SFAM

E-Letter

Inside this issue

SFAM in action ...........................2

Employer Outreach Event ...........2

Strategic Planning Event ..............3

Scholarship Winners ....................3

EMEA Regional Conference .........4

Contact Details

James Benoit, CFA President

james.benoit@afrasiabank.com

Imrith Ramtohul, CFA Vice-President

iramtohul@mauritiusunion.com

Vickram Meetoo, Secretary

vickram.meetoo@barclays.com

James Leung Yin Kow, CFA Assistant Secretary

james.leung@mcbcm.mu

Deepa Jhamna, CFA Treasurer

deepa.jhamna@iorec.com

Randhir Mannick, CFA Assistant Treasurer

randhir.mannick@rogers.mu

Forward

Welcome to our first e-newsletter which we launch today!

The aim of this is to improve the quality and frequency of our interaction with

our SFAM members, CFA exam candidates and all serious investment profes-

sionals. We will keep you updated on our local activities such as Speaker Series,

Advocacy in Action and also link you in to CFA Institute activities which we think

are of direct interest to our region.

We plan to produce this letter monthly and deliver it direct to your designated

email inbox. It’s still a new concept of course and it must evolve for all of our

benefit. So, do drop us an email with any comments, compliments and criticisms

so we can make it better and more relevant as necessary.

Sincerely,

James Benoit, CFA

President, SFAM

Speaker Series, Stress Buster and Special event – coming up on 14 May 2009

In the forthcoming Speaker Series, Mr Rafael Resendes, will explain how the

market rewards and punishes firms on the basis of economic performance,

management quality and deviations from intrinsic value. Mr Resendes is a CFA

institute accredited speaker and will be speaking at a CFA South Africa event

and then coming to our shores. So don’t miss out.

And after the event we will have a networking cocktail. We know, we know

….this date is just before June exams. But what better way to stand back and put

your exam preparation in context and to unwind with some colleagues that

have been through the experience before, and passed and survived!

And we also hope to make one more very special announcement on the date.

A separate invitation with full details will hit your inbox soon.

April 2009 Issue 1

SFAM Management Committee 2009

“One of the few truly strong growth industries in the world is the industry of com-mentating on and analyzing the crisis.” Peter Sands, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, identifies a part of the financial industry that is still doing well.

Ethics and the Investment Profession Employer Outreach event

The above event was held on 2nd March 09 and was targeted at leading in-

vestment firms, banks and similar employers. The goal was to show case the

CFA Institute’s leading global role in ethics and professional standards and

Chip Deale, Head of Society Relations, gave a fantastic overview of that and

how employers could and should support the CFA program. James Benoit,

President SFAM, gave some specific updates on Advocacy issues and how the

local society is able to act as a resource base for employers and employees in

the investment profession locally.

2

SEM Young Investor Award

The Young Investor Award

Competition organised by the Stock

Exchange Mauritius Ltd (SEM) ended

in June 2008. The SEM introduced

the Best Report Challenge Trophy for

the first time. The SFAM sponsored

the Best Report Challenge Trophy to

create an awareness about the SFAM

and designation among HSC students

aspiring to consider a career in the

field of investment. The prize giving

ceremony was held on 11 September

08 at Octave Wiehe Auditorium and

the Trophy was won by the XXX. The

Best Report Challenge Trophy will

become a recurrent feature in the

forthcoming editions of the SEM

Young Investor Award Competition.

We have to admit, we have been a bit less visible than we would like since

the new Management Committee took over in December 2008. That said, we

have been engaged in a major Strategic Review of SFAM to put in place some

long term objectives and initiatives in order to serve our local investment

profession better and to uphold the CFA Institute vision and values.

You may be aware that our Society is now under a Managed Status with CFA

Institute and a key objective is to ensure we have a large enough membership

base in order to sustain our affiliation with CFA Institute. The reason we need

a larger, energetic membership base is that a volunteer management com-

mittee of a half dozen people and a total membership that hovers around 25

people, just does not provide us the sufficient resources to fully drive our

mission to lead in developing the local investment profession. We have ma-

jor ambitions and expectations to fill and we are determined to do so. To get

involved see the “Volunteers Wanted” section of this e-letter.

But let us update you specifically on what we have started doing to realize

these ambitions.

SFAM in Action – recent activities

The visit of Chip Deale was also used to conduct a half day Strategic Planning

session with local SFAM management committee. We used this opportunity

to refine our strategic mission, review our value proposition for members and

to set goals and priorities for growing our membership base. We also re-

viewed our engagement with the media, regulators, and most importantly

with employers.

Also at our Ethics/Outreach event, we announced our 9 scholarship winners

for this year. This is a major investment by CFA Institute in the local invest-

ment profession and SFAM is proud to support them. The winners are:-

3

Strategic Planning Event

Scholarship winners

“Just as there are different schools of art, there are three great serious invest-ment religions; growth, value and agnostic. Most investors I know are one or the other. I tend to be a value investor, but I have an agnostic streak.” Barton Biggs, legendary investor from his bestselling book “Hedge Hogging”

The Society of Financial Analysts of Mauritius is an association of local in-

vestment professionals, consisting of portfolio managers, security analysts,

investment advisors, and other financial professionals, who promote:

the highest level of professional behavior and ethical standard

within the investment industry and particularly the CFA Institute

Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct,

encourage professional development through the CFA Program and

continuing education,

facilitate the exchange of information and opinions among people

within the local investment community and beyond,

work to further the public's understanding of the CFA designation

and within the investment industry, and;

enhance both professional and general knowledge as well as the

image of the investment professional.

FASB Eases Mark-to-Market Rules

From Wall Street Journal online, 2

April 2009.

