President’s Message Nov - Dec 2010 Newsletter 2010.pdfStrategic Planning – Amal Sandaratne and Scholarship – Nadika Ranasinghe. The first key event during the current term was

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Dear CFA Sri Lanka Member Let me wish you a happy and prosperous 2011. It is indeed an honour to be able to serve you as President of the Sri Lanka Society and I am giving my first message to you as the newly-elected President, with much enthusiasm and excitement about our future plans and activities.

The new Officers and Committee Chairs for the term 2010/11 were elected at the Annual General Meeting held on November 18, 2010. Thirty CFA Sri Lanka members attended the AGM. At this point, I wish to acknowledge and express my gratitude to our outgoing President, Murtaza Jafferjee and his team for their outstanding contributions to the Society, and their tireless efforts, especially of Murtaza, that cannot be exaggerated. We are fortunate and thankful that they are continuing to serve CFA Sri Lanka in various capacities. Let me take this opportunity to introduce the office bearers and committee chairs for the current term: Vice President - Sheyantha Abeykoon, Secretary - Priyanka Coorey, Treasurer - Sahan Jayasooriya, Advocacy - Murtaza Jafferjee, SLIRC - Sanjay Kulatunga, GIPS - Rajiv Casie Chitty, Liaison / Social Events – Christine Dias Bandaranaike, Programme, Chanakya Dissanayake, Strategic Planning – Amal Sandaratne and Scholarship – Nadika Ranasinghe. The first key event during the current term was the CFA Sri Lanka Annual Oration, Sri Lanka Investment Research Challenge & Charter Awards 2010 Ceremony. The function was held at Hotel Taj Samudra on November 24, 2010. The Chief Guest at this function was Joey Chan, Director of Planning and Program Development, CFA Institute, Asia Pacific Region. Eight new Charter recipients and eight level III passed finalists were recognized at the awards ceremony. This year 11 teams from various universities and higher education institutions took part in the Sri Lanka Investment Research Challenge competition. The winners, University of Sri Jayawardanapura and the runners up, University of Colombo, were recognized at the awards ceremony. The winning team will be taking part in the regional competition which will be held in February 2011 in Bali, Indonesia. We wish them the very best for an excellent performance at the regional competition. I would like to thank Sanjay for successfully leading this initiative for the fourth consecutive year and Sabrina for diligently ensuring that everything went smoothly. The highlight of the awards night was the oration by

Dr Indrajit Kumaraswamy, who enlightened us with an analysis of the macroeconomic trends in Asia as well as Sri Lanka, along with his insights as to how we could use strategic enablers for long-term development and growth of the country. Ninety five people were in attendance at the awards ceremony which included 30 CFA Sri Lanka members. I would like to call upon the membership, which currently stands at 114, for wider participation and greater involvement at such events and initiatives in the future. The wonderful efforts of Debbie, Sabrina and Murtaza in organizing this event are much appreciated. The level I examination was held at the Continental Hotel on December 04 and 105 candidates had registered this time. So far 219 candidates have registered for the June 2011 examination, for all 3 levels. We target to achieve a candidate base of 600 by 2012, and the Society needs all the support from its membership in its candidate expansion efforts to get closer to this goal.

Thanks to the initiatives of the previous committee, level 2 funding worth $ 5,000 was approved by the CFA Institute for outreach projects covering four universities in Colombo,

Quarter 4 - 2010

President’s Message Nov - Dec 2010

Contents President’s Message………………….….……………..01 SLIRC 2010……………………….…………………….….…02 Scholarship 2010/11………………………….…….…..03 .. 08th Annual General Meeting……………………….04 Joey Chan’s visit………………………………………..….04 Charter Awards Ceremony & Oration 2010…05 Meetings……………………………….………..……………06 Society Leadership Conference 2010...….…...06 2010/11 Committee & Board of Directors.....07 New Charterholders / Level lll Finalists 2010…………………………………………………………….07

