The French Society of Financial Analysts

The French Society of Financial Analysts (SFAF) has a membership of some 1,500 securities professionals who specialise in the use of financial analysis. Most of the members are analysts and investment managers and can be found at the very heart of banking and financial institutions, insurance companies, pension funds, stock market companies, and independent research departments.

A reciprocity agreement between the French Society of Financial Analysts (SFAF) and the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS) States that members of a foreign association are entitled to become patfner members of the French Society of Financial Analysts (SFAF).

The SFAF's role

Providing corporate information to the professionals in the financial sector.
Assist companies by organising their financial information meetings.
Set up training in financial analysis.
Actively helping in the consultancy process between relevant authorities and institutions whose duty is to organise the market's operation.

The SFAF and the listed companies

Every year, in association with the SFAF, around 1200 financial information events are organised by companies. These include:

yearly or half-year results meetings;
presentations of new issues;
technical forums designed to promote knowledge of either a sector in general, or a specific Company (which may feature on-site visits).

The SFAF guides companies in organising their financial information meetings by:

selecting the date: the SFAF has a schedule of meetings organised in Paris which allows it to identify dates for meetings, thus avoiding a clash between meetings of two companies in the same sector, between two companies in the CAC 40 index or between two new issuance presentations;
Sending invitations with the date and location of the meetings to all its members, analysts and managers, holding and managing the list of registered members.

The SFAF assists newly listed companies in their communication with analysts and invest ment managers.

The SFAF assists newly listed new and second markets' companies, which may not yet be well known and/or may be unfamiliar with the financial sector, to establish and develop contacts with analysts and managers in meetings that are less formal than traditional half-year or annual events.
The financial communication training workshops, which are run by financial professionals, present the various activities of the financial analysts, their expectations for financial communication and the way they use this information. These workshops last one day. The target audience consists mainly of Company directors and heads of financial communication.

The SFAF relays information on the activity sectors through its sector groups

Twenty sector groups serve to gather analysts by their professional specialisation Skills and experience are brought together, allowing members to:

lmprove their technical knowledge through meetings organised with European and foreign companies;
Create opportunities to bring together analysts and companies through talks.
The sector groups serve mainly to prepare (by means of a questionnaire) and organise (together with Company directors) the SFAF's meetings.

The groups: Aeronautica/Defence , Agriculture , Insurance, Automotive, Bank/Financial companies, Construction, Media-communication, Retai/E-business, Electrical-Electronical, Leisure/tourism, Real estate, Engineering, Luxury/Cosmetics, Pharmaceutica/Biotechnology, Basic goods/Petrochemical, Telecom-lnternet, Utilities, lnvestment companies, IT/IT services, Textiles.

The SFAF and training

The SFAF is very much aware of the need to provide analysts and managers with training that is of direct relevance to all the areas of their activity and it thus runs a two- year training programme at its Center for Training in Financial Analysis (CFAF):

First year

Account and forecast analysis
Stock market and ethics
Financial mathematics and statistics
Company evaluation

Second year

Economic and stock market analysis
Investment management (modern portfolio theory, quantitative management, collective management, technical analysis)
Company finance
lnterest rates, options, futures, swaps and derivatives

Every year, the CFAF welcomes more than 400 students, and awards European diplomas approved by the European Federation of Financial Analysts' Societies (EFFAS), the CEFA.

The SFAF representing the profession

The SFAF participates actively with the authorities in on-going discussions aimed at enhancing the quality of financial information and the associated role of financial analysts.

It represents the profession at national, European and international regulatory and standards authorities, dealing with issues such as IASC accounting standards and in ternational performance presentation standards.

SFAF publications

The Financial Analysis review:
this quarterly publication, in the course of being redesigned, provides sector professionals with in-depth information on important events in the financial world, as well as features and discussion on a wide variety of issues such as intangibles, the environment and resources, IT and software services, customer satisfaction, etc.

The Financial Analysis diaries
aim to publish work by the SFAF's commissions and members. They take a deeper look at some of the articles published in the review or print English versions of the year's finest articles.

Professional Guide of the Financial Sector:
published twice yearly, this guide covers all the various Equity Research Departments in France and provides extensive coverage of fund management teams and dealing room staff.

Board of Directors

Patrick Leguil		President
Vincent Bazi		Vice-President

CONTACT DETAILS

The French Society of Financial Analysts
24, rue de Penthiévre
75008 Paris
Tel.: +33 (0) 1 56 43 43 10
Fax: +33 (0) 1 45 63 00 58
Web: www.sfaf.com