundation for a variety of career choices in the investment profession. Employers and media around the world recognize the CFA® charter as the standard of professional excellence. The Economist ranked the CFA® Program as the gold standard among investment analysis designations. With such widespread recognition, CFA® charterholders earn a significant competitive advantage for international employment.

The program is taught from the official CFA® Program curriculum. You learn from the source material that the examiners will use to test you. There are no easy shortcuts to CFA® charter success.

CFA Institute does not endorse, promote, or warrant the accuracy or quality of the products or services offered by KORNERSTONE. CFA Institute, CFA® and the Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute.

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About the Certification

  • CFA® charter is awarded by CFA Institute, which is the world’s largest association of investment professionals, with more than 150,000 members and 163 countries
  • The latest global passing rate of CFA® exam: Level I of the CFA® exam: 43% (Jun 2018); Level II of CFA®exam: 45% (Jun 2018); Level III of CFA® exam: 56% (Jun 2018)
  • CFA Institute official website: http://www.cfainstitute.org

Training Outlines

  • Ethical and professional standards
  • Investment tools
  • Quantitative methods
  • Economics
  • Financial reporting & analysis
  • Corporate finance
  • Asset classes
  • Equity investment
  • Fixed income Investment
  • Derivatives
  • Alternative investment
  • Portfolio management and wealth planning

Training Highlights

  • Level I of the CFA® exam: Exam-focused, instructor-led training 
    – In-class training
    – Practice exercises + mock exam and exam drill
    – Accounting workshop (optional)
  • Level II of the CFA® exam: 
    – Exam-focused, instructor-led training
    – Practice exercises + mock exam and exam drill
  • Level III of the CFA® exam: 
    – Exam-focused, instructor-led training
    – Practice exercises + mock exam and exam drill
  • CFA® examination-focused
  • Training materials and classroom exercises are designed based on the CFA® Program curriculum
  • Real case studies will be adopted in class to enable practical application
  • Conducted by multi trainers in accordance to their expertise of the CFA® Program curriculum
  • Optimal class size enables interactive and effective discussion between CFA® trainers and participants
  • Free re-sitting for those who fail the CFA® exam with 80% of attendance or above

Examination Highlights

  • Level I of the CFA® exam (June and December)
    1. A total of 240 free-standing multiple choice questions, 120 for each session
    2. All questions are equally weighted with no penalty for guessing
  • Level II of the CFA® exam (June)
    1. A total of 20 item sets. Each item set consists of a vignette (or case statement) and 6 multiple choice questions
    2. 120 multiple choice questions are equally weighted, 3 points each, with no penalty for guessing
  • Level III of the CFA® exam (June)
    1. Exam uses the essay format in the morning; and the item set format in the afternoon.
    2. Exam paper is graded for 360 points, 180 points for 10-15 essay questions and 180 points for 10 item sets
  • CFA® Program and learning focus
    1. Level I of the CFA® exam: Topic focus is on investment tools, and the learning focus is on knowledge and comprehension
    2. Level II of the CFA® exam: Topic focus is on asset valuation, and the learning focus is on application and analysis
    3. Level III of the CFA® exam: Topic focus is on portfolio management, and learning focus is on synthesis and evaluation
  • CFA® exam Topic
      Level ILevel IILevel III
    I.Ethical and professional standards15%10-15%10-15%
    II.

    Investment tools

    • Quantitative methods
    • Economics
    • Financial reporting & analysis
    • Corporate finance
    		45%35-50%5-10%
    III.

    Asset classes

    • Derivatives
    • Equity investment
    • Fixed income
    • Alternative investment
    		34%30-50%35-60%
    IV.Portfolio management and wealth planning6%5-15%35-40%
  • A 6-hour examination is divided into a morning and an afternoon session with a 2-hour lunch break in between
  • Candidates must attend both the morning and afternoon sessions to have their examinations graded

Wiley Study Materials

The partnership between KORNERSTONE and Wiley provides an ideal blended learning solution combining of local expert trainer support and state of the art online learning tools to students.

Features:

  • Exclusively customized package of KORNERSTONE’s localized live instructions and Wiley’s Exam Review Course
  • Include study texts covering every LOS, exam-grade practice questions, personalized study planner and mock exams
  • Bite-size online lessons help you review key concept in every topic area

Chartered Requirements

  • Have 4 years of qualified, professional work experience or a combination of work and colleague experience that totals at least 4 years
  • Have 48 months of acceptable professional work experience (a recognized regular member)
  • Become a member of the CFA Institute and apply for membership to a local CFA® member society
  • Pass the CFA® Program Level I, Level II and Level III examinations
  • Meet the professional conduct admission criteria

Trainers

Mr. Jimmy Lee

  • CFA, CPA (Practising), CFPcm, MBA, LLMArbDR, BSc (Hons)
  • 15 years of professional training experience in Investment, Accounting, Financial Planning and Funds Management
  • Currently a director a an asset management company
  • Previous experience as a professional auditor, private banker and a senior management in various financial institutions like Deloitte, UBS and AXA

Mr. Jack Tsang

  • CFA, FRM®, CWM®, CPA
  • Master of Laws in Corporate and Financial Law
  • Master of Science in Finance
  • Registered Corporate Coach (RCC)

Dr. Francis Lau

  • PhD, FRM®, CFA
  • PhD degree specializes in quantitative trading strategies
  • A seasoned practitioner who has over 10 years’ experiences in financial risk management, quantitative analysis and regulatory reporting for retail, wholesale and investing banking

Mr. Chris Ansell

  • CFA, MBA
  • Senior Lecturer and Course Director – MSc Global Finance at Coventry University London
  • Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University
  • Director at Cavaja Consulting, including a variety of small to blue-chip clients
  • Experienced financial professional, 20-years solid experience in equity markets, financial analysis, equity valuation and operations

What Our Clients Say

“I joined the CFA® Program of KORNERSTONE last year and got passed. I would definitely recommend this program to my colleagues or anyone who are preparing for CFA® exam, KORNERSTONE provides excellent learning material and their trainers are with different specializations.”

Tony Leung

KORNERSTONE graduate, passed CFA Level I

“The CFA® Program provides exam-oriented materials with adequate amount of real-world applications in financial markets, which strengthened my overall understanding. I had the opportunities to interact with different trainers who are specialized in different areas, for instance, Quantitative Methods, Portfolio Management, Financial Reporting and Economics. This program helped me to study more efficiently and confidently. I would strongly recommend this program to CFA® exam candidates!”

Charles Yuen

KORNERSTONE graduate, passed CFA Level I

“Dr. Francis Lau is very helpful. He focuses on making sure we understand. Joining this course saved me a lot of time in revision.”

Jeffrey Chen

KORNERSTONE graduate, passed CFA Level II

“I found the KORNERSTONE course very useful in highlighting the exam focus and pointing out the must know absolutely from the lesser important material. Understanding what you can & should do for the essay to save time, give the examiners the material and key words they are looking for as well as the right format to make it easy for them to read through definitely helped me scored points and finish the morning session on time. Fixed income is also big in the exam and if this is not your cup of tea, the course will bring you back to the basics. From there it is not difficult to get the more complex problems. The teachers were helpful in building confidence up to the exam day and often available for questions. The more you participate in, the more you will get out so ask the teachers for tips, they have many to share for your benefit. Don’t hesitate, the course is a plus to make the difference in your CFA exam. “

Severine C. Bret

KORNERSTONE graduate, passed CFA Level III