Established | 2002 |
---|---|
Type | Professional Designation |
Purpose | Finance |
Location | |
Area served | Worldwide |
Membership | 13,000+ (2024) |
CEO | William J. Kelly, CAIA |
President | John L. Bowman, CFA |
Website | www |
Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) (pronounced "KAI-ah") is a professional designation offered by the CAIA Association to investment professionals who complete a course of study and pass two examinations. The "alternative investments" industry is characterized as dealing with asset classes and investments other than standard equity or fixed income products. Alternative investments can include hedge funds, private equity, real assets, commodities, and structured products.
The Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association was founded in 2002 by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets (CISDM). As of 2024, there are over 13,000 CAIA members. [1] CAIA designees are required to maintain membership in the CAIA Association and adhere to professional and ethical standards.
The CAIA curriculum is designed to provide finance professionals with a broad base of knowledge in alternative investments and consists of two exam levels that are revised regularly to incorporate relevant, practical industry developments, and the latest academic research. The Level I curriculum focuses on the fundamentals of alternative investment markets, while Level II concentrates on advanced topics in alternative investments. Both levels take a global perspective and incorporate issues of ethics and professional conduct.
The CAIA Level I exam consists of 200 multiple-choice questions. The Level I curriculum covers seven topics, listed below. CAIA Level I candidates are assumed to have an elementary undergraduate understanding of the basic concepts of traditional finance and quantitative analysis.
The Level I curriculum covers:
The CAIA Association recommends that candidates devote 200 or more hours of study to prepare for the Level I exam.
The CAIA Level II exam consists of 100 multiple-choice questions, plus three sets of constructed response (essay) questions. Candidates must apply the skills and knowledge from Level I to gain a deeper understanding of issues involved in each of the areas of alternative investments. The Level II curriculum covers nine topics, listed below.
The Level II curriculum covers:
The CAIA Association recommends that candidates devote 200 or more hours of study to prepare for the Level II exam.
Grading begins once the examination window is closed, and Level I results are posted within three weeks after the final examination day. Level II exam results are available within six weeks after the last exam day, due to the need to grade essay questions.
The percentage of candidates that pass the CAIA exams changes from exam to exam.
CAIA Exam Pass Rate [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||
Sept | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | March | Sept. | Feb. | |
Level I | 48% | 45% | 49% | 49% | 51% | 54% | 52% | 54% | 52% | 54% | 54% | 64% | 60% | 63% | 61% | 59% | 66% | 66% | 67% | 67% | 68% | 68% | 64% | 68% | 74% | 71% | 71% | 72% | 68% | 73% | 72% | 72% | 72% | 76% | 79% | 75% |
Level II | 65% | 61% | 57% | 58% | 58% | 59% | 65% | 81% | 64% | 69% | 62% | 58% | 57% | 59% | 66% | 70% | 67% | 68% | 66% | 63% | 62% | 65% | 62% | 58% | 59% | 58% | 56% | 56% | 58% | 62% | 70% | 69% | 65% | 67% | 63% | 65% |
Candidates may augment their study of the CAIA curriculum materials with third-party preparation programs. Those programs are offered by: Center for Business Studies - Zurich/Switzerland, Edge Designations, FK Partners - Sao Paolo, Brazil, Berkeley Middle East Training, Escuela FEF - Madrid, Spain, Afi Escuela de Finanzas - Madrid, Spain, Kaplan Financial - Hong Kong, Upper Mark, Kaplan Schweser - Globally, Kaplan Financial - UK, Top Finance
Once the program and eligibility requirements have been met, CAIA Members are able to join Chapters. There are 35 CAIA Chapters around the world. Chapter activities include educational panels with expert speakers and deliver on CAIA's mission to educate Candidates and Members about relevant topics in alternatives.
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that holds liquid assets and that makes use of complex trading and risk management techniques to improve investment performance and insulate returns from market risk. Among these portfolio techniques are short selling and the use of leverage and derivative instruments. In the United States, financial regulations require that hedge funds be marketed only to institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals.
