As you may know, CFA Institute has experienced remarkable growth in both membership and CFA candidates in China. Including CFA candidates who successfully completed Level III and have the required work experience, our membership in China should grow to more than 2,500 by the end of 2008. And there are currently 15,000-plus CFA candidates in China, more than 6,000 of whom are registered for the December 2008 exam.
In an area with so many members, a local CFA Institute member society would have already formed and been active in providing additional localized member services, including continuing education seminars and speakers, networking events, social events and more. However, due to regulatory issues, we have been unable to form a local member society.
For the past several years, CFA Institute has been exploring ways to provide member services in China despite the absence of a local CFA Institute member society. After a great deal of research and analysis, we submitted an application to Beijing authorities to establish an RO to serve members in the Beijing area, and our application has been approved. Soon, we expect to submit a separate application to Shanghai authorities to serve members in that area.
Once our ROs are established in Beijing and Shanghai, we will begin providing many of the services that you would expect to receive from a member society, and we look forward to hearing from you about what activities and events we should provide in Beijing and Shanghai. We expect the formal launch of our ROs will be in December when we hold charter award ceremonies for new CFA charterholders.
For the next membership year, we will be asking members to register to receive these special member services from the ROs. There will be an administrative fee charged that will be in line with member society dues charged by other societies.
This RO strategy in China is a new initiative for CFA Institute, and we look forward to getting your input as we move along. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any ideas, feedback or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey J. Diermeier, CFA
President & CEO
