Demand for CFA exams surges in Germany

The numbers taking the CFA exams have risen more than five-fold between 1999 and 2002, up to 1,862, and training firms expect the figure to rise. They are taking advantage of the demand by starting new courses for candidates.

Next January, BPP Hyperion, the City of London training company, will offer CFA training in Frankfurt for the first time.

The company opened in Paris six months ago. Mark King, marketing director at BPP Hyperion said: "In Europe the CFA is growing at a phenomenal rate, despite current market conditions."

CFA exams are taken by many people in financial services, including research analysts and corporate financiers.

King says no company currently offers full CFA training in the German market. However, Ortman Gmbh, a Frankfurt-based trainer, is also planning an 8-week training course in Frankfurt next year, as well as opening a new training centre in Munich.

"Continuing growth in Germany's growing equity culture means the CFA exam is becoming much more popular," said Michael Ortman of Ortman Gmbh. "But most people are taking the level one exam; there are very few people who require training for levels two or three."

The boom in the CFA exams, run by the US-based AIMR, is likely to irk the DVFA, the German financial analysts' society. The DVFA offers the alternative Certified Effas Financial Analyst exams (Effas being the European Federation of Financial Analysts' Societies). It also offers the Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA) exams.

There are currently 350 people enrolled to take the CIIA exams in Germany. Pamela Voelkl, a spokesperson for the DVFA in Frankfurt, says the CIIA is superior to the CFA because it offers greater insight into the local regulatory regime.