Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, you're very, very welcome indeed to this IEA webinar session. And we're absolutely delighted to be joined today by such a distinguished speaker in Ambassador Catherine Tai, the US Trade Representative and indeed the second member of President Biden's cabinet to speak at the IEA in recent weeks. We had an honor to have Janet Yellen with us in November, but my name is Michael Collins and I am the Director General of the Institute, the IEA and we are Ireland's leading international and European Affairs think tank. And we've been in existence now for more than 30 years, bringing expert insight through our speaker programs and dedicated research to Irish to European and deed to a more recently at least a global audience. By bringing distinguished speakers such as Ambassador Tai to address our members, we are able to fulfill our mission of sharing ideas and shaping policy. Before we begin this afternoon, this afternoon's in conversation session with the ambassador, let me briefly run through our running order and the format of the event. Ambassador Tai is going to deliver a brief opening remarks of about five minutes or so. And then I would begin with a few questions and we will then turn to you or audience for your questions and please feel free to submit these questions using zooms q and a function, which you should see at the bottom of your screen. And if you are submitting a question and please if you are doing so please keep the questions succinct brief, you include your name and your affiliation or organization applicable. We will finish this webinar sharply at 345pm Irish time, so I would encourage you to get your questions in early if you have questions to ask. I know that a number of journalists are joining us this afternoon so a reminder that the full session, the initial conversation portion and the q&a will take place on the record. And you can join the discussion also on Twitter, using the handle at. So now let me just formally introduce Ambassador Catherine Tai, who was sworn in as the 19th US trade representative on the 18th of March, just after St. Patrick's Day 2021. As a member of the President's Cabinet, Ambassador Tai is the principal trade advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on US trade policy, and indeed is right at the epicenter of international trade issues. Her unanimous confirmation by Congress, Ambassador Tai spent most of her career in public service focusing on international economic diplomacy, monitoring and enforcement, serving as chief trade council and trade subcommittee staff director for the House Ways and Means Committee in the United States Congress, which of course is shared by our good friend and chairman of the Friends of Ireland in Congress, Congressman Richie Neal, who spoke to us also last year, last May indeed on the occasion of our 30th anniversary. Ambassador Tai holds a degree in history from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. So with that, Ambassador Tai, you're very, very welcome to the idea. It's a pleasure to welcome you. The floor is yours. Thank you so much, Ambassador Collins for that kind introduction. And I also want to thank IIEA for hosting me today. It's a real honor to be here with you and your audience. I'm looking forward to engaging in a thoughtful discussion with you and all of you who are tuning in today on what the future of US transatlantic trade will and should bring in 2022 and beyond. But I want to begin by highlighting some of our accomplishments over the last year, and how we can build on these successes this year. When President Biden took office, he pledged to rebuild our alliances with Europe and our partners around the world. Now one year almost into our administration and 10 months since I was sworn in as United States trade representative. I believe we have made significant progress in fulfilling the president's pledge, particularly with our European allies. Last summer, we reached interim agreements with the EU and the UK to resolve the 17 year long Boeing Airbus disputes. By thinking creatively, working cooperatively, we were able to put our long standing differences aside and reach an agreement that will ensure the long term viability of the American and European aerospace sectors. Protect thousands of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic from duties and the effects of non-market financing. In resolving this disagreement, the United States and European Union can now turn our attention to addressing harmful non-market practices in the sector from countries like China that distort the aerospace market and create a truly uneven playing field for the rest of the world. And off of that momentum, we have intensified talks with the EU on steel and aluminum. And in October, we announced a historic arrangement with the EU that will allow the resumption of duty free European steel and aluminum into the United States. That has happened as of January 1, the EU suspended its tariffs on American steel and aluminum and its retaliatory tariffs on other American products. This deal is also a significant win on a top priority the United States and the EU share fighting climate change. As part of the resolution, the US and the EU have committed to negotiate the first ever carbon based arrangement on steel and aluminum trade and create greater incentives for reducing carbon intensity across modes of production of steel and aluminum that are produced by American and European companies. This is an example of what we have been pursuing, which is using trade to leverage a race to the top, as opposed to a race to the bottom. In October, we further harnessed this momentum and reached agreements with four European trading partners on digital services taxes that have unfairly targeted US companies. France, Italy and Spain have agreed to remove their digital services taxes upon implementation of pillar one of the OECD international tax agreement, which will help end the race to the bottom over multinational corporate taxation. Additionally, our administration is delighted to have Ireland support for this agreement and we look forward to working with you to implement it in the coming months. In resolving all of these trade disputes in our first year, no less, the Biden Harris administration is showing what we can accomplish when we work with our allies in a collaborative and creative manner. Taken together these agreements with our transatlantic trading partners have reopened markets and removed or averted the imposition of over $20 billion in tariffs, without requiring us to compromise our principles. However, even as we acknowledge our successes and addressing long standing challenges in our trade relationship with the EU, we must also look to the future. And that is why we have together established the US EU Trade and Technology Council, what we are calling the TTC is a forum for us to tackle important trade and technological issues that transcend borders, including the non market trade and trade distortive practices of certain countries that threaten us and European competitiveness and technological leadership. We held the inaugural meeting last fall in Pittsburgh and I anticipate the TTC will meet again somewhere in Europe later this year. Going forward, the Biden Harris administration will use the TTC to further the US EU cooperation on technology and innovation to advance our shared democratic values and to protect fundamental and worker rights. We have also renewed our trilateral partnership with the EU and Japan to address the global challenges posed by non market policies and practices in 2022. I am looking forward to continuing to renew our commitment to these trilateral discussions in the EU. We have a partner that shares our domestic and our democratic values and our commitment to developing concrete outcomes that benefit all of us. Taken together, this work leaves me more optimistic than ever about the outlook for global trade, and I'm excited to see what we accomplish together in this new year. With that, I will turn the program back to you Ambassador Collins as we begin the next question and answer session. Thank you so much. Thank you Ambassador and thank you for that presentation and just talking about the trade and the TTC, which met as you say in Pittsburgh in September. Is this and it's got a very, very full agenda I was reading down through it overnight it's got a very full agenda indeed. Is this a substitute or a prelude for a wider or an agreement for example between the EU, the EU and the US trade agreement. I remember very vividly being in the Congress in 2013 when President President Obama initiated tea tips are the start of negotiations which course didn't didn't materialize the end of the day as in terms of outcome. So is the TTC a prelude to a wider agreement with the European Union or what is the state of our one of the prospects for an agreement trade agreement between the European Union and the US. Well, thank you very much for that question. I think that for those of us have been in this business a long time. We've tracked the evolution of trade policy, not just from our own perspectives but also in terms of the, the global trajectory and the global practice for trade policy. You know, I don't think of the TTC as either a substitute or a prelude I think, really, what's interesting as you asked this question is we've really been focused here at USTR on the TTC. For, for the sake of the TTC itself and I'll say a little bit more about what I mean, I think that you know the T tip exercise dates back to the 2014 1516 era. So I can't believe we've turned the corner on on the years again it's now 2022. And I think that in the interim, a lot of very important developments have happened. I think that what I really am encouraged by an enthusiastic about in the TTC is its responsiveness to the challenges and the opportunities that we are really facing today. I think that it's really a timely partnership in taking on, certainly in the trade lane, the, the issues that crop up with the digitalization of the digital transformation of our economies and our global economy. The challenges in technology leadership, and also looking at critical issues related to the resiliency of our supply change, which is, which is really about the health of the global economy and our ability to bounce back from, if not, if unforeseen, if not, unpredicted crises like the COVID pandemic. I think that there is a lot of new inputs that governments are taking in, and especially in the international economic policy lane to push us to innovate. What trade policy means and what the opportunities are and working with our partners in particular the ones with whom we are so well aligned historically, culturally, politically and economically to take advantage of the opportunities we have to to fortify ourselves in in the transition that we face, whether it's from other economies in the world or from changing circumstances, including climate. So, in that sense, then, you know, a formal trade agreement between the European Union and the United States is not immediately in prospect then. I never say never I never want to foreclose opportunities. I am always about generating options to allow for optimization of where we may take things in the future but with respect to the TTC as you've noted, the agenda is very, very full. And, you know, I, I feel very strongly that as we've designed it together between the US and the EU, that it is actually quite a comprehensive approach to the most pressing issues that are facing us together today. Okay, let me just come to