Chartered Financial Analyst

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the US-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and financial professionals. The program teaches a wide range of subjects relating to advanced investment analysis—including business analysis, statistics, probability theory, fixed income, derivatives, economics, financial analysis, corporate finance, alternative investments, portfolio management, ethics applicable to the finance industry—and provides a generalist knowledge of other areas of finance.

A candidate who successfully completes the program and meets other professional requirements is awarded the "CFA charter" and becomes a "CFA charter-holder". As of December 2024, at least 200,000 people are charter-holders globally, growing 5.5% annually since 2012 (including the effects of the pandemic).^[1] Successful candidates take an average of four years to earn their CFA charter.^[2][3]

The top employers of CFA charter-holders globally include UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley. In 2025, according to the CFA Institute member database, 2,390 of their 204,000 CFA Charterholders worked at Royal Bank of Canada – the highest number for any employer worldwide. ^[4]