The Securities Analysts Association of Japan (SAAJ) announced that the following two articles won the Securities Analysts Journal Prize for 2023:

1. Carbon Premium in the Tokyo Stock Market
   - Keiichi Goshima, CMA / Atsuki Yagi

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the influence of corporate GHG emissions on the cross-section of Japanese stock returns. The authors utilized multiple data sources on GHG emissions to investigate this impact. Their findings indicate that there is a negative premium associated with the emissions intensity, which refers to emissions per sales, of the direct emissions. Importantly, this negative premium remains statistically and economically significant even after controlling for other common equity risk factors. Consequently, the authors’ results suggest that, unlike the situation in the United States, investors in Japan do not require compensation for their exposure to carbon emission risk. To read this article, click here 

2. Earnings Management and TSE Reform
   - Ritsuko Okada

This study provides evidence that the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) reform has incentivized managers to pursue earnings management. More specifically, firms aiming to list on the newly created top-tier Prime Market are required to meet an earnings benchmark, and thus more likely to engage in earnings management. The old TSE First Section firms do not engage in earnings management as an earnings benchmark is not mandatory for them to be in the Prime Market. This study demonstrates that the managerial behavior of firms with a similar earnings level can differ depending on incentives. To read this article, click here

To read the previous Securities Analysts Journal Prize-winning articles, please visit here

To read the monthly focus and abstracts of the Securities Analysts Journal, please visit here

On 27 June 2023, the SFAF Academy organised the Graduation Ceremony for its students who passed one of its certifications in 2022.

It was an opportunity to bring together some of the 26 graduates who passed the CIIA Foundation and Final levels and to celebrate their achievement.

In 2022, 20 candidates brilliantly obtained the Foundation level and 6 candidates passed the Final level, therefore obtaining the CIIA certification delivered by the ACIIA (Association of Certified International Investment Analysts).

These certifications will help them managing beautiful evolutions in their careers, in financial analysis and asset management for instance.

The SFAF Academy trains more than 1,000 professionals a year in the main areas of financial and non-financial analysis.

The SFAF is the French Association of Financial Analysts (www.sfaf.com).

The Association of Financial and Banking Analysts in Romania (AAFBR) has elected a new Board of Directors to serve for the next two years. They have added two more vice president positions to increase the number of directors by two to a total of seven.

Ms. Daniela Ropota, CIIA, CESGA was re-elected for a new two-year term. She has more than 17 years of activity in the financial sector in investment analysis, risk management, evaluation, and financial modelling.

The six vice-presidents are: Mr. Adrian Codirlașu, Mrs. Andreea Pălic, Mr. Claudiu Vuță, Mr. Flavius Jakubowicz, Mrs. Iulia Corlănescu and Mr. Mihai Căruntu.

AAFBR increased the size of its board to strengthen the administrative capacity of the association to implement important projects both for the community of financial analysts and for the general public. The AAFBR members voted for a committee of 3 censors for the next two years and a series of amendments to the functioning status of the Association that would facilitate the future development of their proposed activities.

AAFBR will also aim to further facilitate the access of its members to various professional certification programmes such as Certified International Investment Analysts (CIIA), Certified European Financial Analyst (CEFA), Certified ESG Analyst (CESGA) and courses on topics required in various areas of specialization of the profession of economist and/or specialist in the financial and banking field.

"AAFBR expands the number of members in the Board of Directors (CD) from 5 to 7 considering the development of the Association in its over 14 years of activity and the involvement of several members in the coordination of key projects of the Association. They have extensive experience in banking, capital markets, taxation, and financial analysis, thus offering at the RDC level a broad vision of the financial sector. The new Board of Directors has a balanced structure both from the perspective of diverse expertise and gender equality, which creates favourable premises for well-documented decisions and the further development of the Association's activity.”, said Ms. Ropota.

On 1 November 2022, AAFBR had an event to launch a training solution to promote the CIIA Diploma in Romania. “In the financial industry, professionals must be prepared, not only to manage the unforeseen, but also to possess the knowledge, skills and competences that will ensure their professional agility and real-time adaptation to the challenges of the financial analyst profession.”, said Ms. Ropota.

In this context, AAFBR and ENVISIA Business School have launched a training solution at a practical level, to support the candidates to prepare for obtaining the prestigious professional qualification CIIA, under the aegis of the Association of Certified International Investment Analysts (ACIIA).

AAFBR and ENVISIA have joined their expertise in an exquisite educational partnership and have developed a unique training programme focused on solving mock exam exercises and problems, and thus, the candidates to be more prepared for the exams leading to CIIA advanced stage certification. The programme has an applied approach, based on simulations of the CIIA exam, benefiting from specialized resources and a team of facilitators who are practitioners with high expertise in the fields of study within the CIIA programme.

The guest speakers at the launch included the ACIIA Chair and Deputy Chair, the CEO of the Swiss Training Centre for Investment Professionals (AZEK), relevant public authorities, Bucharest Stock Exchange, and the main professional associations and organizations active in Romania in the field of investments. Dr. Yasuhiro Maehara, the ACIIA Chair, congratulated AAFBR on the launch of the training solution and the collaboration between AAFBR and ENVISIA, which would contribute greatly to the development of the CIIA programme in Romania.

For more information about AAFBR you can visit their website here.

The Securities Analysts Association of Japan (SAAJ) announced that the following two articles won the Securities Analysts Journal Prize for 2022:

1. Investors' Unrealized Gains and Losses, and the Low-volatility Anomaly
   - Taketo Usui, CMA

The author examines the relationship between unrealized gains and losses held by investors and the low-volatility anomaly in the Japanese stock market. When he measured unrealized gains and losses based on capital gain overhang (CGO), he found that there were more stocks with unrealized losses than the return distribution of individual stocks indicated. The relationship between stock price volatility and future stock returns was negative for stocks with unrealized losses but positive for stocks with unrealized gains. These results can be interpreted as the influence of psychological biases derived from prospect theory. To read this article, click here.

2. Are Earnings Announcements More Important Than Other Corporate Information?
   - Junko Jinushi

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether earnings announcements are an important information source compared to other publicly available information (management forecasts, analyst forecasts, securities reports, timely and voluntary disclosure documents, and disclosure documents under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act). The results indicate that earnings announcements are an important information source for investors and securities analysts because they provide useful information for investment decisions on a regular basis. The results of this paper have implications for the policy evaluation of quarterly disclosure and the simplification of earnings announcements. To read this article, click here.

To read the previous Securities Analysts Journal Prize-winning articles, please visit here. 

To read the monthly focus and abstracts of the Securities Analysts Journal, please visit here.

Lotfi Sehili, CEO of BMCE Securities and at the head of the ACIIA member Association Tunisiene de l’ Analyse Financière (ATAF) featured in an article titled: We want to improve the quality of Financial Information in Tunisia in Managers, a digital magazine: https://managers.tn

Mr Sehili answers questions such as: You have been at the head of ATAF for three years. Can you tell us about its activities and missions? and What are the skills that it is possible to acquire concretely thanks to the training you provide?

For Mr Sehili’s answers to these questions and more see the full article in French available here and an English translation here