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targeting 1,000 students. This is an important achievement for us since candidate expansion outreach is identified by the committee as one of the four broad areas of focus for the next three years. The other three areas are: improvement of the governance structure of CFA Sri Lanka; positioning "CFA" as the preferred designation amongst constituent groups such as investors, employers, regulators and building brand awareness amongst the constituent groups. A strategic plan for our Society will be made available to the membership during this quarter. From you, we would need as much support as possible in executing this plan, and once the plan is out, I would invite all you keen volunteers to extend your support by taking up a suitable initiative. A healthy dialogue amongst the membership with regard to Society activities will give us more and more ideas that will help us carryout the right activities more effectively whilst getting wider support. We are contemplating a networking mechanism via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, to facilitate such a dialogue. Until such time we come up with a mechanism, I invite all of you to send in your suggestions, ideas, comments or any other feedback to Debbie Wijeyaratne on [email protected]. I would like to acknowledge the exceptional work of Debbie for CFA Sri Lanka, taking a huge burden off the committee members from day to day matters as well as some of the important administrative work of the Society. To reflect the higher-level of responsibilities of her work, especially with regard to dealing with the Asia Pacific Office and the CFA Institute on various matters, she has been re-designated as Administrator of CFA Sri Lanka. The first CFA Sri Lanka event for 2011 is the induction party that will be held on January 13 at Park Street Mews. I am sure you would have received the invitation via email, and I look forward to meeting all of you. Once again, I wish you a happy new year fil led with many successes. Malinga Arsakularatne

SLIRC 2010

Article from the Financial Times – November 2011 The team from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura walked away with the top price of the 2010 Sri Lanka Investment Research Challenge Competition. The announcement and award was made at the Annual CFA Charter Awards and Oration held on Wednesday, at the Taj Samudra, Colombo. The teams from the University of Colombo and the University of Moratuwa – Department of Management Technology were First Runners Up and Second Runners Up respectively. The Competition was co-sponsored by the Colombo Stock Exchange, while the Securities & Exchange Commission was also a key facilitator. The winning team was led by Punsalani Dias and included C R Ponnamperuma, R A P Weliwatte, K A De A Wijesinghe and V O V Karunaratne. Dr. Y K W Banda was the faculty member in charge. The local competition is part of the global investment research challenge organized by CFA Institute. The international challenge is held amongst student teams from the world’s top universities, business schools and finance programmes. The Jayawardenapura team will proceed to Bali, Indonesia to take part in the regional competition. The award ceremony on Wednesday was the finale of a demanding task that commenced in July this year. A total of 11 teams from the country’s leading universities and business schools participated in this year’s competition, the fourth consecutive held thus far. The contestants were required to make an investment recommendation (buy, sell or hold) on the shares of Asian Hotels and Properties Plc. This entailed carrying out fairly in depth research over a three month period on the operations and prospects of the Asian Hotels. It also necessitated understanding the industries in with Asian Hotels operates.

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The senior management of Asian Hotels provided the students with an insight into the industry dynamics and the future prospects of the company. This half day session gave the students the ability to interact with the company management and ask questions relevant to their analysis. Simulating real world work environment of investment analysts, the contestants had to then publish a research report justifying their recommendation and also make a convincing presentation to a panel of judges summarizing the key arguments. The teams were ultimately judged on the report produced as well as the presentation made. Research reports were assessed on a specified scoring criteria giving weightage to several areas which included business description, financial analysis, valuation and investment risks. The scoring criteria for the presentations were based on the argument made, data presented in support of recommendations and the ability to defend recommendation during the Q & A session. The focus of the competition was on learning best practices in equity research and formulating a convincing argument to defend conclusions. The winner was selected based on the thoroughness of its analysis and knowledge of the company rather than their predictions on the stock price. The benefits of the competition were obvious to the participating students as well as the universities and business schools. Taking part in the competition will set the participating institutes apart from other business schools and help build their image as institutions that strive to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real world application. Further, this competition will encourage healthy competitive rivalry amongst the universities and business schools in the future. It is expected that this competition will help build the next generation of finance professionals thus helping to set the platform for a vibrant financial market.

