CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals, welcomes the proposal by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to allow Chartered Financial Analysts in good standing to automatically qualify as accredited investors.

Traditionally, individual investors could qualify as accredited investors solely on the basis of their wealth or income. In 2020, the SEC added financial sophistication to the accredited investor definition. Today’s action proposes to recognize the CFA charter as a professional designation that would qualify charterholders for accredited investor status.

“The CFA Program is one of the strongest tests available to demonstrate financial and investment sophistication,” said Stephen Deane, CFA, Senior Director, Capital Markets Policy at CFA Institute. “The Commission has set out objective measures of professional designations that would qualify individuals as accredited investors. The CFA charter satisfies every one of those measures. Specifically, charterholders have the deep knowledge and expertise in financial matters to evaluate the merits and risks of prospective investments. We wholeheartedly support this proposal, and we thank the SEC for taking this important step.”

The CFA Program is a rigorous self-study program that covers a wide range of investment management education essentials from ethics to quantitative analysis to portfolio management and wealth planning. Charterholder members must attest annually to follow the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct in order to use the CFA designation and be considered a member in good standing.

According to the SEC, the public comment period will remain open for 60 days after the date of publication of the proposing releases and the notices in the Federal Register.

Read the CFA Institute comment letter to the SEC.

About CFA Institute

As the global association of investment professionals, CFA Institute sets the standard for professional excellence and credentials. We champion ethical behavior in investment markets and serve as the leading source of learning and research for the investment industry. We believe in fostering an environment where investors’ interests come first, markets function at their best, and economies grow. With more than 200,000 CFA charterholders worldwide across 160 markets, CFA Institute has 8 offices and 157 local societies. Find us at www.cfainstitute.org or follow us on LinkedIn, and subscribe on YouTube.

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