a question that that's coming already from Simon Lester from the World Trade Law, I think it is. His question is, can you give us an update on any recent steps the US TRs office has taken to enforce the US China phase one trade deal. Well, I know Simon well by reputation and I have been a consumer of his, his world trade law net database and network, since I was a junior trade lawyer so hello to Simon. You know, I really want to respect the forum here today focusing on Ireland and European affairs. But let me take this opportunity to talk a little bit about China through the lens of US EU cooperation. And I think that in my opening remarks and also in the way that we are approaching the TTC on both sides of the Atlantic, and it we are very much focused on the increasing challenges, just just the scale of the challenges but also the increasing complexity of the challenges that are in continuing to compete with China on the global economic stage, and whether it is through TTC, our new posture on large civil aircraft steel and aluminum. We have really invested in a partnership with the EU to take on the challenges together and to really amplify our shared interests in maintaining our competitiveness in an increasingly challenging and complex world. Very good. I'm just on the coming back to to more specifically to Europe I suppose and our neighbors of course our next door neighbor here the United Kingdom of course has a has an independent channel of engagement with the US TR. We've spoken about the prospects for the Euro EU wide engagement and the actuality of EU wide engagement with the United States on trade issues. How do you see the prospects and obviously for the UK it's something of a priority. How do you see the prospects for a US UK trade agreement and and when do you think such an agreement might materialize if there is a prospect of one happening. Ambassador Collins, thank you for that balanced question and taking it from the EU side and then and now from the UK side I see the logic and how you're approaching these questions, and I appreciate it deeply. And, you know, I think that on on this. We are approaching our conversations with the with the UK consistent with the overall approach that we're taking as an administration, which is a focus on building back better. And that is very much in response to the need that we have globally economically to. And first of all, to continue to the fight against the pandemic to take the opportunity to in crisis to rebuild and to rebuild along lines that correct for aspects of our economic systems that could use shoring up. And you'll see in a lot of the activities of the Biden Harris administration over the course of 2021 this focus on investment investment in infrastructure, for instance, investment in the US economic structures, investment in our relationships and with respect to the US and the UK, we are approaching our trade relationship consistent with the way that we are approaching everyone which is, you know, how can we enhance our connectivity and ensure that it is supportive of and reinforcing and of building back better both at home and also building back better on on an international basis. So, that's, that's my first point. And, you know, I think that we also are seeing a lot of the fruits of our efforts in my engagements with Secretary Trevelyan, and foreign secretary trust who had been my counterpart earlier in the year and we've carried a consistent message that from our side, the way we talk about it is our approach to trade will be a worker centered one. And that is to really focus on putting the, the human worker community impacts of trade into the center of our decision making. And I think that whether it is with the UK or with the EU, certainly with other partners as well. We are getting a very, very good reception in terms of orienting ourselves to how we can harness the power of trade policies and trade and economic cooperation to make it a force for good in our economy and in the world economy. So, with respect to the US UK trade agreement. You know, again, I think that our approach continues to be focused on building back better and the way we talk about it worker centrism, and responding to the challenges and needs of today, including cooperating on developing tools and strategies to ensure that our economies remain competitive. So, I'd say that, you know, at the moment, it's, it's our work with the UK is running in parallel with the work that we are doing with the EU and again, we will see where all of this goes. I continue every day when I wake up, and you know read the papers and turn on the news to be amazed by the sense of fluidity in the global economy and the degree to which we are all still adapting to, you know, maintaining momentum in terms of recovery. And I think that, you know, where we are right now affords us many, many opportunities and will continue to do so in innovating the way that we approach each other for for optimizing our opportunities. Yeah, just forgive me. Just forgive me just for going a little bit local for a second. There's a huge amount of interest here obviously in the linkage if any, which the United States may see between the, the, the Northern Ireland protocol which I'm sure you're familiar with. I think that's the direction of the 1998 Good Friday agreement, and whether these might be a factor in agreeing a US UK trade agreement or indeed easing the steel and aluminium tariffs on the UK and members of Congress have frequently spoken or occasionally at least spoken on on a possible linkage there. Would you like to just speak to that for a little bit of whether there is an expectation on the US side that in moving forward on the trade front that they, there would be an expectation that they will fulfill their obligations under the under the Northern Ireland protocol. I know that this is a matter of considerable interest and I'm glad that you're asking this question. Let me say, let me begin by reiterating that President Biden, the US Congress, and I care very deeply about supporting and preserving the Good Friday agreement that has brought peace to Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland. I understand that the UK and the EU are continuing in critical discussions over implementation of the Irish protocol. And we are encouraging here on our side of the Atlantic, both the UK and the EU to find a solution that is durable, and that maintains peace in Northern Ireland. I would expect that, you know, on our side, given the deep levels of interest that are here and the sense of investment in the legacy of the Good Friday agreement that what happens in these engagements between the UK and the EU will will always be on the radar and it will be part of our, our awareness, both the UK and the EU are very, very important strategic and economic partners of the United States, and it will continue to be something I think that we will, we will be tracking with but let me just reinforce our position in encouraging both sides, the UK and the EU to work in good faith and as tirelessly as I know that people have been to find that solution that will be durable and peaceful. And on the steel and aluminum issues, you know, let me say on that we, we continue to be grounded in those efforts on the big picture, which is where the global international economic pressures are coming from, and we will continue to look for opportunities to be aligning ourselves with our closest partners on this to take on the challenge together, rather than alone. Okay, well, I might just jump around a little bit here if I may, Ambassador questions that have come in, one here from Michael McCarthy Flynn who's the head of policy and advocacy for Oxfam Ireland. He asks, what arguments would Ambassador Tye deploy to try to persuade Ireland and the EU to support the trips waiver, the trips waiver at the WTO. Well, that's an important question and one that we have been focused on for much of 2021, and continue to be focused on here. Let me say a couple words here. I appreciate the way that the question is framed. I might tweak, I might tweak the framing a little bit in my in my response which is, what are we doing here to rally and corral support around the trips waiver effort at the WTO. One of the really interesting aspects of and it is actually really difficult and challenging about the trips waiver conversation is that, you know, there's the trips waiver as it was introduced by proponents led by South Africa and India. And it was now over a year ago, anticipating that there would be developments to address to create tools for us for responding to the pandemic. I think that, you know, one aspect that I just want to highlight is for for those who are not very familiar with the way the WTO works. It's part of what makes WTO work really hard, but also something that makes the WTO really unique and is important to the structure of the WTO is the WTO operates on a consensus basis, which means that it truly is focused on its membership and the positive light consensus basis means that you can only move forward when you have done the work to listen to everyone and to get everyone to to move in a particular direction. On this issue, I think that the most, the most powerful argument is for as long as we are not able to effectively and comprehensively deploy the tools that are being developed to manage and address the COVID epidemiology. Our global economic situation will continue to be at the end of a leash that is controlled by the pandemic. And I know how deeply frustrating it is for everyone. I feel it personally, but I think that this is something that everyone in the world feels around this, you know, two steps forward one step back kind of sense of progress that we are making in terms of taking on the global COVID challenge. And it has economic implications. So, you know, for the context of the WTO, there is a there is a public health and there is a moral aspect to this which is let's save lives. But, you know, translate that into economic terms. I think that until we have a facilitated really comprehensive access to the, the tools that we are developing and, you know, again, all credit to the scientists who are, you know, making miracles happen through their technical work. But until we really comprehensively are able to provide access to those tools, we're going to continue to be in this herky jerky, you know, supply chain disrupted situation that I know is just deeply challenging to all of us but will pose a major obstacle to the robust recovery that we are all looking for. And, Ambassador, as we're on the WTO, I've got a question here from one of our own researchers, Dara Lawler, and also from Dan or Brian, who's our chief economist on as on the WTO. And I suppose it boils down to a question about how does the US plan to progress the reform agenda at the WTO, particularly with regard to the WTO's appellate body. Ambassador Collins, could you repeat the question I think I've got all the nouns and I think I might have missed the verb in there. And just how does the US plan to progress the reform agenda at the WTO, particularly with regard to the WTO's appellate body. Got it, got it. The key distinction is progress used as a verb. Okay. No, I appreciate this question and on the WTO questions in particular the ones that touch on dispute settlement. I've always got to exercise a little bit of discipline because I want to go down rabbit holes because this is, this is actually the environment in which I grew up as a trade policy professionals as a trade lawyer and a litigator litigator on behalf of the United States at the WTO. I have