Temat: CAIA qualification growing in stature in Asia

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Want to get into hedge funds? Now may be the time to study the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst programme.

For those unfamiliar with the qualification, the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) is a graduate-level, self-study course, which teaches you about hot investment topics such as managed futures and real estate investment trusts.

The CAIA has been around since 1999 in the US, but has only recently made its way over to Asia, where the number of people entering the programme is doubling every year. Interest in it is likely to rise further, according to industry watchers, as the alternative investment industry becomes more institutionalised.

"Within my firm, we require all our analysts to take CAIA," says Peter Douglas, founder of GFIA, a hedge fund research firm in Singapore. "Somebody with CAIA is up to date with the hot topics of the industry, as half of the reading material is not textbooks, but current literature and journals."

Lionel Lee, assistant regional director for Asia at global people solutions company, Ross Human Directions, says that candidates hoping to break into Asia should definitely seek out the qualification.

"Employers are scouring the limited resource pool and hiring across the board, typically in search of candidates who have their finger on the pulse of the relevant investment and financial markets," he says.

Candidates who can dish out effective fund investment policies, work long hours with early mornings and late nights, and practise the fine art of managing clients, will prove attractive hires.

With the yardstick gaining recognition across the globe, it is likely that more candidates will slog out the long study hours to pass the half-yearly examination.