A big round of applause for all the new charterholders at Toronto CFA Society. As the chart below shows, it is truly a global designation, with candidates writing all around the world – and all in English, perhaps a further comment on the nature of the investment industry. And career choices for charterholders are expanding. We’re profiling a number of our new charterholders in this issue of The Analyst and they are a diverse group: as expected, the majority work as investment advisors, portfolio managers and analysts. However, we also have the president and CEO of a publicly traded company. As one new charterholder comments – “the CFA designation is a strong foundation for enabling a career in multiple areas of the financial industry… it will give me the ability to be mobile across the different business units.”

Congratulations also to Rossa O’Reilly, CFA who is now co-authoring a book on REITs. In this issue he’s written a brief summary of their history and a look into their future as well as a review of $windler$: Cons and Cheats and How To Protect Your Investments From Them, the latest from forensic accountants Al and Mark Rosen. The Analyst also interviewed CFA Institute Chair, Margaret Franklin, CFA on markets, regulation and restoring public trust when she was in town to speak at the Canadian Club on securities enforcement reform in Canada.

In other articles, Victoria Barclay, CFA has written a review of Uncontrolled Risk, which documents the fall of Lehman Brothers and shows in some detail the impact of systemic risk on the world’s financial system. And once again, Brenda Bickram of Books For Business has provided us with a list of some interesting new investing books.

Finally, Pauline Lai, CFA has provided an excellent snapshot showing some compelling reasons for considering investments in China and India.