Why the IEC Matters

Craft Examination Papers

We set every international CIIA paper twice a year in up to eleven languages.

Maintain the Syllabus

The Common Knowledge Base is reviewed and updated annually.

Fix the Pass Marks

Results are double‑marked and harmonised before we set the global pass mark.

Accredit Local Programmes

All member‑society curricula need our green light before launch.

The IEC Committee

Dr. Shingo Goto

Chair

Associate Professor of Finance, University of Rhode Island. Specialist in equity investments & senior advisor to Research Affiliates.

Colin Shaftesley

PwC Partner, Hong Kong. 30+ years audits & regulation; ex‑SFC secondee; chaired HKSI Exams Committee.

Ines Chaieb

Associate Professor, Geneva Finance Research Institute; researching asset pricing & currency risk.

Lucio Sarno

Professor of Finance, Cass Business School. Former Oxford & Columbia; ex‑Research Director AXA IM.

Marcelo Olarreaga

Professor of Economics, University of Geneva; ex‑World Bank & WTO; leads Swiss project on trade & labour markets.

Masahiro Watanabe

Associate Professor of Finance, University of Alberta; asset pricing scholar published in JF & RFS.

Philip Valta

Professor of Finance, University of Bern; research on corporate finance & valuation.

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Ready to earn the CIIA charter?

Committee Member

Philip Valta is a Professor of Finance at the University of Bern and affiliated with the Swiss Finance Institute. He was previously assistant professor at HEC Paris and at the University of Geneva, and also a visiting scholar at Duke University. He holds a PhD in finance from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. His research focuses on corporate finance, empirical asset pricing, and how corporate decisions interact with product market and institutional characteristics.

Professor Philip Valta’s research has been published in leading academic journals, such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and he is a regular speaker at international conferences. He teaches mostly topics related to corporate finance and valuation.

Committee Member

Masahiro Watanabe is an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Alberta, and formerly an assistant professor at Rice University. Addressing issues in asset pricing and market microstructure, he has published his theoretical and empirical research in leading finance journals such as the Journal of Finance and the Review of Financial Studies. He serves as Associate Editor of International Review of Finance and Japan and the World Economy.

He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the academic circle, he was a research and sales associate at what is now Sumitomo Mitsui Bank, where he structured foreign-exchange and interest-rate derivative products. He is a chartered member of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan.

Committee Member

Marcelo Olarreaga is Professor of Economics at the University of Geneva, Scientific Advisor at CEPII in Paris, and Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) in London.

He is currently directing a research project on the labor market impacts of trade reforms in developing countries funded by the Research for Development program of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Before joining the University of Geneva he worked in the Research Department of the World Bank, as well as in the Economics Research Division of the World Trade Organization.

He has also been invited professor at CERDI (France), the Graduate Institute (Switzerland), INSEAD (France), Institute CLAEH (Uruguay), SciencePo-Paris (France), Universidad de la República (Uruguay) and the University of Antwerp (Belgium). He holds an MA from the University of Sussex, and a PhD in Economics from the University of Geneva.

Committee Member

Lucio Sarno is Professor of Finance at Cass Business School, City, University of London. He is also a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London. Lucio previously held teaching and research positions at several universities, including the University of Warwick, the University of Oxford, and Columbia University.

He has also held senior positions in the financial industry, including as Director of Research and Principal at AXA Investment Managers. He has been involved in consulting, advisory roles, training and research projects with a number of institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve, the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, the World Bank, and a number of banks and asset management companies.

He is the author of several books and over 80 articles in leading refereed economics and finance journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies.

Committee Member

Ines Chaieb associate professor of Finance at the Geneva Finance Research Institute, University of Geneva and Swiss Finance Institute since September 2010. Before joining the University of Geneva, Ines was at the University of Amsterdam. She received her Ph.D. from McGill University and her MSc. in Financial Engineering from HEC Montreal.

Ines works on international asset pricing under market imperfections, market integration, limits to financial globalization of emerging markets, global investment, currency risk exposure and pricing. Her research has been published in top academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Financial Studies.

Ines taught at all levels (undergraduates, master and PhD). Her teaching includes asset pricing, portfolio management, Global investment. international finance, fixed income, and Finance.

Committee Member

Colin has been with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong since 1988 and has been a Partner in the Financial Services Practice since 1997. Colin has worked extensively with regulators and industry organisations to discuss and interpret new regulations. Colin’s work consists of audits, risk and control reviews, due diligence, fraud investigations and regulatory breaches or queries.

During his time in Hong Kong Colin was seconded to the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) for eighteen months from 1991 to 1993. Whilst at the SFC Colin was responsible for drafting new legislation and rules and carrying out inspections of Licensed Corporations.

Colin has been a Director on the Board of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute for eight years, during this time he was the Chairman of the Examinations Committee for six years and currently chairs the Advanced Learning Platform Committee. Colin is also a fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Accountants (“HKICPA”) and had been the Convenor of the Expert Panel on Securities for the HKICPA for 15 years.

Chairman

Dr. Shingo Goto is an associate professor of finance at the College of Business Administration, University of Rhode Island (URI).
He also serves as the coordinator of the finance Ph.D. program URI. Before joining URI, he taught at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. Dr. Goto’s research interests are in equity investments and portfolio management. His studies have been published in Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Banking and Finance, and others. Dr. Goto teaches both theories and practical applications of portfolio management to a wide range of students from Ph.D.s to advanced undergraduates.

 He also gave lectures in universities and financial institutions in Japan, China, and Belarus. Besides academic research and teaching, Dr. Goto has been actively involved in the practice of portfolio management. He conducted stock selection research and portfolio implementation research at the Active Equity group of Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco, California, and currently serves as a senior advisor to Research Affiliates, LLC. and an academic advisor to Nomura Asset management. 

Dr. Goto holds a Ph.D. in finance and an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tokyo. His prior work experience includes corporate banking and financial engineering at The Sumitomo Bank, Ltd. He was a Chartered Member of The Security Analysts Association of Japan.

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