a lot of thoughts on this and maybe what I'll just do is by way of saying that I have a lot of thoughts, translate that into. I want to convey how deeply I care about this issue. And how many ideas and how hopeful I am about taking on a reform effort at the WTO first as a reform effort to continue to push the members of the WTO to motivate us collectively to push the WTO to be more responsive to the state of the global economy as it's evolved, whether with respect to how our trading partners have evolved at the WTO, I think, since, since 1994. There are more members now. And over the course of, I guess, the almost 30 years that is 1994 95 that the WTO started getting up and running. You know, the membership is not only increased in number but also the development, economic development of some of those members have really created changes in the global economic landscape. The need for the WTO itself to evolve to respond to our new reality on dispute settlement. I see that dispute settlement piece being a part of this larger need for reform and there's a lot of energy. There are a lot of ideas and you'd be surprised at how thoughtful. I do work on trade and the WTO in particular people are, you know, representing different countries so I'm very optimistic here on dispute settlement, similarly. I think that we need to come back to first principles on dispute settlement I know there's a lot of focus on the appellate body and I completely understand why it's there on the appellate body and why it's there on us. I understand the conversation to say that, you know, as the WTO needs to be reformed to be responsive. So too does its dispute settlement function need to evolve as as part of the institution. And I'll just say a couple words here we are really excited we have started engaging with our partners. We're excited to bring a vision and and to engage our vision with the visions and interests of all of the WTO members around, you know, what it is a dispute settlement function should provide. We think most fundamentally, it should, it should facilitate the settlement of disputes between members. And second, I think that fundamentally as an institutional matter, it should reinforce and facilitate the functioning of the other aspects of the WTO the negotiating function and also the monitoring function at the WTO as opposed to stifling them. And third, when we talk about dispute settlement, let's, you know, ground it in the settlement of disputes and separate it out from the litigation aspect, which is only one method of settling dispute so, you know, I've laid out some of this in the speech that I gave in Geneva last October. We will continue to do our work and I'm, I'm, I'm really excited and optimistic about the engagement that lies before us and taking on the question of how do we how do we take this opportunity of reform to build back the WTO better. Thank you, Ambassador. Some of these questions now may go back a little bit on some of the things you've already addressed if you, if you feel you've already addressed them that's fine, but question here from Bill Emmett who's an IEA member and of course who's a former editor of the Economist magazine. He says thank you, Ambassador Tai. He said two quick questions. One, why has the US removed tariffs on steel for the for the EU but not for the UK. And the second question is, what prospects do you see for the US joining the CPTPP, which the United States originally shaped. And I will try to be briefer in my responses so that we can get to more questions and I appreciate the clarity of the questions. One, why have we removed tariffs for the EU and not the UK. So, you know, I will say the process that we went through in negotiations and discussions with the EU took us about six months. And we kicked them off with a commitment at the US EU summit. When President Biden made his first trip out of the country and to Brussels last June, that we would take this up with the EU and I think that was Halloween October 31, when we announced that we had this solution here for moving forward with the EU. And I just want to, I want to focus on the fact that what we accomplished was not just removing tariffs. And, you know, the complexity in the discussions and why it took every just about every minute and every day of those six months is when I talk about resolving the tensions between us and, you know, optimizing opportunities for trade without compromising our principles, it very much is a characterization of the 232 discussions that we had with the EU, which is how can we ease up the trade measures that we've taken between us when we have so much in common in terms of our interests to be globally competitive and to continue to be able to produce steel and aluminum in our countries and our economies. And so, you know, what I really want to draw attention to is the arrangement that we arrived at does loosen up the trade restrictions between us between our markets. But most importantly, it is aligning our economies to take on the pressure that is impacting both of us globally, which is the over capacity in both of these sectors. And so, you know, to get at the question here, these conversations, the negotiations are really important, especially on that last part, which is how do we align against that global over capacity pressure. And, you know, how do we commit to developing strategies and new tools together and that's that's the global arrangement part the forward looking piece around ensuring that we are trading between us. Fair fairly produced and traded steel and aluminum, and also looking at the carbon intensity and retaining this mandate that we have to consider the sustainability of our trade and our production. So, why not the UK yet. I think you know my responses. It's a matter of pragmatism, you know, took us six months to to conduct these negotiations with the EU. I formally started our consultations on 232 with Japan. As of, I don't remember the date on what side I'll say as of second half of December. And, you know, we just need to have a process that makes sense, but certainly the UK is very much on our minds, and I am confident that we will take this up. When the time is right on the CPTPP question just again in the interest of brevity I think I might just copy and paste and then edit a little bit the answer I provided earlier to your question and master Collins around, you know, the T tip, which is right now our focus with the DC with our partners in Asia and the Indo Pacific region, we are bringing what the president has described as the an Indo Pacific economic framework. And I think that there are parallels here in terms of what we are trying to accomplish and the partnerships and bridges that we are seeking to build, which is ones that respond to the needs that all of our economic policymakers are facing right now with respect to the fact that our trade engagement is focused on and supportive of sustainability, resilience, inclusiveness and also competitiveness. So, if it's okay for me to copy and paste or refer back to an earlier answer, thank you very much. Thank you, Ambassador. And we're coming towards the end now just going to watch the time here a little bit. And just maybe just ask you two questions, maybe if they're unrelated but just within the time available to whatever extent you can address them one is from Susanna Choi. She says, can you speak to next steps and aspirations for the carbon steel elements of the US, EU steel and aluminium trade deal. And will this serve as a blueprint for other commodities going forward. And then just a second question if I may just to wrap it up then, and we wrap it up on this basis then from Doug Palmer from Politico. He says, could you talk about your recent, your goals for the recently resumed trilateral talks with the EU and Japan you already spoke about this to some extent. Anyway, he says quite a few, quite a bit of work has was done during the Trump administration in areas like industrial subsidies and forced technology transfer. Are you planning to build on the work that was done in the Trump administration or do you want to move negotiations in a new direction. And when do you expect to hold the next trilateral meeting with the EU and Japan counterparts and what do you expect can be accomplished by them. There's a lot of questions there so in the time available we have about three minutes. If you could do your best to cover as much of that as you could, and then we wrap up. Wonderful. Well, I've got I've got questions from real taskmasters and I appreciate that we're always wanting to make sure we we stay on task. Thank you, Suzanne is question about next steps on the global arrangement. We've, I think our teams have already started meeting, and, you know, this is critical, we're under a bit of a clock, but, you know, I think that certainly on our side of the project is a bit of a static. And I will let executive vice president and Rosca speak on his side, but no reason to think that his views will be different. You know, we, we're really committed to this vision that we are, we spent 2021 building which is of really strong us EU cooperation on the share challenges and the pressures that are economies are industries and workers are facing globally so where this can take us to Zana your question about other commodities. It's a really interesting question I hope that you know in a couple years when we look back we'll realize we've accomplished more than just something on steel and aluminum and that this will be useful to a broader conversation, but perhaps we can reconvene, you know, intermittently and see see where it takes us for now I think we're focused on the task before us. Doug, to your question about the trilateral. Yes, we're looking to build again, and to adapt the trilateral forum to the evolution of the challenges that we're facing I think the challenges we were facing before. We are still facing but there are also new aspects of those challenges, developments in those challenges, including I would say, you know, I will go into details just for the sake of time, but you know, always wanting to make sure that the investment of our time effort with our partners is is responsive to the real problems that we are facing and on when the next meeting will take place. I'll just confess to you, sometimes I'm the, I'm the worst person to ask about this, because I usually know when it appears on my calendar, and I know I got to start doing my homework so I know someone is working on that someone's on my team, and I'll just have to defer to them. Very good. Listen, you're very generous with your time, Ambassador. We're coming to the end. We're at 345 Irish time so we're going to wrap it up there unless there's any final remarks that you want to make but just from on my own behalf on behalf of the Institute and its membership. Just want to say thank you it's a very special moment for us that that you've chosen to give us this time and to cover as many issues we as we were able to do in the three quarters of an hour that we had. You've been very generous we very much appreciated and we very much forward to welcome you to Dublin physically at some stage in the not too distant future. Anytime I would like I would love to come and you know again, just circumstances permitting sooner or later, I will find my way. Very generous invitation and thank you for hosting me at this forum. It is a real privilege for me to have the opportunity to engage, and I want to thank you, I a and all of your audience for your interest in what I have to share. Okay, good luck with all of your work. Thank you very much indeed.