Under one of the changes adopted ,

the definition of an asset that is

"other than temporarily impaired"

will change. Once an asset gets that

designation, it triggers a write-down

in value that feeds through to the

bottom line. In the case of banks,

that may put capital below regulatory

requirements.

Currently, to avoid the designation,

management must assert that it has

the intent and ability to hold on to

the asset until its value recovers.

Under the new rule, adopted by a 3-2

vote, companies could avoid the

classification by stating that they

intend to hold on to the asset and

that it is more likely than not that

they will, a looser standard.

Patrick Finnegan, director of financial

reporting policy for the CFA Institute,

said the move gives managers too

much room to fudge the truth.

"Financial statements are not there

to reflect management's assump-

tions.," said Mr. Finnegan, whose

group runs a self-study program for

financial analysts.

Editors Note: CFA Institute has been

a leading voice on exercising care on

such rule changes. SFAM also spoke

on this issue at our Ethics in the

Investment Profession/Employer

Outreach event in March 2009

4

SFA Mauritius

Travel House, 6F

Sir William Newton Street

Port Louis, Mauritius

Phone: +230 202 5516

Fax: +230 210 5260

E-mail: james.leung@mcbim.com

Web: www.membersocieties.org/

mauritius

EMEA Regional Conference for Society Leaders On 26-28 February 2009, James Benoit, President and Vickram Meetoo, Sec-

retary attended the Europe, Middle East and Africa region society leader con-

ference. This was an invaluable forum to network, share issues and solutions

and link in SFAM with the regional thought leaders in the investment profes-

sion. The conference as hosted in Cape Town by CFA South Africa. CFA SA also

arranged for corporate hosted workshops the day before the conference and

SFAM; a first of its kind for a Regional conference event. SFAM would like to

acknowledge AfrAsia Bank and Trinity Financial Group for arranging for

speakers on the South African economy and financial markets to address 40

of the conference leaders. Mr Angelo Manzoni of Western Cape Investment

and Trade Promotion Agency and Ms. Zenelle Stofberg of ABSA Capital were

the guest speakers. SFAM and CFA SA are actively exploring more ways to

work together to develop the regional investment profession.

James Benoit, CFA PRESIDENT

James was a co-founder of the SFA and its predecessor

in 1999 and has taken up the role of President in 2009.

He is a CFA Charterholder since 1996 and has been a

member of CFA Institute societies in Hong Kong and the Philippines as well.

James is CEO and Executive Director of AfrAsia Bank Limited. He was previ-

ously an international management executive for 18 years with HSBC Group

internationally.

Imrith Ramtohul, FCCA, CFA VICE-PRESIDENT

Imrith Ramtohul joined SFA in 2006 and previously

held the position of Assistant Treasurer (2007) and

Treasurer (2008). He was appointed as Vice-President

of the Society in 2009.

Imrith is a CFA Charterholder and a Fellow Member of the Association of

Chartered Certified Accountants UK. He also holds a Bachelor of Business

Science (Honours) degree from the University of Cape Town. He is currently

Head of Investment at Mauritius Union Assurance (MUA). Imrith has more

than 10 years experience in the financial services sector both in Mauritius and

abroad.

Vickram Meetoo, Bsc (Hons), MBA (Finance) SECRETARY

Has been a member of the SFA since 2004 and has

recently joined the Managing Committee in 2008 as

Assistant Secretary. He was appointed Secretary of the

Society in 2009.

Vickram is the holder of a Master Degree in Finance with distinction. He is a

banking professional with over 9 years banking experience specifically in Cor-

porate Sales and Corporate Credit Risk. Currently, he is the Corporate Credit

Manager at Barclays Bank PLC, Mauritius.

The Management Committee office-bearers 2009

5

The Society of Financial Analysts -

Mauritius promotes ethical and

professional standards within the

investment industry, encourages

professional development through

the CFA Program, facilitates the open

exchange of information and opin-

ions within the local investment

community and beyond; and works

to further the public's understanding

of the CFA® designation and within

the investment industry.

James Leung Yin Kow, CFA ASSISTANT SECRETARY

James was the founding treasurer of SFA from 2001-

2005. Within the SFA, he was President (2007) and VP

(2008). He is a CFA charterholder since 2000.

James has a Honours Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University, Can-

ada in 1993 as well as a Master of Arts in Economics from York University,

Canada in 1994. He was a stockbroker at Newton Securities from 1995 to

1998 before joining MCBIM in his current position of Fund Manager.

Deepa Jhamna, CFA TREASURER

Deepa joined the SFA in 2006 and acted as Secretary

for two consecutive years prior to taking up the posi-

tion of Treasurer in 2008. She currently holds the

Scholarship Chair.

Deepa graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics & Finance) from

the University of Melbourne in 2000, and qualified as a CFA charterholder in

2004. She held several managerial positions at Ernst & Young Mauritius &

PricewaterhouseCoopers before recently joining the Indian Ocean Real Estate

Company Ltd, a newly incorporated joint venture between Groupe Mon Loisir

and Actis, as Investment Principal.

Randhir Mannick, CFA ASSSISTANT TREASURER

Randhir has been a member of the Society of Financial

Analysts of Mauritius (SFAM) since the launch. He has

occupied different posts in the past including Presi-

dent, Treasurer and Secretary and is presently the Assistant Treasurer.

He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, an Master of Business

Administration and a BA Honours in Economics. He has more than eleven

year experience in the investment industry and has been appointed as Man-

ager – Corporate Finance at the Rogers & Co Ltd since August 1, 2007.

The Management Committee office-bearers 2009

6

As one of CFA Institute member

societies, our society connects mem-

bers to a global network of invest-

ment professionals.