In this live‑streamed episode of the Connector Podcast recorded at the Trends Investment Summit 2023 in Brussels, host Koen Vanderhoydonk interviews Thomas, the President of CFA Society Belgium. Thomas explains what the CFA charter entails – a rigorous three‑level exam programme that typically takes four years and requires four years of professional experience – and highlights the global community of roughly 176,000 charterholders, with about 360 members in Belgium. He describes the structure of the CFA Institute, the role of local societies, and the range of topics the Society works on, including market efficiency, passive vs. active management, asset allocation, governance, and newer modules such as ESG and artificial intelligence/machine learning. The ESG certificate is presented as a 100‑question, $675 exam open to non‑charterholders, aimed at integrating ESG factors into investment and business decisions. Thomas outlines the Society’s training support: online learning modules and practice exams included with course fees. He emphasizes the importance of the CFA Institute’s Code of Conduct and Ethics, and how membership provides regular networking events (both virtual and in‑person), speaker sessions (e.g., former finance minister Van Overveldt), and opportunities for candidates to mingle with charterholders. The Society maintains an active dialogue with regulators at both European and Belgian levels, recently publishing a paper on inducements. Thomas concludes by stating his goal for the summit: to meet many charterholders, candidates, and potential speakers, and invites listeners to visit the CFA Society Belgium website for more information on becoming a charterholder.
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Welcome to the Connector Podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs, banks, and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder Koen Vanderhoydonk as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets. This episode is proudly sponsored by the Trends Investment Summit 2023, Welcome to another episode of the Connector Podcast.
And again, we're live streaming from the Investment Summit here in Brussels. And now I have a very special guest. It's the president of the CFA Association from Belgium. Thomas, welcome to my podcast.
Thank you very much, Koen, and I'm delighted to be here.
Oh, the pleasure is mine. So what brings you here at this summit?
Well, the Trends Investment Summit is a fantastic opportunity for us to network And to meet people and to tell them about the benefits of the CFA trainings we offer and being a member of our CFA Society here in Brussels.
Oh, but that's, that already is a very good start for me to ask some additional questions. So what is that really about? I mean, the way I know it, everyone is very proud with putting CFA after their name on LinkedIn, but what does it really mean?
What does it mean? It means quite a lot of things. Firstly, the CFA is a very rigorous, thorough training on many aspects aspects of financial services and working in the financial world, financial analysis. And it gets— comes together with 3 exams, Level 1, 2, and 3, which are known to be challenging, but still many people are able to, to make it. Usually takes 4 years, and after they have passed the, the 3 exams, they have the, the honor to put the letters CFA, Chartered Financial Analyst, Behind their name.
If you're part of that, are you then part of a global community or you're part of a local community? How does that work?
Yes, that's a very good question. So globally, there are now 176,000 CFA charterholders. So you become—
It's a lot of people.
A member of a very wide group of people. Most of the charterholders are in the US, but we also have a lot of charterholders in India, China, and of course in Europe. In Belgium, we have around 360 members of our local association.
How does it work?
There is the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute in America who set the standards, the exams, develop courses, and develop lots of new courses as new challenges arise in the financial world.
And then we have local chapters, for example, the CFA Society Belgium, where I'm the president.
Oh, nice. And you mentioned challenges. So what are the typical topics that you guys are working on? Is that the right term, working on?
Yes, I think working on and also being responsive to how the world evolves. I think the CFA course itself has evolved to allow for a lot of new things over the years. For example, we've added more modules and more information on the efficiency of markets and on passive against active.
Very relevant for this conference.
Very relevant. And it's not the case that the CFA course is just a course for equity analysts to do active research. We also look at things like using ETFs, passive management, asset allocation, governance. More recently, we've also developed an ESG certificate, which is very popular, and you don't have to be a CFA charterholder to study and do the exam for the ESG certificate. Actually, I just met here at the conference the head of one of the big asset managers present here, and he'd done the ESG certificate himself. And we're also developing trainings in areas which are puzzling a lot of people, like artificial intelligence and machine learning. So we're always trying to help our members with new topics and, and to get them to stay up to date.
Oh, nice. Can I zoom a little bit into the certificate around ESG? Because I fully agree with you. It's, it's the hot topic at the moment at this conference. Well, maybe even generally in the world. So what does the certificate really comprise of?