YouTube team keep it clean before you get into this video. Make sure you check on your family cause I know we got Hurricane, either headed down here to South Florida between tonight and tomorrow. It's been like windy and rainy, like crazy. So if you got any family down here in South Florida, make sure you check on. Anyway, team keep it clean. Steelers, they remain the NFL's only undefeated team with another squeak it out victory where they just won by the hair of their chinny chin chin. And this was a good game. Real quick shout out to the Cowboys because initially when I first started watching this game, I was thinking, man, that is one of the most dangerous types of teams to go up against a team that has absolutely nothing to play for, nothing to play for. But then I thought about it some more and I was like, wait, but this is the NFC East. They got plenty to play for. Even coming into this game at two and six, the Cowboys had plenty to play for because as we know, Washington and Philly in New York, they're all doing pretty bad overall as a division anyway. So that NFC East as bad as the Cowboys record look coming into this game, they could still be a playoff team because they could still win their division. But anyway, and they're down to what? Their third quarterback, third or fourth quarterback? Cause they obviously lost that press. They lost Andy Dalton and they lost. I forgot their quarterback who started last week, but Gilbert, Gilbert, he, man, all the kudos in the world to that dude because he went up against a very tough defense and he fought, he fought. He did make some mistakes here and there, but this was his very first NFL start. And for your first NFL start to be playing against this Pittsburgh defense, whoo, like stress ain't even the word. But with the Steelers, they've done it again. They've done it again. Now I'll let you argue amongst yourselves on who you think the best team in the NFL is, but by record, it's the Steelers by record. Now are they the best team in the league? Like I said, that's up for you. That's up for debate for you. But their record is undefeated.  At the end of the day, they ended up squeezing it out. They ended up squeezing it out. And that's the most important thing. Cause I know a lot of people talk about, oh man, that team hung with you. While that team sucks, they hung with you. Like the Eagles did, they hung with the Steelers. Cowboys obviously hung with the Steelers. And those are obviously two lesser opponents, but at the same time, they were right there. They were close, but they just couldn't pull it off. They just couldn't pull it off. Even the Broncos with Jake Dresswell, I forget the quarterback's name, they hung with the Steelers. But at the end of the day, the biggest thing that matters is the scoreboard at the end of the game. A team can hang with you for half a long, they wanna hang with you, even if it goes to overtime. But if you get more points than them at the end, that's it. In this game, a big person for the Steelers, a big player that came through for the Steelers, big time in the second half, Juju. Juju, Juju Smith-Schuster. He came through big time because his first half was a little quiet, but the second half he kept making play, after play, after play, after play, after play. Huge catches, huge third down catches. Obviously caught the touchdown pass too. And he came through for his team when they needed him the most. Now in this game too, what the Steelers did a lot in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, they came out empty backfield, empty backfield. And one thing that was frustrating me with the Cowboys, I'm like, okay, Steelers coming out in the empty backfield, and they kept doing it. They kept throwing these short passes to the flats, short pass to the flats, short pass to the flats. And the Cowboys would be playing like 10 yards back. And I'm thinking like, what are you guys thinking? I know you don't wanna get beat over the top. Okay, leave a safety back there. But they just kept giving the Steelers these easy yards over and over and over. And I was thinking like, okay, they'll adjust. Okay, maybe they'll adjust. Okay, maybe this time they'll adjust. No, they didn't. They didn't. And Ben Roslisberger, he took exactly what the Cowboys were giving him. Cause they kept giving it to him. Oh, but then something else we gotta talk about. Oh, the calls in this game, boy. Hey, we know that sometimes with the officiating, it can be so bad. And Steelers fans, y'all know. This game was, yeah, it was one of those. It was definitely one of those. There was some, literally some drive-saving penalties in this game that favored the Steelers. Oh boy.  It was obviously unintentional. He did Grace it, but it was like, that's what you called him, rough in the passer, that? That? And it was like, oh boy, it was a big yikes. One thing that we as NFL fans wish for would just be consistency with officiating. But I know a lot of times the biggest consistency with officiating can be the inconsistency with officiating. It is just, woo, man. But hey, that's part of the NFL. Even though there are a lot of bad calls that are made, it's your team's job to overcome those bad calls. Now Cowboys, they just, they couldn't overcome their own mistakes. They were getting creative, they were getting tricky. Of course, CD-Lam got the touchdown. Then after that on that punt return, oh boy, the punt returner, he faked like, he had like a cramp or something and they pointed it out. The announcers pointed it out and they were like, oh man, that cramp sure healed up pretty fast.   Then he had one man to beat, one man to hurdle and he hurt him. But then he fell down after the hurdle. And it was like, oh boy, big yikes right there. Cause that's points that you're taking points off the board from yourself. You could have made it easier for your offense. And then with the, oh, the City Land fumble. Oh, it was like every time that the Cowboys, every time they could have not necessarily put the game away, but every time they had a chance to really take a lead, like a significant lead, they would do something and it'd be like, oh man, what are y'all doing? And then the, of course, the interception that Minkovitz Patrick caught too, that was, yeah, that was in the red zone. It was in the red zone. So the Cowboys just kept just squandering these opportunities. But again, you gotta give a shout out to them because they played with heart. They played with heart. They could have been a lot of intimidation coming into this game, steal a seven and no undefeated. They done beat everybody that they played. Cowboys two and six. We done lost to everybody that we played. So they could have had this mindset like, yeah, we suck, but at the same time, if you have that mindset like, yeah, we sucked in, that can actually take a lot of pressure off of you. Because nobody expected this to be a close game, even though I wasn't surprised that it was a close game because this happens with the Steelers a lot. And I'm not saying that they're a bad team because they obviously not, they won all of their games. But with the Steelers, what they tend to do, it happens like every year, especially when Ben Rothersberger plays. But what Steelers tend to do, they can be a hot team. They can be one of the best teams in NFL, but they tend to play down to their competition and they do this a lot. They don't necessarily lose all those games, but they can play down to their competition. And in this game, they did just that. And again, let's not take any credit away from the Cowboys, they played up to their competition. So it all just depends on what side of the glass you wanna look at it from. But again, the Steelers ended up edging it out. So kudos to them, kudos to them. So they at the halfway point of their season, they don't know what a loss feels like. They came close, came very close, but close is not enough. Anyway, congrats Steelers fans and Cowboys fans. Hey, hold your head up, man. I know this was a heartbreaker, especially at the very end too, because the Cowboys, first they had an opportunity. They had an opportunity to go ahead and get a game winning drive. And they, I think they only used one of their timeouts. Cause yeah, cause when they went for it on fourth down, they used that timeout. They were like, okay, we going for it on fourth down. Tony Romo was out here calling out everything ahead of time, like he always does.  What they do, they call the timeout. They went for it on fourth down, didn't get it. Steelers ran a ball, got stopped, timeout. Steelers ran a ball again, got stopped, timeout. Then Steelers on third down, they ran a ball again, got stopped. But then on fourth down, they decided they wanted to go for it. They wanted to go for it. So they pitched it to, I believe it was James Conner and Cowboys stopped them. So that gave them life again. So it's like, these are the heart wrenching games. The games that just give you so much pain as a football fan, especially if it's your team. So I know Cowboys fans, they were like, oh yeah, we got a shot. But in the back of their mind, they were like, hold up, this is Gilbert. But in the back of their mind also, they were like, hold up, but there's a lot of unknown about him because this is his first start. So he was driving, got that nice pass to CD, well first the pass to Amari Cooper, then the pass to CD Land. And then I forgot who the next pass was to that came right before the last play of the game. But he was moving, but they ended up just coming up short. I am glad though that I was glad that he at least got that last pass of the game off. Cause it's just, it's unfortunate when the plays like that, like on the fourth down play where he got sacked by TJ White, it's unfortunate when those fourth down plays where you got to go for it, where they result in a sack.  A lot of what ifs that go through your mind and it leaves you without closure for that game. Because with him getting the pass off, it's like, okay, he got the pass off incomplete. But if he didn't get the pass off, then it makes you wonder like, oh man, what if he would have got the pass off? Who would have caught it? Who would he have thrown it to? What would have happened? And then it could drive you crazy as a football fan. But that's what games like this do. So anyway, team, keep it clean. I appreciate y'all. Hey, I love y'all again. Check up on your family, man. Check up on your family. If you got family and I think it hit Cuba yesterday and I think it may be going to Bahamas, I forget, but that hurricane, the storm, Eda, like I said, I don't know if y'all can hear. Let me be quiet for two seconds and see if y'all can hear it. I've seen if y'all can hear like the rain in the wind outside, but probably not. But anyway, y'all stay safe, be safe. I love y'all. I appreciate y'all. I'll see y'all later. Congrats to the Steelers fans. And again, shout out to the Cowboys fans too because your team fought. Anyway, I appreciate y'all and we out.


