It’s more popular than even to sit the CFA exams in Singapore, Hong Kong and China, but if you’re looking for a finance job in those markets, passing one or two of the qualification’s three levels counts for almost nothing.
As fond as candidates are for highlighting a CFA Level I or II pass (or even mere enrolment) on their resumes, most recruiters and employers only care if you are in the small elite group of fully-fledged Asian CFA charterholders – those who’ve got through level III and have four years’ relevant work experience.
Asia Pacific provided 43% of those who sat the CFA exam at all levels on Saturday – more than any other region. And the numbers continue to increase – Singapore experienced an 11% year-on-year rise to nearly 3,900 candidates this month, while 6,215 and 29,698 people took the test in Hong Kong and China respectively. But the total number of charterholders in the three markets remains low: there are only 3,523 of them in Singapore, 6,519 in Hong Kong and just 3,320 in China. Globally there are 123,315, according to CFA Institute data.
High failure rates and the fact that the CFA exam has only recently ballooned in popularity in Asia mean the surge in candidates hasn’t trickled down into many more people having the qualification. Charterholder numbers in Singapore, for example, have inched up by a modest 632 people since 2012. Translation: if you’re a charterholder you’re probably a rare commodity in Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Just how special does being a CFA charterholder make you in Asia? We’ve subtracted the local charterholder populations from the total financial-services workforces of Singapore (197,000 people, according to the Ministry of Manpower) and Hong Kong (217,249 people, according to the Census and Statistics Department) to make the charterholder vs non-charterholder comparisons below. Right now only about 2% and 3% of financial services professionals have the CFA charter in Singapore and Hong Kong respectively.
On the other hand, if you’re just a CFA candidate you are already among a huge group of people in Asia and you don’t stand out in the job market. “We place little importance on CFA Levels I or II unless it’s specifically for financial-analysis type positions,” says Hans Li, a senior consultant at recruiters Ambition in Singapore.
“The pass rate for the CFA programme is low due to the rigorous nature of the course, so it’s only relevant to us if you’ve passed all three stages and/or if you have the charter itself after also doing your work experience,” agrees Jay Abeyasinghe, a manager at recruitment firm Morgan McKinley in Singapore.
In China, where the gap between charterholders and candidates is most extreme (see the first graph above), passing Level III of the exam will in itself make a “huge difference” to your career, says Wendy Zhu, manager of accounting and finance at recruiters Lloyd Morgan Executive in Shanghai. “Many foreign financial institutions prefer these candidates even if they don’t yet have the required years of relevant experience to get the actual charter.”