Allianz Global Investors offers employees the opportunity to participate in CAIA’s Fundamentals of Alternative Investments certificate program
AMHERST, MASS. (November 2, 2015) and FRANKFURT, GERMANY– The Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association, the global leader in alternative investment education, and Allianz Global Investors, a global active investment manager, are today announcing a new partnership that allows Allianz Global Investors’ employees around the world to participate in CAIA’s Fundamentals of Alternative Investments certificate program (“Fundamentals”).
Fundamentals is an online, self-directed course of study that provides a foundation of core concepts in alternative investing. The program fills a critical educational gap for professionals in asset and wealth management, as well as those in law, accounting, consulting, the media or various regulatory bodies whose work includes a focus on the alternative investment space. More than 2,000 professionals have enrolled in Fundamentals since the program’s launch in March of 2014 and a number of firms, including Allianz Global Investors, have sought to incorporate the program as part of their respective internal training and educational efforts.
“We are thrilled to be aligned with forward-thinking firms like Allianz Global Investors who recognize the benefits of augmenting their internal training and learning platforms with other education tools that ultimately benefit the asset owners for whom they work,” said William (Bill) Kelly, CEO of the CAIA
Association. “We designed Fundamentals to meet the needs of those individuals and organizations looking to keep pace with the rapid rate of change in the alternative investment industry, and the reception it has received from audiences as diverse as small RIAs to large asset allocators such as insurance companies has been stellar.”
The Fundamentals course encompasses 20 hours of study and is accepted for continuing education hours for the CIMA®, CPWA® and CFP® designations. Drawing from the CAIA Charter curriculum, which itself was just updated for the 2016 exam cycle, the online program provides an overview of alternatives, including risk management and due diligence, as well as hedge funds, real assets, private equity, commodities, and structured products. Fundamentals provides critical insights into each topic and product category, helping professionals further their own understanding and better equipping them for the rapidly changing alternative investment landscape.
Allianz Global Investors understands that the world is changing and that asset management is evolving. In an environment of financial repression, clients are seeking alternative investment opportunities. “But knowing this, is not enough,” says Andreas Utermann, CIO Allianz Global Investors. “Our employees at every level need to understand alternative investment opportunities fully so that we can align our capabilities to our clients’ needs in an optimal manner. The recent build-out of alternatives as the fourth pillar of our investment platform is a good example of how understanding our clients’ needs has led to a changing emphasis in how we run our business.” Allianz Global Investors currently manages over $10 billion in Alternative Investments.
To make sure that Allianz Global Investors can add value to their clients by helping them navigate through this challenging environment, the Allianz Global Investors’ Learning Network – an in-house training program – has built up an “Alternatives Training Suite” to train their employees in all departments on these alternative opportunities. This Training Suite features a mixture of learning formats, from online courses to seminars held by internal and external speakers, and is the perfect way to build up foundational, as well as product related knowledge.
In this context, Allianz Global Investors offers their employees the chance to participate in CAIA’s Fundamentals of Alternative Investments certificate program. “The program is both a good overview for client facing investment professionals, and a broad introduction to alternatives for employees who might not be directly in investment roles,” says Michaela Sommer, Head of Allianz Global Investors’ Learning Network.
About the CAIA Association
The CAIA Association is the world leader in alternative investment education, offering the only education pro-gram uniquely designed for individuals specializing in institutional-quality alternative investments. The Association is best known for the CAIA Charter, an internationally-recognized credential granted upon successful completion of a rigorous two-level exam series, combined with relevant work experience. Earning
the CAIA Charter is the gateway to becoming a Member of the CAIA Association, a global network of more than 7,700 alternative investment professionals located in more than 80 countries. CAIA also offers the Fundamentals of Alternative Investments Certificate Program (”Fundamentals”), an introductory-level online course, designed to provide a foundation in the core concepts in alternative investing. This program represents a natural extension of CAIA’s mission to provide solutions to specific market needs for alternative investment education.
To learn more about the CAIA Association, contact Deborah McLean (413) 253-7373 or mailto:dmclean@caia.org. For more information on the CAIA Charter, please visit caia.org.