Hello and welcome to the CFA Society Switzerland webinar about the CFA program. In the next hour, it's our goal to give you a good overview about the CFA program, what exactly it is about, what are the expectations to future candidates, and what are the benefits of the designation in real life. My name is Sabine Faye-Ramund and I'm very happy to introduce you to our panelists for this session. Louis Martin LeBreck-Hauber, CFA, is the presenter of this webinar. His Canadian has two masters in music, got his CFA charter in 2019 and is working for a boutique investment firm. Alina Garagita, CFA, got her charter in 2019 as well and works for a bank as head of money market and foreign exchange. Olli Müller, CFA, is a seasoned charter holder and works for credit Swiss as a director and head of investment delivery, investment solutions and products. He strongly supports his team members to stay in education. Alina, Louis and Olli are volunteers of our society. We are grateful that they support us on giving you an insight about their CFA experience. We strongly encourage you to ask questions. On the bottom of your screen you see a Q&A button. Whenever you have a question, please type it in. The audience will be able to vote on questions which will bring the question up in the list. Louis and I will pick them up and we'll do our best to answer them all. As a small reminder, this is the webinar. The audience is on listen and view mode only and the webinar will be recorded. With that said, the floor is yours, Louis. Thank you very much Sabine for the introduction. As Sabine mentioned, today we'll be discussing with you some of the advantages and the reasons for considering to do your charter. In terms of the order of the day, there's a number of points that we'll be touching base on. If I can enumerate them here with you, the first one being who is the CFA Institute and what are its programs? The second one being what is the value of the CFA charter and why should you consider it? Thirdly, what is the process like and how that's to prepare? What services are provided for CFA Society Switzerland candidates? And lastly, how to talk to your line manager about taking the CFA? And once we've gone through all those points we will have, we'll have some time together to go through the Q&A where you'll be able to ask all of your questions. Here, normally would have played a little video. We had some challenges with playing and however, if you do your research on YouTube, there are a number of great videos discussing the CFA Institute as a whole. I think the first and most important point to touch base on in regards to the CFA Institute is its mission statements. I'll read it here with you. Our mission to lead the investment profession globally by promoting the highest standards of ethics, education and professional excellence for the ultimate benefit of society. There are a number of ways by which it does this. The first one is through producing educated professionals that will represent the CFA Institute's beliefs and values in the financial markets, which essentially will create global financial markets that serve the public interest. And I think here the keyword is the fact that it serves the public interests. The CFA Institute itself has three different programs. The first one being the CFA program, which has a goal as a goal, excuse me, to produce educated and well rounded professionals. The second program being the CIPM program, which itself has the as a goal to develop professionals that will be able to accurately assess performance. And as such, choose investment managers more proficiently. And the final program is the investment foundations program, which is to provide foundational knowledge of the investments industry in an accessible manner. As a recent program with the CFA Society Institute in London, what it has done is a program that is a certificate in ESG investing to essentially help bring up the next generation and investment leaders, once again dedicated as I mentioned earlier to the improvements of society. The CFA Society itself is a global organization. It was founded around 1947, and it is the brainchild of Benjamin Graham, the father of modern valuation, and as I can mention here, Warren Buffett's mentor. It has over 170,000 charter holders and 300,000 candidates in any given year in over 150 societies worldwide. It is also recognized internationally. As you can see, I am Canadian, Alina is Romanian, and all you hear is Swiss, we are a diverse crowd. In terms of the value of the charter, that's actually an excellent question. If I would have to say one thing, I think it's that simply the gold standard of the industry. The curriculum itself is more extensive, even than a masters of science and finance, and not only helps you become a more educated investor, but also one that understands the ethical implications of decisions. The network is an international one, and it will be recognized wherever you go. As we mentioned, I'm Canadian, Alina is Romanian, and all you hear is Swiss, and the CFA Institute also supports you in your career by providing a stream of valuable educational and also professional development resources. Charter holders work in multiple fields in finance. If I can start off with a quote, and man once told me that earning at CFA is a little bit the opposite of most of the careers, the more you advance, the more you discover how broad your expertise becomes. On a personal basis, I've worked in equities, and I've worked as a generalist. And if we take a look here at the number of roles that you can do, if I take as a personal example here, I've been a relationship manager, I've also worked in valuation and modeling, and now I currently work as a strategy consultant. And if we move on to the type of employers that hire charter holders, on the list here we can see that there are Canadian, that there are American, that there are British and German and Swiss employers. Personally, I've had the chance to work for three of them. If we talk about the equation itself to become a charter holder, there are a number of things to be aware of. The first one is to hold a bachelor's degree, or be in the final year of your bachelor's degree. There are exceptions as well if you hold an apprenticeship in Switzerland. You have to successfully complete the level one, two, and three exams, and have four years of qualified work experience. By work experience, we mean four years of full-time paid work experience. By this, an internship can also count. And lastly, once you succeed in all of this, you may be granted the CFH Arter. Here we'll take a look more specifically at what the exams cover. All three exams follow logical evolution to bring you from the knowledge comprehension level, all the way to the synthesis and evaluation level passing by the analysis. Exam one has a focus on the tools, think your financial reporting and analysis, economics, quantitative methods, etc. The second exam focuses on the asset classes and the evaluation and analysis thereof. You will look more broadly at equities, fixed income derivatives, and alternative investments like hedge funds, private equity, and real estate. The final exam itself is the application of the two prior exams in the context of portfolio management. In essence, how do you integrate everything in a way that makes sense for an investor or an institution? It is commonly said that the difference between levels one and two is that the level one is a mile wide in an inch deep, while level two has an inch wide and a mile deep. Unfortunately, I don't have a smart quote for level three. If we take a look at the keys to CFA program success, I think the key word here is effort. It takes time and dedication. What I normally say is that the average candidate studies for 300 hours, but the average candidate also fails. So it is quite logical to assume that to have the best chances of passing a higher number of hours will be necessary and often minimum. On average, candidates take four years, whereas some take as short as a year and a half, while others take five years. I personally took four years, even though I passed all levels the first time around. So this can give you a little bit of an idea. Third party providers can also provide good material that will help in the studying, but the curriculum is simply the best material exam writers will always and only take materials from the curriculum. So this is what should take priority in your studying. If I can give an example that Alina kindly reminded us earlier this week is that the CFA Institute itself provides a high amount of material, and you can think here online resources like a question bank like mock exams. And at the end of the day, I have taken exams and courses to help myself study for the CFA exam, but truly nothing is better than what comes from the Institute. I'm not saying this just because I'm presenting for the Institute. If we take a look at the enrollment details, the deadlines of June and December 2020 CFA programs. Unfortunately, we will not have a June exam this year. Thanks to our friend Corona virus. However, we will have an exam for all three levels in December not only levels one and levels one but also levels one, two and three. And of course we will be offering as well. If I'm reminded here mock exams on October 31 and a mock exam for level two on November 21. And this one here in December 2020 will be the last one which offers a level one paper exam or in the future will be offering computer based exams. If we move on to the fees. The fees for enrollment and the CFA program are quite low and compared to a lot of educational programs. I personally completed an MBA and let's simply say that it was multiples of what the CFA program costs. One time registration fee when you sign up for a level one of 450 US dollars, then you have the you the early registration fee which is 700 and US dollars. Unfortunately, the deadline has passed and so now we have still the standard registration for 1000 US dollars and the late registration for 1450 dollars. The CFA societies across the world organize themselves to provide support for members as our generation, it is one that tends to move a lot for personal or work reasons. There is true value in knowing that where you and you can find yourself a society to belong to. As a CFA society charter holder, you do not have to belong to society but as I said, if you plan on having a life that brings you to different places, it's always a plus to know that you will be able to find somewhere to get involved with and meet people everywhere. If I take a look more specifically, the CFA society Switzerland organizes a number of programs and events to help support both candidates and professionals in their developments. The CFA society Switzerland has over 3300 members, and also as candidates, more specifically the CFA society Switzerland allows you to join as a member. And the support that the society offers you ranges from study groups to mock exams to mentoring programs when you are a member of the Institute. And to come what is currently in the works is a mentoring program for candidates. And if you have reached the end of the conversation here will be opening up very shortly the Q&A to all of