So it's a, it's a training course which you can do without being a charterholder. It covers questions for people who are both managing investments, but also for people who are in the C-suite about how to look at integrating ESG factors into your decision-making, whether it's in your investment process or in your business decision-making. And it's a course which we do. There are 100 questions to be answered, and it's offered at $675.
All right.
But I guess you also help people to be trained because asking the questions is one thing, but how can people then prepare for that?
So, so all our trainings are organized by the institute I mentioned before. And the way it works is if you put your name down for any of your courses, you are given free, or is included in the course fee, online training modules where you can learn about the different topics to prepare for the exam. And in addition to the, to the learning, you can also do test exams, test questions to, to see if you've understood what's needed. So the complete suite of materials are there for different courses we offer to prepare for the exams.
I think that's great because it helps all of us to be more knowledgeable about the topic, which is extremely important. But I was also told that the society that you're in, it's also a large network, a network of people with a sort of code of conduct, how to deal with each other. So how does the network aspect work? What can you expect from a neighbor which is also a charterholder?
Well, I mean, first and foremost, if you want to become a charterholder, you have to have 4 years professional experience as well as pass the exams, and you're expected to adhere to the CFA Institute's Code of Conduct, the Code of Ethics, which is very important. But if you've gone through those steps and you are a charterholder, you join our local society, so the CFA Society of Belgium, and people really enjoy being a member because it gives great networking opportunities. We have every month or every other month, we have events. Some of them are online and some of them are physical with people present. And there are interesting presentations about all sorts of topics to update yourself. And then afterwards, typically in the evening, we will have the opportunity for a drink and networking. And that's always very, very popular because it allows people in the industry to meet each other, to—
Cross-fertilization.
Cross-fertilize ideas. Maybe look at employment opportunities, think about what other people are doing. It's very, very popular, our events. And give you an example, we had Van Overveldt, the former finance minister of Belgium, come to talk at one of our events in January, which was heavily subscribed to and very popular.
No, I understand.
We, some of the events we also open up for people who are studying for the exam. So we do, we are in touch with the, what we call candidates. So the people who are studying for the 3 levels of the, of the CFA exam, and from time to time, the events we hold in the evenings are also open for them so they can come and get a taste of what it's like to be a charterholder. And obviously to meet people who have got probably more experience than they have professionally. Yeah, and it's very much appreciated.
No, I understand. Now, I'm a firm believer that it takes 3 to tango, and what I mean by that, it's the banks, it's you guys maybe to help the banks, but there's also the regulator. So how does the relationship work towards the regulator? Do you also have a duty to fulfill over there?
Well, I would say that we as a society and also as the institute are in constant dialogue with the regulator. And where we think appropriate, we do seek to influence things when we think that's to the benefit of the industry and our society. Of course, a lot of things are decided nowadays at European level rather than at local Belgium level. And we are very actively engaging with the Institute, with the European Commission, and with the regulators at the European level. But it's something where I feel we can do more, and we want to be more active in Belgium. Recently, just to add to that, we recently put out a paper on inducements, very relevant at the moment. That's to be found on our website. And I think it's being read with interest by, by the different regulators.
Interesting. Maybe we're coming towards the end of our podcast today. So what are you actually expecting from today's investment summit? What, what would be for you a good day if you have achieved that? It's a good day for you.
Well, Koen, thank you again for the interview and for talking to you. I think what would be a great day would be to meet lots of people, people who are both charterholders, and to catch up with them.
And possible candidates.
And possible candidates. And also to meet maybe some of the fun groups who will— who are often very keen to come to our events and speak at our events. So I think it's a great, great opportunity today to meet lots of different interesting people.
Well, excellent. Sounds very much what I appreciate as well as being the connector. Last but not least, we talked a lot about the charter, but very practical. If the listeners want to become a charterholder, what do they have to do?
So they should go to our website, CFA Society Belgium, and you can find lots of information both about the institute and about our society.
I'd like to thank you so much for having you in the podcast here today. Enjoy the rest of the summit.
Yes, thanks again, Koen.
Thank you very much. Thank you also to the listeners, and please stay tuned. More news out of the financial industry with this podcast. Thank you so much.
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