Last month several CAIA staff members had the opportunity to meet some of the 1,500 CFA charterholders at the CFA 2010 Annual conference in Boston, Mass.  Most of the CFA charterholders who stopped by the CAIA exhibit wanted to know the difference between the CAIA and the CFA.  We explained that the CAIA and the CFA are complementary designations with distinct sets of expertise: the CFA takes a generalist approach of presenting all asset classes and incorporating aspects of accounting and regulation not present in the CAIA program, while the CAIA focuses exclusively on alternative investments.  Another big-picture distinction is that the CFA program focuses on how to analyze and manage portfolios comprised of individual securities while the CAIA program focuses on how to analyze and manage portfolios comprised of funds.
To further explain the CAIA story, we distributed copies of an article printed in the AIMA Journal on why the CAIA designation is needed and how it compares to the CFA. 

Since registration for the CAIA exams are open until Aug. 2, we decided to offer a drawing for the complete CAIA Knowledge Series, a set of four books written specifically for the CAIA program.  The lucky winner, Satish Swamy, Director and Sr. Portfolio Manager at the Board of Regents, University of California, said, “I always wanted to learn/read more about the CAIA and this is PERFECT!”

Mark Anson, co-author of the CAIA Knowledge Series and member of the CFA Board of Governors, and Tom Porter, Chief Operating Officer, CAIA Association, in front of the CAIA booth at the 2010 CFA Annual Conference.

We are grateful to the CFA events team for putting on such a successful event and look forward to exhibiting again in the future.