you. But if I can, there are a few questions I would like to ask Ali and Alina, Ali, if I can start with you here. Tell me a little bit more. We've had the chance to discuss it together in conversations, how important and precious to you continuing education is. So could you describe in your own words maybe the importance that you attached to the CFA designation in continuous learning? Well, indeed, I attach a lot of importance to continuing education in whatever form, and also encourage and support all my team members in doing so. CFA program, of course, is certainly the gold standard in terms of continuing education if you work in the banking finance asset management insurance industry. But there are also other ones, of course, and that is one which is highly appreciated globally recognized and really has a lot of value, not only because of know how, because it gives you a very deep and also very broad know how in finance, it adds also a lot in terms of credibility, it signals also that you are dedicated to go above and beyond for your clients. And it shows also a lot of ethical commitment to your work. Thank you. And I think another question that a lot of people will have here is how do you think you could best approach your line manager about signing up for the CFA charter exams and also getting the appropriate support from your company? Well, a good line manager usually talks to his employees, to his team members or his her team members, at least once a year, that's typically called the development meeting. And I think that's a good starting point to discuss the development in general at one of these meetings and then basically express the wish to sit for the CFA program. In terms of support, I think there are two types of support that is required. On one hand, there is the financial support and as we saw in the previous slides, the CFA program is not a costly exercise. So the financial support is I think limited and their most big companies, at least my company at Credit Suisse, is having formal policies where we typically pay something like 80% of the costs, right? And the other type of support in my view, which is even more important is the commitment from a line manager perspective with respect also to time, i.e. how do you free up your team member to allow him or her to learn? Excellent. And I think an extremely important point to mention about Switzerland is that Switzerland as a whole is extremely supportive of students and candidates enrolled into the CFA program. As proud as I am of being Canadian, unfortunately, employees in Canada don't offer the same luxury whereas when I signed up for level three and I was employed by a Swiss company, I managed to get over 10 days off to study. I'm not sure it's exactly the same with Credit Suisse, but I know as a fact, CFA employers in Switzerland are extremely supportive of people signing up and taking time off to study for the CFA exams.  If you're mentioning my company, which is Credit Suisse, you get three days, but what I'm always saying is that beyond every official policy, every line manager has a duty and a honour to support his or her team members in their development and within that duty, within that task, he or she can basically show a little bit more flexibility with days to learn. Typically, I do this, right? Me, I tend to give people a bit more than the minimum required. And we had the chance to discuss and also have a question here live from Alan saying, does employers in Switzerland value the CFA certificate and does it help to get a job in the finance industry or to be more precise to shift to the finance industry from other industries? Alan, I think that's an excellent question. I'll let Ali answer it just after because Ali is ultimately the person that decides to hire people. But if I can talk from personal experience, as Sabine mentioned, I've got two masters or as I like to say a master's and a half in classical music. And for me, the only reason why I got hired in the finance industry at first was because I was promising to my employer that I was eventually going to do the CFA program and moving over from Canada to Switzerland, and having with me the first two levels of the CFA program really spoke for miles and large amounts to a future employer. And I can really say that it carried me a long way into getting a job coming from a more unusual background. But for you, Ali, I'd be quite curious. What would you say if you were to hire somebody that maybe studied something else in finance but is doing a CFA? Is that somebody that has a leg up or that at least demonstrates something to you? So in terms of studies, you're probably the wrong person to ask because I'm a person who is very open to diversity and diversity to me means also a lot of diversity in the background, diversity of studies. We have hired, for instance, in our team, somebody who has studied Synology and that works perfectly even in a finance environment. But clearly if you're coming from a more diverse background and you would like to work in an area which is very close to finance, having some continued education such as MAS, such as the CFA or the likes of this is clearly an advantage. Perhaps referring to your earlier questions, Louis, is this an advantage to have the CFA charter? From a candidate perspective, I would say from a kind of high-re perspective would say clearly yes, because it doesn't make you better, but it opens the door. People want to talk to you. Your CFA doesn't signal that you are better, but the CFA signals that you were able and willing to sit for many hours besides your usual work. So it shows a little bit of discipline and over the last couple of years, I have also experienced that the ethical foundations of the CFA program has been more and more appreciated. When it comes to the hiring manager, well, I'm of the opinion that the more senior you are in the financial services industry, you should have appropriate continued educations. And of course, the CFA is the gold standard in that respect. I hope that answers your questions, Louis. Excellent. Thank you. And I think you mentioned a highly important point, which is also actually part of the code of ethics of the CFA Institute. Doing your charter does not promise that you'll be a superior investor. But the one thing that it does is that it gives you a very broad level of knowledge that, yes, you can absolutely apply in your job, especially as you change jobs, often change fields within finance. Maybe you change asset classes, for example. And the knowledge that you've gained does give you a leg up in terms of being able to understand the material sooner. That's exactly the point, yes. Exactly. And if I can move to Alina for a question or two. Alina, tell me, we've had the chance to speak. I was quite fortunate when I was studying, because not to be sexist, but my wife ended up cooking every meal for me for my first two levels. And I was extremely fortunate for this. But that's not the case for you.  Well, I doubt I'm the only one. So I wouldn't be a Serena Williams. I think studying for the CFA exams entails a lot of time, discipline and dedication.  And candidates need to refine throughout the three levels, their learning techniques and capabilities. In my case, it is exactly so. I have also passed all three exams consecutively and refine my study techniques. And what I have found was that for me studying in bulk session that is one week, two weeks before the exams weekend, but just one day of the weekend longer study session, six hours worked the best. Because in my case, studying daily wasn't really an option. I was also working 100% of the time. And that wouldn't leave enough time. Also for my personal obligations, my child, my husband, and so on. So I think it's up to every candidate to discover what works best for him or her. And starting with level one until level three refiner as well the techniques, because every level is different in terms of challenges. But it is also highly rewarding to pass all three levels and to sit for the exams as well. Absolutely. And I think there's something important to mention here. We mentioned the 300 hours and personally coming in from background and classical music my level one was closer to 500 hours. I was fortunate I also passed all levels the first time around. But my rates of good grades, let's say we're directly proportional to the amount of hours I put into studying. However, as Alina as the case here are the example it's not necessarily possible for everybody to put all these hours given specific circumstances. And it is possible to successfully study and pass the exams without necessarily putting all of the hours. However, I think it would be extremely important to stress that in the vast majority of cases I mentioned earlier in the presentation. If the average candidate studies 300 hours, but the average candidate fails. It's only logical to assume that most people that really do wish to pass will need to study comfortably above 300 hours. I think even you would probably agree with us would you agree with that. The recommendations that we read online are for at least 300 hours and probably more as you progress towards level two and level three. In the case it has been a bit the opposite in the sense that I think as a number of hours I have studied most for level one, and then well level two entails a lot of intensive study and deep as as the topics get a bit more detailed and the difficulty increases significantly from level one. And the least in number of hours I have studied for level three. And I think every candidate finds a deep motivation, especially in not having to sit for the same level. In the next year around, therefore, it is very important to find out what works for each candidate. So I'm very happy that I passed the level three, although I did the study the least. However, my scores were quite good. So for the morning session, the written exam, I should say I scored in the 90th percent and the afternoon the 70th percent. So, yes, we can talk a bit more in detail. However, level one and level two. I think level one gives you the foundation for studying for level two. And level three takes another perspective more analytical. It is more about the judgment and about opinions and less calculus as we can say. That's absolutely correct. Level two, I would tend to say is the most heavy one on the formulas, whereas level three is extremely qualitative. But however, don't get me wrong when I say qualitative, it's not just any answer will do there are specifically correct answers that you need to know and understand it's just that they might be a little bit less formulaic. And also, Alina, I'd like to bring you to a question from one of our listeners here. Her name is Carolina, and I'm glad I'm able to ask you this question. It's about what are the materials that the CFA provides for the exam preparation and what is their cost? Well, the CFA will provide in an online format along with the registration all materials for each level for an additional one hundred and fifty dollars you can purchase the printed copies I have done this for every level. Maybe it's also because I am used to to to books. I'm also probably a bit older, but necessarily but you know the very old also