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The Norwegian Society of Financial Analysts |
The Norwegian Society of Financial Analysts (NFF) was established in 1968 and is a member of EFFAS (The European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies). Despite the fact that Norway is one of the smallest countries represented in EFFAS, it is one of the largest societies with 1433 members as at 31st December 2000, an increase from 2000 of 4 new members. The society is administrated by a full time secretariat in Oslo consisting of 4 persons.
NFF is member of the EIPC (The European Investment Performance Council) The EIPC is linked to the IPC working with GIPS® related topics.
NFF is managed by a Board of Directors comprising of up to 7 persons. The technical activities of the society are undertaken by its own members through permanent committees, for example, the Equity Capital Committee, the Bond Committee, the Committee on Portfolio Management and various project groups responsible for specific areas of interest.
In 1999 the General Assembly introduced NFF's Code of Ethics and Professional standard and the Committee on Ethics was established. The Committee treated two different cases during 2001 - one member received a warning for unethical behaviour.
The following describes in brief the Society's most important activities during 2001.
21 analyst meetings presenting 33 companies were organised throughout the year. A total of 1.310 with an average of 62 members attended the meetings. 10 of the meetings presented small listed companies or non-listed companies. This is an opportunity for the smaller companies to meet the analyst corps.
The regular meetings are increasingly taking the form of half-day industry seminars where 3 - 4 competing companies (including both foreign and domestic companies) of the same branch present themselves, often combined with presentations of specific topics related to the industry in question. "Capital Markets Day" - in-depth company presentation - is another frame of some of the company presentations.
Development of standards, guidelines etc. within a variety of technical areas with respect to the domestic capital markets. The work of implementing GIPS® (Global Investment Presentation Standard) started in 1998. The first Norwegian version of GIPS® was presented to the Norwegian market in late 1999 and revised in June 2001. Norsk GIPS® was approved by the IPC (Investment Performance Council) in September 2001 as the official Norwegian version of GIPS®. The Norwegian Society of Financial Analysts is the official GIPS® sponsor in Norway.
Management of a postgraduate course for analysts to Authorised Financial Analyst (AFA) status. This course comprises of 8 modules over a period of two years and is a joint venture with NHH (The Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration). NFF is represented in EFFAS CTQAB and EPC. The AFA program was accredited by the EFFAS Board in October 1993 and revised and successfully re-accredited in 1999. Since 1990, 438 students have successfully passed the AFA-examination.
Managerial and academic responsibility for a professional course of study related to fixed income topics - "NFF Fixed Income and Portfolio Management Study". The course consists of two modules over a period of 6 months - a) Economics, Bond Theory, Derivatives and b) Portfolio Management and Market Regulation. The students will have to sit for 2 examinations and write a paper in order to achieve the title "NFF Fixed Income Analyst". 214 Fixed Income Analysts have successfully passed the examination since 1995.
"Valuation and Practical Share Analysis" was introduced to the market in 1999 and the forth course were held in 2001. A total of 38 persons participated at the courses, which is meant as an introduction to the profession of financial analysis for newcomers, journalists and others, who are interested in obtaining basic techniques of equity analysis. Since 1999 a total number of 113 persons has attended the course.
"Advanced Portfolio Management" was introduced in September 2000 and ended in June 2001. The course comprises 130 hours of lectures (6 three-days weekends) in topics like Statistics and Mathematics, Empirical Analysis, Strategy Implementation, Asset Allocation, Portfolio Construction, Derivatives, Portfolio Evaluation etc.. The students sit for 2 exams and write a paper. The course was fully signed up by 30 students - 29 students successfully passed all exams. Another group of 30 students signed up for the second course that started in September 2001.
Organisation of seminars/conferences. These activities are also open to non-members. In 2001 NFF organised six seminars. A total number of 631 persons attended the seminars.
NFF acts as a hearing body for changes in laws and regulations affecting the capital markets and the financial industry. Four national and three international (GIPS®) hearing comments were issued in 2001.
Four informal Breakfast Meetings were organised for members by the Society. A total number of 129 persons attended these meetings.
NFF presents "The Stockman Award" (Stockman-prisen) to the listed Company that provides the best Investor Relations effort to the capital market (two classes). The winners were: Schibsted (open class) and Ekornes (smaller and middle-sized companies).
NFF is one of the founders of The Norwegian Accounting Standards Board (Norsk RegnskapsStiftelse - NRS) and is represented at the Technical Board as well as at the Board of Directors.
NFF is one the founders of the Best Environmental Reporting Award (founded 1996). The winner in 2001 was SAS (Scandinavian Airline System).
February 2001
1 USD = NOK 8.90
1 EURO = NOK 7.75
CONTACT DETAILS
The Norwegian Society of Financial Analysts
Mrs. Guri
Angell-Hansen
P.O. Box 1276-Vika
N-0111 Oslo
Tel.: +47 (22) 12 92 10
Fax: +47 (22) 44 42 32
Email:
guri.angell-hansen@finansanalytiker.no
Web: www.finansanalytiker.no