On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 92 investment professionals from Russia and other CIS countries joined CFA Association Russia and became CFA Charterholders during a special ceremony at Moscow’s luxurious Soho Rooms club. For each graduate CFA Charter represents a valuable award, recognition of his success and significant achievement in his or her professional development.

In his video message from London, Nitin Mehta, Managing Director of the CFA Institute EMEA office greeted those who passed all three levels of the CFA exam and became Chartered Financial Analysts this year. He personally congratulated new CFA Charterholders who “dedicated sometimes more than 4 years of their lives to the program, mastered some 10,000 pages and spent thousand hours studying. Not many students can withstand such a load: only 1 out of 5 candidates ends up with a charter – declaration that you have a drive, intelligence and character to be among the leading investment professionals of the world”.

Moreover this evening CFA Association Russia presented its Annual Ethics Award 2014 to Ilkka Seppo Salonen, Chairman of the Management Board of UralSib Bank, as a sign of recognition of his leadership in fostering high standards of ethical behavior in finance in Russia. Nitin Mehta in his congratulatory speech noted: “Global financial crisis of 2008 undermined the credibility of financial professionals. Unfortunately nowadays financial service is among the least trusted industries in the world. In this context I’m glad to highlight the importance of ethics with this Ethics Award. As for each one of us it’s very important to regain public trust and raise standards of ethics in finance”.

On behalf of CFA Association (Russia) we would like to wish all graduates further professional success and summarize our congratulations with parting words of Mr. Nitin Mehta: «Ethics, continued education and raising the standards of your job are the hallmarks of accomplished professional. You pledge now to carry out those three principles throughout your career. Do something for your profession, join the CFA Association Russia, because being a professional also means becoming a part of a group of like-minded people, who have similar goals and interests”.