CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com)-It's looking to be a busy year for Craig Asche, executive director of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association. The non-profit organization is dedicated to education and professionalism in the alternatives industry, and is seeing growing global interest from professionals, young and old. It has also made some changes to the CAIAA designation exam format.

"When people join an institution they get slotted into one space," Mr. Asche said in an interview during a stop in Chicago last week for an informational CAIAA seminar. "The benefit of our program is it gives a broad view of the industry and helps people understand how all the components work together."

CAIAA is the sponsoring body for the CAIA designation, which tests exam registrants' knowledge about multiple aspects of the alternatives industry, from hedge funds to managed futures, to professional standards and ethics, among other topics Previous HedgeWorld Story. To become CAIAA members, registrants must pass both Levels I and II of the exam and meet certain other criteria.

With more than 800 members representing 66 countries, Mr. Asche said he thinks CAIAA's membership numbers should double by 2008. "Almost every exam cycle we gather, we get a new country in the list," he said. Based on estimates from the March 2007 exam results, around 240 people completed the exams and currently are sending their applications for membership, Mr. Asche said. Registration for the upcoming exams in September opened April 2, and Mr. Asche added that he expects between 2,500 and 3,000 candidates to register; 500 candidates already have signed up.

His visit to Chicago, which has around 35 CAIAA members, was made to host 50 industry professionals at an April 19 informational seminar at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Club about CAIA designation and the organization's growth. CAIAA has 30 events lined up for 2007 across North America, Europe and Asia, and "we're booking events for 2008 now," Mr. Asche said. He added the organization hopes to form chapters in five to 10 other areas besides the existing CAIAA chapters in New York, Toronto, London, Switzerland and Singapore. Around 30 or 40 active members are required to form a chapter, he said.

In addition to the growing variety in cultural representation for registrants Mr. Asche noted the widening spectrum of their experience and age. "Early on, people taking the exam had a lot of industry experience," he said. "That average has come down a bit ... and it is likely to continue. The association offers an opportunity for younger members to network with older, experienced members. And we have members that offer assistance to candidates going through the designation process."

Alternatives Not so Alternative

As the alternatives industry further enters the mainstream with developments like the lowered tax rate proposal for hedge funds in Switzerland, Mr. Asche said, countries actually are beginning to compete among themselves for business. "We're seeing a blurring of the lines between asset classes, and over time, there will be no lines between real estate, private equity, hedge funds...." he said. "People will be looking across all assets and combinations. Envision what's happened with traditional markets is now happening with alternatives."

Thus, the CAIA exam setup reflects ongoing changes in the alternatives industry as a whole: "There's so much material to cover that is specific to alternatives," he said. "[Knowledge of] traditional investments is now a prerequisite for the exam." He added that the pass rate for the exams continues to slowly decline as CAIAA advisory board members acquire more material to reflect such changes. In March, 74% of registrants passed Level I and 67% passed Level II, Mr. Asche said. Last September, 70% of registrants passed Levels I and II Previous HedgeWorld Story. "We are constantly looking at new research," he said. "The work required to put the program together is so intensive. We want to maintain academic rigor, but the program has to have practical value."

Mr. Asche was appointed executive director of CAIAA in 2003. He advised his own family investment office prior to joining CAIAA, and he worked at Salomon Brothers, most recently as director of Asia-Pacific foreign exchange, prior to that.

He quoted a former mentor at Salomon when referring to the continued importance of learning in the industry: "This business changes every minute of every day.... Either you're serious about the industry and willing to learn new things, or you're not."