for memory. It helps a lot. It is, it is easier to to commit something to memory. Once you see it and not necessarily on a screen that would move. Of course, I have also used online while it is easier to to study, for example, in in a train, if you have a notebook or or something similar. I have found, however, although at the beginning for level one and level two, I have also used additional materials. However, I think the CFA Institute at this point has refined the study materials a lot. And especially for candidates that that have limited time, I would advise or at least in my case working directly with the CFA materials has helped a lot. I would strongly recommend using all the virtual tools that are at the candidates disposal. For me, I found it very helpful. It gives you a self evaluation tool, and then you can also read the answers that are provided by the CFA Institute for level three. For example, you can watch carefully the wording for every online exercise and then it gives you an indication of what you are supposed to write and how you should write and also what works to use and it is based on the curriculum. It also references the curriculum. It tells you it's this reading, maybe also the page. I'm not sure at this moment, but it gives detailed explanations and I found it extremely useful. I would have to agree with you 100%. For level one, I studied third party prep materials, and that really made my life more difficult, actually. And for level two and level three, I studied entirely with the curriculum, because as they say the exam is built off entirely of the curriculum. And especially with all the resources that you can find online, the question bank, all the mock exams that you're able to find, and I think more specifically like you mentioned, all the different explanations to why you have something wrong. If you go through everything that the CFA Institute provides to you, you will have a chance to review absolutely everything. And while third party prep providers can be quite useful if you want to be able to go on a thousand questions in a roll for level one, for example, it will never fully quite be what the CFA Institute itself is. But Alina, thank you so much for answering these questions. I think we've got about 18 questions outstanding right now. That's actually quite incredible the level of participation here. And if you allow me, I'd like to go back to Olivier for two questions. Olivier, I've got one here from Johan asking you, what's your professional educational background? And is a bachelor's degree in business administration a favorable basis? And I'll link the second question here is, does passing your level one exam, when you're still in your bachelor's degree, put you at an advantage compared to another candidate? We had the chance to discuss that earlier. And I think it would be great to be able to highlight Olivier's opinion in this regard, especially as somebody that hires. So what about we start with the first question, Olivier. Tell us a little bit more about yourself. I graduated quite a few years ago with banking and finance. And then I started the career style program, which is a trainee program at Credit Suisse. And then I did my CFA charter in 2006. Then the second question is basically relates to, does a bachelor's degree plus a CFA give you an advantage? I would say yes, right? Look at the current job environment, right? There are many, many candidates, right? Many candidates also always have serious education, serious background. So whatever puts you in an advantageous position for hiring manager for recruiting managers is clearly something that is recommendable. Clearly, if you have your CFA level one, I wouldn't stop there, right? Because CFA level one doesn't give you a diploma, just gives you the statement that you have passed one level of the CFA exam. So clearly, I would recommend to that person to do the effort and also sit for level two or level three. That person can make a break of a year or two in between, but I would really do so. Absolutely. And I think like you said, the level one is, it's a start, but there's no such thing as a partial charter. I'm not a partial charter holder.   However, if you're in certain countries, I'm thinking, for instance, at London in IE, in equity research, they usually ask to junior analysts to sit for level one of the CFA exam without specifying whether they should sit for level two or level three as well. But as I said, if you sit for level one, I think please make the effort and also do level two or level three. It's so much worse the effort. Absolutely. So a level one, in essence, certainly doesn't hurt you, but there's also levels two and levels three ultimately that are there. And those ones bring you even more advantages, right? In terms of know how, in terms of credibility, in terms of network, in terms of opening doors, right? And don't forget that one, perhaps 20 years later, when you have to look out for a job, right? That person who has the bachelor plus the CFA, that person's CV definitely looks better than the person has quote, unquote, only the bachelor. So I would clearly advise to sit for the full exam. Absolutely. And I think also while I have you on the phone, there's a question that came in from Andres here, asking if the CFA is better than a master of science in finance. Why don't you take a crack at this one? I mean, on one hand, these are two different things, right? Master of science in finance, like I did for instance, this is purely academic qualification, whereas the CFA is a practical credential that of course sits also on solid academic grounds, right? That's on one hand. On the other hand, in some countries, the CFA is equivalent to a master's degree or probably a master of advanced studies. So I would say it's not the same. Master is typically more narrow and CFA is much broader. I think for instance about the ethics part, think for instance about the economics part, think for instance about the quant part. These areas are not or only partially covered in a traditional master's study, but again it depends on the different, on the universities. Absolutely. And also in Switzerland, the educational level is quite strong. If we will, where the, I don't think so much in Switzerland, it's a question of if or in terms of being able to have your master's, whether from the HSG or the UZH, or the University in Liechtenstein or Neuchatello-Fribourg or Lausanne, I think those are all excellent educational institutions. But the CFA only, I think would come to add into this, yes, with additional knowledge level, but like I mentioned earlier during the presentation, the CFA designation is a very international designation. I've got my MBA from the HSG, but unfortunately the HSG is not very well known in Canada, whereas the CFA Institute is, but then I also had a degree from McGillian University in Canada, but McGillian University is not necessarily very well known in Switzerland. And so the CFA is kind of this great equalizer, if we will. That is correct, right? I mean, various universities are not known globally, right? And you can of course having a debate which university is the best, and of course everybody's own university is always the best. But what's true with CFA is it is a clear global standard, the requirements are for everybody the same globally, right? Whether you're from country A or country B or country C, and therefore it is highly appreciated, globally recognized, and I would say in the market it has quite some value if you have it. Absolutely. I think you're absolutely right there. There's a number of other questions that we have. And Ollie, if you may permit me, I'd like to ask Alina the next question. And maybe I'll go through some of the more logistical questions as well in the meantime, such as a question here from Laurent. Does the CFA preparation material change on a year-to-year basis? It will change on a year-to-year basis as material is added or deleted. However, if you had the material from last year, it's not like the example entirely changed. So it is a gradual evolution. For example, I think one of the more recent topics was fintech and there are added chapters. High frequency trading was one that was added and high frequency trading back, I don't know, was it there in 2006 high frequency trading on the exam? Yes, partially, but definitely the fintech wasn't. Okay. Alina, I think I've got another question for you here. I'm going to take a wild guess. Do you have a master's in finance yourself? No, I have only graduated from university business management. Okay, excellent. And for you, how did you find the CFA designation to come complement what you did with your business management degree? Well, the CFA topics are more broad. And there were topics that I have covered during university, like financial analysis, for example. And there were topics that I have covered during my working time. And I had some knowledge regarding, of course, perhaps not the entire span of knowledge that was requested by the CFA exam. However, I wasn't new to finance, so it has helped me a lot. I graduated university, like 12 years ago, at least. I was amazed to see that, especially with financial analysis, I still had some knowledge on which I was able to build and, of course, also pass the CFA exams as well. I think every candidate has its strengths and weaknesses. And the most important or the value that the CFA charter brings to a finance professional is that it fills in the gaps. And there were notions in economics, for example, that I didn't have prior to that. And now I find it much more helpful whenever I read the research. The understanding is deeper. I also feel that I would work in other fields, apart from the ones that I have had experience in the past. So I think the level of knowledge is quite broad. But for a finance professional, it is important to have it. I think it builds you up professionally and it gives you more direction. Absolutely, absolutely. I think here I'll need shortly, actually, given the little amount of time that we have here. I'll need to pass the mic over to Sabine. But if I can answer one last question that I've seen come back a few times. The topic, I think it's a classic one. I've probably Googled it about a million and a half times when I was hesitating between an MBA and taking the CFA. Once again, I think it's a little bit like the master's question in the CFA. They are not mutually exclusive. They come to complement each other. The MBA program itself will focus on strategy, on marketing, on organizational development, which are all topics that are extremely useful to have as an investor to understand the businesses that you are taking a look at. But the CFA itself will be able really to give you this leg up on the valuation material, because I think it's Warren Buffett that said it at the end of the day. It's pointless for me to invest in a great business if the valuation doesn't make any sense, or probably every second investor has said this. So yes, you can understand how a business works well, and this is what ultimately the MBA will impart you. But the CFA program itself will give you the theoretical foundation to really take it a few notches up. In terms of the MBA and finance, well, I