Scholarship 2010/11

The Scholarship 2010 / 11 process commenced with a newspaper advertisement on 17 Oct 2010. Posters were also displayed simultaneously at all the Universities and an email was sent to all CFASL Members / Students. There were over 50 applicants. CFASL has a vigorous selection process, candidates have to sit for a tough aptitude test, after which, the top 20 are interviewed by a panel of judges who are CFA Members. 10 successful candidates were awarded scholarships and they will sit for the level l examination in June 2011. Since there were two more suitable candidates, CFASL has applied for 2 extra scholarships, the approval for which is pending.

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08th Annual General Meeting

The 8th Annual General Meeting of CFASL was held at the Diamond Room, Aitken Spence Towers on 18 November 2010. There were over 30 members present. The outgoing President, Murtaza Jafferjee gave a report on the year that was, after which the new committee was appointed. Malinga Arsakularatne who was appointed President will head the 2010/11 committee. Malinga thanked the outgoing President, Murtaza and the committee for the excellent work done by them. He welcomed the new committee and stated that his priority would be to increase participation from the members / students to be more involved in CFASL’s activities. His other priority was to finalize the Strategic Plan and finally, to align CFASL’s efforts to reach the strategic goals.

Joey Chan’s Visit

Joey Chan, Director of Planning and Programming, CFA Institute, Asia Pacific visited Sri Lanka on 23 & 24 November 2010. Whilst in Colombo, Joey, along with Malinga, Murtaza and Sheyantha, met Dr. Gunaratne, Head, Finance Dept, Colombo University and SEC Chairperson, Mrs. Indrani Sugathadasa, to discuss issues of mutual benefit and collaboration. Joey was the Chief Guest at the Charter Awards Ceremony and Oration 2010.

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Charter Awards Ceremony & Oration 2010

The Annual Oration 2010, Charter / SLIRC Awards Ceremony was held on 24 November 2010 at the “On Golden Pond”, Hotel Taj Samudra. Invitees braved heavy rain and flooded roads to attend this important event on CFASL’s calendar. The evening commenced with a welcome address by the newly appointed President, Malinga Arsakularatne, who also congratulated the 8 charter recipients and 8 level lll finalists of 2010. The oration was by Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Former Director, Economic Affairs, Commonwealth Secretariat. His topic was “Accelerating Growth & Development in Sri Lanka”, and he had the audience captivated throughout. The oration was followed by a 15 minute Q & A session in which the audience participated actively. This night was also the culmination of a long and arduous process the teams of 5 universities underwent for the Sri Lanka Investment & Research Challenge 2010, organized by Sanjay Kulatunga, assisted by Ms. Sabrina Jayah. Sanjay explained the process that was followed in a brief address. It was then time to introduce the winners of the SLIRC 2010 - This year’s winning team was from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura – they were mentored by Nishantha Jayaweera and the runners up were the team from the University of Colombo, mentored by Amal Sandaratne. The beaming team leader, Punsalani Dias, accepted the trophy and a cheque for LKR100,000/-. The evening progressed with an address by the Chief Guest, Mr. Joey Chan, which was followed by the presentation of Charters also by the Chief Guest. Sandun Gunawardena, Thilan Sampath, Ajantha Weerasekera and Zarah Jurianz received their charters. Dinesh Ranasinghe, Hasitha Athapattu, Rohana Haliyadda & Prassanna Ludwick, who also were awarded charters in 2010 were unable to attend. Also felicitated this evening were the level lll finalists, Chathura Wickramatileka, Ramya Sundaralingam, Saman Kumare, Aravinda Wanniarachchi, Rashmin Lokubandara & Deshan Pushparaj. Level lll finalists who were unable to attend were Dimuthu Ratnadiwakara and Jivaka Nanayakkara. Malinga then presented tokens of appreciation to Mr. Chan and Dr. Coomaraswamy. The vote of thanks was given by Vice President Sheyantha Abeykoon. The MC for the evening was Viran Corea. With the ceremonial part of the evening over, members and invitees relaxed and mingled. The chaat station was enjoyed by all, though there were some who said they’d have preferred pasta – no doubt we will definitely keep that in mind the next time we get together!!

