The International Securities Market Association (ISMA) and the ISMA Centre at the University of Reading have appointed Chisholm Roth, a developer of customised training programmes for investment bankers, to manage a new online distance learning programme for them.
The International Fixed Income and Derivatives (IFID) Certificate programme is designed for market professionals worldwide. ISMA’s professional certificate has been available for some 30 years through enrolment on a one-week residential course, but from January 2004, the relaunched IFID Certificate will also be available globally in an e-learning version. The qualification is primarily intended for fixed income analysts, asset managers, traders and sales people during the first two years of their career in the industry, but is open to anyone looking for a more comprehensive knowledge of the fixed income and derivatives market.
“Our vision, and one which is supported by our partners, is to promote global standards for professional financial education and I am delighted to say that the launch of the IFID Certificate has brought us one step closer to that”, explains John Langton, Chief Executive and Secretary General of ISMA.
ISMA says that, as companies become increasingly international, many of them have difficulty achieving consistency of product knowledge throughout their global workforce. Because IFID is a stand-alone module, this makes it easier to integrate into an internal professional course syllabus in any country.
“The module has already been incorporated into the University of Reading’s MSc International Securities, Investment and Banking degree,” says Professor Brian Scott-Quinn, Director of the ISMA Centre at Reading University. “It provides our graduating students with a global qualification of value in any fixed income market.”
ISMA claims that the IFID Certificate, despite being offered by a trade association, has set the international standard for competence in fixed income. ISMA says it has also been widely adopted as a benchmark by market information vendors, accountants, legal firms and software houses servicing the securities industry.
“The IFID programme offers many benefits,” says Paul Roth, Managing Director and Founder of Chisholm Roth. “It is a completely interactive offering and students will have the opportunity to network with both tutors and peers and to share experiences wherever they are and, as a distance learning package, students can attain the qualification without taking time off work”.
Once registered for the on-line programme a student will receive the study pack enabling him or her to study at their own time and at their own pace with the support of e-tutors at the IFID online campus and a moderated discussion board. They then have a maximum of 6 months to complete the programme after which they can take the Certificate exam at any one of more than 2,800 Thomson Prometric test centres worldwide.
Chisholm Roth is a financial market training company based in London, with affiliates in New York and Brussels. Founded in 1989, the company has delivered training programmes at many international banks and securities firms worldwide and now has an established place in both specialised course provision and in graduate training programmes.