BEST CAPITAL MARKET PROFESSIONALS LAUDED AT CFA SRI LANKA CAPITAL MARKET AWARDS
The crème de la crème of Sri Lanka’s capital market professionals was crowned at the annual flagship event of the CFA Society Sri Lanka, the CFA Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards. Aimed at recognizing those professionals who have established industry benchmarks and spearheaded governance and ethics to advance domestic financial markets, the CFA Capital Market Awards has been held for four years since 2013. Winners were announced for the Best Unit Trust Fund which is the newly introduced category, the Best Equity Research Report, Best Investor Relations and the Best Stockbroker Research Team, each of which reflects the primary objectives of the awards, which is to promote professional excellence and best practices in capital markets and the surrounding eco-system.
JB Vantage Money Market Fund wore the crown in this new category as The Best Unit Trust Fund, while Bartleet Religaire Securities’ Vajirapani Bandaranayake for the Best Equity Research Report for her report on Hatton National Bank. NDB Bank was presented the accolade for Best Investor Relations and NDB Securities gained gold for the Best Stockbroking Research Team. Winning silver were Guardian Acuity Money Market Fund for Best Unit Trust Fund, Hasantha Uswatte from Asia Securities for his report Piramal Glass as the Best Equity Research Report and Hatton National Bank for Best Investor Relations. Bronze awards were won by Chethana Ellapola from Acuity Stockbrokers for her report on Lanka Hospitals for the Best Equity Research Report, JB Vantage Value Equity Fund in the Best Unit Trust Fund category and Dialog Axiata for Best Investor Relations. Commendations were conferred on CT CLSA Securities and LOLC Securities under the category of Best Stockbroking Research Team, LOLC Securities’ Gayan Rajakaruna’s report on Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka in the Best Equity Research Report category, while Sunshine Holdings gained an Honourable Mention for Best Investor Relations.
With the objective of inspiring and incentivizing capital market participants and members of wider stakeholder groups to strive for standards of excellence, the CFA Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards are endorsed by the Securities & Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka. CFA Society Sri Lanka President Sanjay Kulatunga stated, “This annual event is aimed at bringing the financial sector community together to recognize and celebrate the high standards of achievement made by participants in our community. More importantly, it is to encourage ourselves to keep attaining yet higher standards of intellectual rigor and professional integrity. In that spirit, we add yet another category of award in the form of Best Unit Trust Fund this year. The new award recognises unit trust managers who are committed towards putting investor’s interest first by following the industry best practices in investment management.”
Managing Director Asia Pacific of the CFA Society Nick Pollard observed that these awards are differentiated as it not only recognizes technical excellence but also integrity, transparency, governance practices and best-in-class global investment standards. “The maturity of Sri Lankan capital markets is at its early stages and establishing a strong culture of ethical conduct is essential. The diversity, size and professionalism of institutional investors will be key in determining how fast and large the capital market in Sri Lanka can grow.
Having Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore Bilahara Kausikan as Keynote Speaker, Kulatunge elaborated that his topic of discussion, Evolving Geopolitics of the Indian Ocean Region – How should Sri Lanka position itself to exploit political and economic opportunities? will be exceedingly relevant in the current economic context. Kausikan drew from his experience as a former Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Representative to the United Nations. “What matters is our place in the trans-boundary value chain,” he observed. “While geography offers opportunity, it does not guarantee success. What guarantees success, especially for small states is relevance, which must be built on strong economic foundations.”
He stated that the ECTA with India and the FTA with China are opportunities not to be missed, as with the proposed FTA with Singapore and Japan too not being forgotten. Discussing the subject further he said the inter-linking of the geo-political system can be advantageous if three elements are in place. “Internal cohesion, psychological poise and external balance. Economic robustness will attract multiple sources of investment which creates relevance which comes with internal cohesion, while psychological poise enables countries to resist pressure in making forced choices. External balance ultimately is linked to both these because if you achieve these two, a country can achieve an omni-directional state of equilibrium instigating a balance with all major powers.”
The panel discussion moderated by Chief Executive Officer of JB Securities Murtaza Jafferjee CFA heralded an animated discussion between panelists Managing Director of Sri Lanka’s Agency for Development and Founding Chair of LIRNEasia Professor Rohan Samarajiva.