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The Charter Recipients & Level lll Finalists with the Chief Guest, Orator, President & Vice President of CFASL

Meetings

Malinga, Murtaza & Sheyantha held meetings with the SEC Chairperson, Mrs. Indrani Sugathadas, Head of Finance, University of Colombo, Dr. Gunaratne and the People’s Bank CEO, Mr. Dharamasiri on separate occasions to discuss issues that were mutually beneficial.

Society Leadership Meeting

Rajiv Casie Chitty CFASL was represented at the Society Leaders Conference held in Washington DC on 23 – 25 September 2010 by Malinga and Rajiv CC. The conference themed “Challenging business as Usual“ was held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Centre. The SLC 2010 spanned three days and covered a wide range of topics of interest for Society Leaders to develop their respective societies in their countries and to add value to the membership. The first day had several breakout sessions that covered a host of topics. The first session on advocacy highlighted the drive of SEC to improve advocacy in capital markets. CFA Institute has, over the years, broadened its scope of issues it addresses in its advocacy drive from the role of dealing with financial and accounting issues to addressing issues on corporate governance and shareholders rights etc. The session on the use of MyCFA also highlighted the developments on the CFA website, giving useful information and tips on how to gain maximum benefit from the website. Some societies had used their level II funding to acquire multimedia equipment. CFA Institute had also provided several other resources such

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as technical assistance to develop the capabilities to broadcast webinars using multimedia equipment. The session on sharing experiences of societies based on size was very instructive and encouraging. We attended the session on societies that had members from 100 - 200. There were around 30 societies that fell into this range and spanned countries like Mexico, Pakistan, New Zealand etc. and several Societies from some of the individual States of America such as Maine etc. The focus of the session was on growth and adding value to members. It was also interesting to listen to experiences from South Africa, from humble beginnings to a society of approx. 9,000 members over a 15 year period. The plenary session was themed “Ethics and Integrity in the Investment Profession – where it stands and what is needed” and was extremely informative and timely. Speakers at the session included the Board President and Chief Executive Officer, John Rogers. The guest speakers included Dave Underhill of Underhill Training & Development, Jeff Matthais, CFA and George H Brookman, CEO of West Canadian and Past President of the Calgary Stampede. The session was concluded by a renowned financial journalist who conducted an on stage interview of the speakers and panelist who put forward some very probing questions to the panel. Throughout the session it was clear that CFA Institute was committed to achieving a very high standard of ethics and professional conduct. .

CFASL Committee & Board of Directors – 2010 / 2011

Committee Board of Directors 2010 / 11

Post Name Post Name

President Malinga Arsakularatne President Malinga Arsakularatne

Vice President Sheyantha Abeykoon Vice President Sheyantha Abeykoon

Secretary Priyanka Senadhira Secretary Priyanka Senadhira

Treasurer Sahan Jayasooriya Treasurer Sahan Jayasooriya

Advocacy Chair Murtaza Jafferjee Programme Chair Chanakya Dissanayake

CFA Institute Liaison Chair Christine Dias Bandaranaike Immediate Past President Murtaza Jafferjee

Programme Chair Chanakya Dissanayake

GIRC Chair Sanjay Kulatunga

GIPs Chair Rajiv Casie Chitty

Strategic Planning Chair Amal Sandaratne

Social Events Chair Christine Dias Bandaranaike

Scholarship Chair Nadika Ranasinghe

Congratulations to the new Charter Recipients & Level lll Finalists!! Charter Recipients Level lll Finalists Uditha Saman Gunawardena Chathura Wickramatileka Dinesh Priyantha Ranasinghe Ramya Sundaralingam U L Thilan Sampath Saman Kumare Ajantha Weerasekara Aravinda Wanniarachchi Zarah Jurianz Rashmin Lokubandara Hasitha Saman Athapattu Deshan Pushparajah Rohana Kumar Haliyadda Dimuthu Ratnadivakara Prassanna Silverinus Ludwick Jivaka Nanayakkara For the latest jobs advertised – read JOBLINE! http://www.membersocieties.org/srilanka/Pages/Vacancies.aspx

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