I work as an associate in portfolio management, where i am directly involved in security analysis and portfolio maintenance. I began working here two years ago, and since then I have written level II twice, with a fail in 2015 and a pass in 2016. I am looking to register for level III this month however my work is giving me a hard time about reimbursing me for my level II pass.
Being in Canada, there are two routes that allow for discretionary money management: CIM and CFA. My employer says they will only cover CIM fees as it is the default option in the business. I honestly don’t know how to react, as the exam fees are almost identical. In the meantime, I have chosen to pursue the CFA charter, completing level II at age 26. As I am only an associate, their immediate response was that it is not required for my job title. At this point, they are not reimbursing me due to my associate job level and due to the charter I chose to pursue.
What I am doing now counts towards my 4 years of experience!
I used to work as a retail trader in the self-managed brokerage business, so when I passed Level I, I didn’t even ask to get it covered. However, now that I am working for an established book at a big chartered bank, I am stumped for what to do…
They sound stupid to me, a great way to discourage people from proactive education. They are detracting your effort.
I currently work in corporate finance for a leading retail and real estate company. The CFO, directors, chiefs and bosses know about the CFA designation, but they don’t encourage achieving the charter. However, I suppose a bank, an investment fund, investment offices, etc would want to have people willing to enhance their education with the CFA program. I will eventually move to those companies by the way.
What would I do in your case? I would ask for a meeting with the people I need to convince in order to get my fees paid. Prepare a light but well designed presentation (3-5 slides) with the principal benefits of having a CFA candidate or a CFA Charterholder in their lines: The ethics commitment, the rigorous exams, the competencies you learn and the time required to achieve the designation, world statistics about the program, pass rates, a list of famous companies that hire CFA charterholders, etc. In your case would be good to compare the CFA designation with the CIM, state the big differences and why the CFA program is suitable for your job functions despite the title.
I have some friends (males and females) who are associates in the local banks here in Peru. They are CFA candidates and get their fees paid, a free week for study (extra of legal vacations) and live in the third world. How a Canadian bank would not pay a $650 fee. Hilarious.
Maybe instead any presentation you may offer to your employer that you will stay in the company for at least one period after finishing program. It’s not necessary to make a presentation just sign contract with mutually defined rights and liabilities regarding CFA program. If I was your employer, I will ask you to sign such contract as a counteraction for financing your study.
Thank you Harrogath. I agree it’s ridiculous but with Canadian banks scrambling to find ways to cut costs… They need to cut somewhere I guess? Interestingly, my work granted me a study week which was great. Just no registration reimbursement…
I am an associate at a large US bank that has been militantly cutting costs this year, rejecting even some simple and inexpensive items we used to routinely submit. However, they did not bat an eye at reimbursing all of my costs related to passing Level 1 (registration plus classes and mock exam came to over 3k). I just offer this to you as a data point - maybe you could bolster your argument by pointing out competitors reimburse as a matter of policy.
(Like all banks I’m assuming yours has 1-2 competitors they have a complex about, constantly comparing themselves to them and often losing employees to/stealing employees from them - find out what their policy is, share it in a vaguely threatening manner, might help your case)
Is it possible your manager (or whoever you’re speaking to about this) isn’t aware of what the CFA curriculum entails? Can you, in some way, prove that what you’re studying lines up perfectly with your day to day workload?
If they already know this and are just being pieces of s*** then maybe it’s a good sign that you don’t want to work there long term. I’m sure if you had the charter they wouldn’t hesitate to use it to their advantage in front of clients…
Go higher my friend, give it a little more fight. Have you talked to Human Resources Chief? Her job is to listen and attend your necessities and inquiries, ask about the existence of educational programs inside the institution, there should be any. Also do what Flashback said, tell them you want to stay at least some years after you complete the levels, they love that (you know Investment & Return).
I work for a buy-side firm and pretty much everyone from a Portfolio Manager to someone who works as a software developer gets paid for their CFA studies…but only if you pass. It makes sense IMO. Too many candidates would want to give it a half hearted try if it was paid upfront, realising they made a mistake by the time they got Standard II in Ethics… Honestly the cost of studying the CFA is not huge. Any firm that refuses to pay is just being stingy.
We only get reimbursed if we pass, to be fair it’s a good way of ensuring people don’t sign up and then not put the effort in. We only get 3 days study leave as well.
To be honest it’s fine by me as I wanted to do this for my own knowledge and started whilst I was at another company that didn’t reimburse and also didn’t offer any official study leave (my manager gave me 2 days but I couldn’t mention anything to anyone about it).