Achievers Lanka Business School, an institute which has had an exponential growth in a very short period of time, as a provider of quality education for professional qualifications, has embarked on launching preparatory courses for Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) examinations. The CFA designation is a mark of distinction that is globally recognised by employers, investment professionals and investors alike, and has been regarded as the Gold Standard amongst countless financial degrees around the world.
Mr. Ravi Edirisinghe, Chairman of Achievers Lanka Business School, stated that Achievers is well geared to invigorate the rising popularity of the CFA qualification in Sri Lanka by providing a well-planned, focused and high quality course for aspiring students. He mentioned that utmost care has been taken to attract leading industry professionals and academics whilst classes would be scheduled in a convenient manner, with particular regard to working students.
The CFA programme is a rigorous qualification comprising three levels of examinations. It is a graduate level programme and thus requires students who are registering to have a bachelor's degree or equivalent professional qualification, be in the final year of a bachelor's degree programme at the time of registration or have four years of professional work experience. It is estimated that more than 90,000 CFA charter holders work in over 130 countries around the world vouching for the fact that the CFA charter is the ideal passport for anyone seeking global opportunities.
Achievers has put together a well experienced and renowned panel of lecturers to facilitate the CFA course. The panel comprises Malinga Arsakularatne, Chief Financial Officer of Hemas Holdings PLC and the President of CFA Sri Lanka chapter. Malinga is a CFA Charter Holder and a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), UK. He also holds an MSc in Investment Management from Cass Business School, United Kingdom, a BSc in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), UK.
He has delivered lectures to finance undergraduates and CFA candidates in the areas of corporate finance, portfolio management, derivatives and fixed income investments. Currently he is serving as the President of CFA Sri Lanka, and as a member of the CIMA Sri Lanka Board of Directors. Dr. Naveen Gunawardena, who is also on the panel, is currently functioning as Head of Investment Banking at Capital Alliance. He has previously functioned as the Head of Quantitative Service unit at Amba Research in Sri Lanka and Global Head of Amba's Derivative and Risk Management vertical, and subsequently as Investment Banking Specialist at Bank of Ceylon where he oversaw advisory, capital markets and private equity activities.
A senior lecturer who holds a doctorate and is a specialist in economics would be joining the panel as the resource person for the economics related subject areas in CFA. Senaka Kakariwaragodage, a renowned and leading lecturer for strategic level subjects and the case study in CIMA, currently functions as an Assistant Vice President at NDB Investment Bank. He is a CFA charter holder and has been instrumental in the structuring and placement of numerous prominent debt and equity transactions in Sri Lanka and brings with him many years of investment banking experience. Vindhya Jayasekara, another member of the lecturer panel, currently functions as a Fund Manager at NDB Aviva Wealth Management and brings with her a wealth of portfolio management experience.
Vindhya, whilst being a CFA charter holder has completed a MSc in Finance from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Dasun Mendis, who holds a BSc in Finance from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura is also an ACCA affiliate and is currently employed in one of the leading conglomerates in the country where his main responsibilities lie with advising and monitoring the IFRS implementation amongst group companies.
Further commenting on the lecture panel, Mr. Faris Ismail, CEO of Achievers stated that Achievers intends to maintain a strong focus on the quality and delivery of lecturers which would enable students to grasp the complex concepts in a much simpler manner. He expects that the launch of CFA courses at Achievers, an institute renowned for its quality, would enable its large student base and other potential CFA candidates, to take on the challenge of succeeding at CFA exams with a high degree of confidence.
He mentioned that the course for the CFA Level 1 examination in June 2012 would commence on Sunday, the 2nd of October 2011 and interested students could obtain further information by contacting either Naveen on 0770 835 053 or Sarah on 0773 998 087. He concluded saying that Achievers is eagerly looking forward to working closely with the CFA Sri Lanka chapter to grow the popularity of CFA in Sri Lanka for the benefit of all key stakeholders, namely, the students who wish to pursue careers in finance and employers who seek knowledgeable, capable and skilful individuals. |
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