The peak association for investment researchers is pushing ahead with a campaign to improve the quality of retail managed fund and master trust research, offering retail analysts a $5000 scholarship to attend the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) course.
Although originally designed for institutional asset consultants, the convergence of retail and wholesale investment markets meant the CIMA course was now “just as relevant” for retail researchers, according to Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) Australia chair Simon Ibbetson.
The scholarship, sponsored by Assirt Research and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, began last year and made Jeff Chin of Perth’s Smith Coffey Group the first retail researcher to complete the CIMA course.
IMCA director Angela Ashton said retail researchers now made up 25 of IMCA’s 150 members, who are entitled to attend its monthly seminars.
She hoped that apart from the scholarship recipient, more retail researchers would undertake this year’s CIMA course, which begins in September.
Ashton said Assirt was likely to send at least one analyst.
