It seems India has its own CFA program. That’s fine. But did you guys know that last year Indian CFA charterholders were legally able to use their Charter in the US and Canada. Probably some of those job interviews you didn’t get last year were taken by guys from India claiming to be CFA charterholders on their resumes. It sounds unfair, doesn’t it? The following come from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartered_Financial_Analyst The CFA designation is not affiliated with the Chartered Financial Analyst degree offered by the ICFAI (Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India) University of India or its affiliate the Council of Chartered Financial Analysts. ICFAI offers Masters degrees in Finance which lead to the Indian CFA Charter issued by the CCFA which is the Indian council for Indian CFAs. In 1998, CFA Institute’s predecessor organization, AIMR, sued and won a judgment [10] against ICFAI/CCFA. The judgment prohibited ICFAI/CCFA and its members from using the CFA or Chartered Financial Analyst mark in the United States and Canada which is now annulled. In August 2006, an Indian court issued a temporary injunction against the Indian organization as well. [11] The judgments made no assessment of the quality of the Indian program and merely discussed the trademark violation. The Indian Association of Investment Professionals[12] is the only organization in India which is affiliated with the CFA Institute. In January 2007, the Trademark Registry, UK refused to grant protection to the CFA charter. The word ‘chartered’ is restricted in the United Kingdom due to the association with royal charters. [13] In September 2007 The Trademark Registry, India refused to grant the CFA charter to the CFA Institute but removed the right of the Institute to use the CFA title and as a result of this the CFA Charter and Trademark now exclusively belongs to the Indian ICFAI in India. On May 8, 2007, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated a Default Judgment issued against ICFAI that the CFA Institute obtained in October, 1998. ICFAI recently moved to reopen the case and to vacate the Default Judgment because the Court lacked jurisdiction over ICFAI at the time the Default Judgment issued. Recognizing the merits of the ICFAI arguments, the Court vacated the October in the 1998 Default Judgment. With the default judgement vacated ICFAI has informed that all the Indian CFA Charter holders can now officially and legally use their Charter in the US and Canada. The bar on Indian CFA’s practising in the US has also been annulled as a result of the judgement. However, on September 4, 2007, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia reversed its decision to vacate the 1998 injunction against ICFAI after a motion to reconsider that decision was filed by the CFA institute.
… and hence this legal battle over the trademark “CFA”!! I have an ICFAI right opposite to where I stay in India. Thinking of playing a non-CFA Candidate and going inquiring there to grab some brochures and have a peak-sneak at their syllabi, the next time I go vacationing to India.
ICFAI is the fake CFA. Just like you can find fake handbags in China, you can get a fake CFA in India. I say do the real CFA or don’t bother. The ICFAI is worthless.
pimp Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ICFAI is the fake CFA. Just like you can find > fake handbags in China, you can get a fake CFA in > India. I say do the real CFA or don’t bother. > The ICFAI is worthless. How can you say that when you don’t know anything about the Indian CFA? It might be just as demanding as the american one or it might be even harder. Don’t be so arrogant if you don’t know what you’re talking about.
I do know something about it. There is no particular challenge in the Indian CFA charter and is much easier to get than the real CFA charter.
The one thing I do know about the Indian CFA is that - aside from it being the fake CFA - it is not the global gold standard. It is only open to Indians and only has marginal value in India given that there are tons of IIM’s competing for the same front office positions, which in India are very limited. The IIM’s have an edge. It doesn’t matter if its more challenging than the real CFA, it has no value outside India and it only has marginal value inside India. There are no “alternative” CFA programs. Either do the real one, or stay out of the kitchen if you can’t handle the heat.
the indian cfa has been discussed on these boards off and on for many years, most recently the crisis over where folks in india would have to go to take the real exam last year following court action in india. A lot of the posts were probably in the now gone “Off Topic”