think the MBA and finance most often will be closer to the traditional MBA with a few additional finance classes. So once again, the CFA is not an either or, but the CFA will come to complement your MBA. But in any case, that's simply from professional experience and professional opinion. Sabine, I think for now I would like to pass you the mic. Oli and Alina, I know that everybody here is extremely thankful for your opinion, your advice. And of course, for myself, if anybody has any questions, they can feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn. Alina, Oli, well, I'll leave you the opinion to give permission to people, but if you'd like, is there a last minute? Of course, please feel free to reach out to me. I'll quickly step in and give you the opportunity to scroll through the questions. There are quite a few questions which touch on organizational points of view. So I would like to wrap that together again for the audience and like that you have a few minutes to go through the questions. So there are questions about the costs about the enrollment requirements about the different exams. So let me summarize again, the enrollment requirements are either you have a bachelor's degree, or you have the professional work experience. The professional work experience must be 48 months of full work experience and or a college university education on the day you register for level one. It doesn't necessarily need to be in a finance background, but let us be clear. If it's not a finance background, it just, it will just be more complicated for you to get the curriculum of level one. So that's about the enrollment requirements. The costs, we can say all, if you do it in one way, it's $300,000, $3,500 to get level one, two and three together with the enrollment fee. And there were a lot of questions about the exams. Can you take two exams per year? Technically you can. Normally, all three levels take place in June every year. As we know, this year the exams had to be postponed to December. So exceptionally, there will be level one, two and three in December. Normally there is only level one in December. So you can technically do level one and two within one calendar year. But away from level two, there is only one possibility each June. So June each year is for level one, two and three in December we have level one on top of it, in normal non-corona years. I have another question, which we would like to raise because we know that there are quite a lot of students in the webinar. We have asked a new charter holder who was still a student when entering the CFA program about what he considers to be an advantage or a disadvantage of starting the CFA program during or just after your studies. I want to pass that question to Oli, who will give us Mark's answer and will also give his opinion as a line manager about it. Thank you very much Sabine. Well, if you are at the end of your master degree, right, you are still motivated to learn, right, so it should be easier for you to learn and sit for another exam. That's certainly a pro for sitting for level one at the end of your studies or the very shortly thereafter. However, you need anyway 48 months or four years of professional experience, so there is no point kind of graduating with your master degree and CFA level three even already achieved because you have to wait anyway. And, and that's also my own experience right quite many modules of the CFA program you can only benefit and put that into the right context. If you're already a little bit into professional life right that's about portfolio management. That's particularly about the ethics program right so so my typical recommendation is graduate. Take your first job and during the first year of your first job, sit for level one of the CFA exam then you do CFA level two then do CFA level three. And, and then you have your, your, your chart days no point kind of applying for the first job, meaning or, or, or, or meaning you should have already all CFA exam passed. Thank you very much for that only one question, which we can ask you as well because we know we know that you also have a kayak designation. If I have kayak already, is it worse to do the CFA to what would be the added value and maybe we can say, what does it help. You still have no conflict of interest in answer to this question. Well, the kayak and the CFA are are two different things right CFA. Ecos only a little bit the alternative investments, however, the kayak is really specialized in alternative investing goes very deep into hedge funds goes very deep into structure products. It goes into to to catastrophe bonds insurance links, securities, commodities, private equity and so forth. So, most of the breadth and the depths of the kayak is not included in the CFA. And CFA is much broader. So yes, definitely. And actually, I know quite a few persons who have both charters. much. There is a question on societies and I would like to take the opportunity to talk about societies. The question is if I live in one country and I work in another country, which society should I join? Let me give you the full information. You can join as many societies as you want and like to do. There is an obligation to be a member of the CFA Institute in order to be able to have the designation, but you're free to choose as many societies as you like to. Just of interest, Oli, how many societies are you a member of? CFA Institute plus CFA Society Switzerland, plus of course Gaia and all these things, but from the university relations team where we have excellent relationships with our friends societies, particularly Slovenia and Poland, for example. Okay, so you don't have another society you're connected with like the UK society or the New York society? No, or not yet, but as I said, we have excellent kind of relations. Okay, so you can have as many societies as you would like to have, which just opens your network. It means that you need to pay the fees for each society, which can vary quite a bit. But if you have the access to society, you get all the information, all the invitations from each society, and that can be a really big opener to your network. Louis, do you have the Canadian society still with you? Unfortunately, not. I was part of the society in Calgary when I was studying in back home. I was taking also, well, actually, if I can on a point that's also important, it's not so much related to the society, but related to the network that you develop through those societies. I did my level two back in Canada, like I mentioned, and to help myself assembly the material better, I signed up for classes. Now there are a few of those classmates actually that have stayed friends over the years. And we connected on a different level because all of us went through in between parentheses or quotes, hell, having to study for level two. And it was a lot of effort. And so all of us understand what each one of us went through. And actually two years ago, one of them came to visit me in Switzerland. And so it's, you know, by being involved locally with different CFA societies, it just gives you the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals. And the great thing about, I think, all these mentioned it, is the people that passed the sign up for the CFA exams, they're people that really consistently try to do better in life. And they say that you are reflection of the five people you hang out the most with. And so at the end of the day, it's also conscious choice that you make of who do you want to be most like? Well, the CFA societies most often will have this group of people that you would probably want to emulate. And this group of mentors I might want to emulate over time. It was a very long winded answer, but I hope I sort of answered it. Okay. I think we get to an end. There is one last question I would like to ask all of you. Where does it make sense to work after getting the CFA? Pierre asked this question and he says, for info, I'm working in a corporate as a treasurer, not a bank. And I'm now preparing for level two, but I have the feeling that the CFA is viewed as a nice path and not as a game changer. Thank you. So maybe as a last question, each of you could answer this question. Where does it make sense to work after getting the CFA? Most of the CFA charter holders work in asset management or investment management. However, other fields of study or other disciplines of finance are not excluded. So I think it's a question for each candidate to ask himself or herself what type of career that they would like to pursue. I think having a CFA charter will not guarantee the dream job, but for sure it will not hurt. So I think there are no guarantees in terms of a job, but if every candidate has a goal in mind and they find that the CFA charter is within that goal, because if they would like to study, I don't know, music, for example, perhaps it doesn't add value, but for a career in finance, for sure it does. Thank you, Lena. It's the CFA charter sort of saved my career. Literally, I had only read books about investing when I got my first job working for a large asset manager as a relationship manager, and then moving over to Switzerland. I'm really convinced that it was, of course, networking extremely obviously, but the fact that I was pursuing my charter helped me get a job in valuation and modeling, and now I work in corporate strategy for financial services. The topic that I'm on right now is related to CFO organization. So coming in from a few too many years of trying to become a professional tuba player, having been able to get a job in finance was definitely thanks to continuing the education, if you will, with the CFA charter. Well, on my end, well, the CFA charter doesn't make you better, but it clearly opens doors and makes you a bit more credible and hopefully also acting in a more ethical way. CFA charter holders, of course, can work in a bank, in an investment management firm, in an asset management firm, in a wealth management firm, however you classify, that can be any segment, that can be any asset class, that can be any function there, but I think we should indeed go a little bit broader. You can go to work as an investor relations officer, you can go to corporate treasury, you could go to the public administration, you can go and manage the pension fund, you can be a financial journalist, you can be a teacher, you can be a professor. So I think the CFA charter does not limit you, it is quite broad. And don't forget, if you sit for the CFA exam, it's not for today's job, it will be for tomorrow's job and it will be a door opener for the job, perhaps the day after tomorrow. I hope this answers the questions Sabin. What a nice end, thank you very much. For any questions you might have, please don't hesitate to contact us, you will get a short survey of this webinar and our email address is on that survey. So please do not hesitate to contact us on any question. Let me thank you all of you for your interest in the CFA program. Thank you so much to our panelists, Alina, Oli and Louis. Thank you for being so passionate about the designation and about volunteering. We wish you all a very nice evening and stay safe.


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