Ethics Focus

Ethics Train-The-Trainer Program

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As professionals, we recognize that ethical values and technical excellence combine to deliver excellence in our profession. In fact, technical expertise without sound ethical practices are detrimental to development of capital markets.

CFA Society Pakistan became a part of the 'Ethics Train-the-Trainer Program' offered by the CFA Institute this year. Eleven charterholders volunteered to receive training conducted by Mr. Alan Lok, CFA, Director, Ethics Education & Professional Standards, CFA Institute who flew in for this purpose. After receiving the training, our budding trainers were required to conduct training sessions with university students in Phase 2 of the program. CFA Society Pakistan organized sessions on Ethical Decision Making at some of the renowned universities in Karachi, including IBA (Institute of Business Administration), IOBM (Institute of Business Management), Szabist (Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology) and KSBL (Karachi School of Business & Leadership). While most sessions were concluded, some training sessions are still pending due to the shutdown arising from COVID-19 and will be conducted at a later date. All the trainers will receive certification by the CFA Institute and will proceed to conduct training in the corporate sector and universities.

The trainees included:

Ahsan Khan, CFA

Arif Irfanullah, CFA

Azfer Naseem, CFA

Babar Ali, CFA

Fahim Ahmed, CFA

Faraz Bandukda, CFA

Malik Dil Awayz, CFA

Muniba Abdullah, CFA

Murtaza Memon, CFA

Sadaf Shabbir, CFA

Shazia Farooq, CFA

Workshops on Ethical Decision Making

We firmly believe that focus on ethics is as important as focus on technical skills of the investment management community. In fact, that holds true for the entire financial market.

Mr. Alan Lok, CFA conducted a series of workshops on Ethical Decision Making for local regulators and industry associates including faculty at the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG), compliance heads of Asset Management Companies at the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan ( MUFAP), senior and mid-level managers at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and senior and mid-level managers and operational staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). During these interactive sessions, Mr. Lok discussed real-life dilemmas that finance professionals face in their careers, how to identify them and resolve them in an ethical manner even when no one is watching!

Global Ethics Day

Ethics is the basis for Trust and Sustainability of our Profession. To celebrate the Global Ethics Day, CFA Society Pakistan joined hands with ACCA, British Deputy High Commission – Karachi, and The Pakistan Business Council’s Center of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB) to conduct a series of events in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

The events saw thought-provoking panel discussion between C-level industry executives, think tanks and other senior professionals and speeches by eloquent speakers.

Ethics Challenge

The CFA Society Pakistan Ethics Challenge was launched in February with much fervor and 17 university teams were registered for the event. However, due to the unforeseen outbreak of COVID-19, the event has been postponed until activities resume at universities.

The Ethics Challenge is designed to increase students' awareness of the ethical dilemmas they may face as future investment management professionals. University Teams of 3 to 4 students from finance, business or other related fields will be given an ethics case to study and evaluate. The participating teams will use the CFA Codes of Ethics & Standards of Professional Conducts as a guiding resource for their analysis.

Each team would present its analysis and recommendations to a panel of judges selected by the CFA Society Pakistan, at the Pakistan Ethics Challenge local competition. A panel of Judges will then select a winner based on the quality of the team's understanding of the ethical issues involved, their recommendations, and the quality of their analysis, presentation, and responses to the judge's questions. The winning team will proceed to the regional finals to compete with winners from other countries in Asia-Pacific.