Financial analyst
Financial Analyst ( English financial analyst ) is an analyst , whose task predominantly in the financial analysis is made. The corresponding function or work product of the financial analyst is also called financial analysis.
General
Financial analyst is not a legally protected job title , so the job description is not clearly defined. The German Association for Financial Analysis and Asset Management (DVFA) defines financial analysts as " people who, based on generally available information and special prior knowledge, assess and evaluate the securities of companies and their derivatives - including economies , capital markets and industries - in the form of mostly written Perform analyzes ". Since May 2001, the professional guidelines of the DVFA include the prohibition of proprietary trading in securities, for which the respective financial analyst is responsible, as well as the control and approval of financial analyzes according to the four-eyes principle , according to which every analysis must be checked by a second colleague .
Part of the specialist literature restricts the term financial analyst to the securities business and excludes creditworthiness analysis and investment analysis . This restriction only entitles the holder to be a “securities or equity analyst”, while the term “financial analyst” includes the analysis of all finances .
tasks
Financial analysts come from all types of companies . In the case of non-banks , they deal in particular with the financial analysis of their own company ( financial accounting ), competition and market developments . In credit institutions there are different types of financial analysts such as analysts for financial instruments , financing instruments , markets such as capital , money or foreign exchange markets or credit analysts who deal with the analysis of credit risks as part of the creditworthiness check and use informal insolvency forecasting procedures. Even insurance companies employ financial analysts, particularly for the analysis of the reserve fund ; Actuaries form a special professional group here . Finally, at rating agencies , analysts are primarily concerned with creating ratings . These financial analysts deal primarily with the financial market , which consists of the capital market and money market or sub-markets thereof.
Depending on the work product , a distinction between financial analysts whose financial analysis primarily to external users such as customers or mass media directed ( English sell-side analysts ) and analysts, the analysis of their employers is intended to make these decisions (about lending decisions ) may take ( English buy-side analysts ). According to the law, financial analysts must be appropriate , careful , conscientious , independent , impartial and free from conflicts of interest .
Legal issues
Financial analysts are all natural and legal persons who, in the exercise of their profession or in the context of their business activities, are responsible for creating or passing on investment recommendations within the meaning of the Market Abuse Ordinance . They must notify BaFin of this in accordance with Section 86 (1) sentence 1 WpHG ; The content and form of the information are specified there in particular in section 86 (1) sentences 2 to 5 of the WpHG. This notice of activity must be submitted before the recommendations are created or passed on. If the data changes, they must be updated to BaFin and the correctness of the information must be proven by means of suitable documents (Section 86 (1) sentences 3 and 6 WpHG).
The Financial Analysis Ordinance (FinAnV), which was repealed in January 2018, stipulated the proper preparation and presentation of financial analyzes in accordance with Section 85 (1) sentence 2 WpHG in Section 1 FinAnV , whereby, in accordance with Section 2 FinAnV, the names of the creators, the designation of their professions, in their practice they prepare the financial analysis, and the name of the company responsible for the preparation had to be given when a financial analysis was presented. In the financial analysis, according to § 3 FinAnV, information about facts , information about value judgments by third parties , in particular interpretations or estimates and own value judgments, in particular projections , predictions and price targets, had to be carefully differentiated from one another and identified. In accordance with Section 4 (2) FinAnV, all essential sources of information, in particular the issuers concerned , were to be named in the financial analysis . It was also to be stated whether the financial analyzes were made available to the issuer before they were passed on or published and whether they were changed afterwards.
Lars Klöhn points out that the European legislator has not justified why, according to Recital No. 28 sentence 2 MMV, some evaluations and analyzes could make the financial analysts an insider , even though the analyzes were exclusively based on publicly available information. According to this consideration, analyzes and evaluations made on the basis of publicly available information should not be treated as inside information and the mere fact that business is conducted on the basis of such analyzes and evaluations should therefore not be considered as use of inside information.
As part of the separation of functions , it must be ensured, especially at banks, that analysts are entrusted with the preparation of decisions, but are not authorized to make them themselves. They belong to the back office according to BaFin Circular 09/2017 (BTO 1.1). This regulation is less strict than corresponding US laws, which prescribe a strict separation ( Chinese wall ) between the various departments .
qualification
The qualification of financial analysts includes specialist knowledge of business administration and economics , accounting standards such as International Financial Reporting Standards and knowledge of valuation methods , balance sheet analysis , financial mathematics , capital market law , portfolio management or securities law . In addition, financial analysts gain qualifications through postgraduate studies such as the “ Certified European Financial Analyst ” (CEFA), the “ Certified International Investment Analyst ” (CIIA) or the “ Chartered Financial Analyst ” (CFA). The membership in a professional association such as the German Association for Financial Analysis and Asset Management (DVFA) or counterparts SFAA ( Switzerland ), ÖVFA ( Austria ) or EFFAS manifests his submission rules of conduct . The main objective of the DVFA is, for example, "... to promote the professional qualifications of its members through training and further education ...". The Europe-wide established training programs also provide financial analysts with relevant knowledge of European and national capital market regulation, which is mandatory for market participants within the EU .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ulrike Diehl, Investmentanalysen , in: Ann-Kristin Achleitner / Alexander Bassen (eds.), Investor Relations am Neuen Markt, 2001, p. 400
- ↑ DVFA, Professional Guidelines , 2001, No. 1 Para. A
- ↑ Manfred Eberts, The Job Profile of the Financial Analyst in the Federal Republic of Germany , 1986, p. 255
- ↑ Henner Schierenbeck (Ed.), Bank and Insurance Lexicon , 1994, p. 257
- ↑ Maximilian Vogelmann: Financial analyst: "I'm wrong every day" . In: Spiegel Online . December 23, 2015 ( spiegel.de [accessed November 23, 2018]).
- ^ Matthias Stanzel, Quality of Equity Research by Financial Analysts , 2007, p. 11
- ^ Matthias Stanzel, Quality of Equity Research by Financial Analysts , 2007, p. 20
- ↑ While the term “financial analysis” continues to be used in Directive 2014/65 / EU on markets in financial instruments , the Market Abuse Regulation (MMV) speaks synonymously of “investment recommendations”.
- ↑ Lars Klöhn, A New Insider Trap for Financial Analysts? , in: WM Heft 35, 2016, p. 1665 ff.
- ↑ Manfred Eberts, The professional profile of the financial analyst in the Federal Republic of Germany , p. 105 f.
- ↑ BAFin, Circular 09/2017 (BA) - Minimum Requirements for Risk Management - MaRisk of October 27, 2017, reference BA 54-FR 2210-2017 / 0002
- ↑ Deutsche Börse AG (Ed.), