Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation

The top employers of CFA charterholders globally include JP Morgan, UBS, Royal Bank of Canada, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs.[6]

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the American-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and financial professionals.

The CFA Charter has the academic standing of a master's degree in the European Union and United Kingdom (Level 7 by NARIC), with the CFA Level 2 exam being equivalent to a bachelor's degree (Level 6 NARIC).The charter has highest level of global legal and regulatory of finance-related qualifications, exempting CFA charterholders from various industry regulatory and/or academic requirements depending on the country (see CFA Regulatory Recognition).

The program teaches a wide range of subjects relating to advanced investment analysis - including security analysis, statistics, probability theory, fixed income, derivatives, economics, financial analysis, corporate finance, alternative investments, portfolio management - and provides a generalist knowledge of other areas of finance. A candidate who successfully completes the program and meets other professional requirements is awarded the "CFA charter" and becomes a "CFA charterholder". As of April 2021, at least 170,000 people are charterholders globally, growing 7% annually since 2012. Successful candidates take an average of four years to earn their CFA charter.

The top employers of CFA charterholders globally include JP Morgan, UBS, Royal Bank of Canada, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs.[6]

Notable CFA charterholders include billionaire hedge fund managers Bill H. Gross, founder of PIMCO, and Howard Marks, founder of Oaktree Capital Management.