The Society of Actuaries (SOA) is a global professional organization for actuaries. It was founded in 1949 as the merger of two major actuarial organizations in the United States: the Actuarial Society of America and the American Institute of Actuaries. It is a full member organization of the International Actuarial Association.
In finance, valuation is the process of determining the value of a (potential) investment, asset, or security. Generally, there are three approaches taken, namely discounted cashflow valuation, relative valuation, and contingent claim valuation.
The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the US-based CFA Institute to investment and financial professionals. 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.
Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institutions, such as insurance companies, pension funds, corporations, charities, educational establishments, or private investors, either directly via investment contracts/mandates or via collective investment schemes like mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or REITs.
Business valuation is a process and a set of procedures used to estimate the economic value of an owner's interest in a business. Here various valuation techniques are used by financial market participants to determine the price they are willing to pay or receive to effect a sale of the business. In addition to estimating the selling price of a business, the same valuation tools are often used by business appraisers to resolve disputes related to estate and gift taxation, divorce litigation, allocate business purchase price among business assets, establish a formula for estimating the value of partners' ownership interest for buy-sell agreements, and many other business and legal purposes such as in shareholders deadlock, divorce litigation and estate contest.
A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A fund of funds may be "fettered", meaning that it invests only in funds managed by the same investment company, or "unfettered", meaning that it can invest in external funds run by other managers.
The Certified Financial Planner certification is a professional certification mark for financial planners conferred by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards in the United States, and by 25 other organizations affiliated with Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB), the owner of the CFP mark outside of the United States. The certification is generally considered the gold standard in the financial planning industry. The certification is managed by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., which was founded in 1985 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; it is neither a government designation nor an accredited degree.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to finance:
Form 13F is a quarterly report filed, per United States Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, by "institutional investment managers" with control over $100M in assets to the SEC, listing all equity assets under management.
Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA) is a global finance designation offered by the Association of Certified International Investment Analysts (ACIIA) to financial professionals; candidates may be financial analysts, portfolio managers or investment advisors.
Following is a partial list of professional certifications in financial services, with an overview of the educational and continuing requirements for each; see Professional certification § Accountancy, auditing and finance and Category:Professional certification in finance for all articles. As the field of finance has increased in complexity in recent years, the number of available designations has grown, and, correspondingly, some will have more recognition than others. Note that in the US, many state securities and insurance regulators do not allow financial professionals to use a designation — in particular a "senior" designation — unless it has been accredited by either the American National Standards Institute or the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.
An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding capital stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and Tax Receivable Agreements. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.
Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company, more commonly known as PAAMCO, is an institutional investment firm focused on hedge funds headquartered in Newport Beach, California with an office in London. Their clients include large public as well as private pension plans, financial institutions, endowments and foundations.
Private equity real estate is a term used in investment finance to refer to a specific subset of the real estate investment asset class. Private equity real estate refers to one of the four quadrants of the real estate capital markets, which include private equity, private debt, public equity and public debt.
In alternative investments, operational due diligence (ODD), is an investigation (due diligence) into operational factors of alternative investment entities such as a hedge fund, private equity fund, or infrastructure fund.
The Master of Finance is a master's degree awarded by universities or graduate schools preparing students for careers in finance. The degree is often titled Master in Finance, or Master of Science in Finance. In the U.S. and Canada the program may be positioned as a professional degree. Particularly in Australia, the degree may be offered as a Master of Applied Finance (MAppFin). In some cases, the degree is offered as a Master of Management in Finance (MMF). More specifically focused and titled degrees are also offered.
Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, and the capital structure of corporations, the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize or increase shareholder value.
The CBV Institute, formerly known as the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators (CICBV), is a Canadian business valuation organization. The CBV Institute is a not-for-profit valuation professional organization that establishes the practice standards, educational requirements, and ethical guidelines for its members.
Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) is a not-for-profit organization and a membership association for risk managers. Its services include setting standards, training, education, industry networking, and promoting risk management practices. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, with additional offices in London, Washington, D.C., Beijing, and Hong Kong. GARP offers several foundational and certificate programs, the best known of which is the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification.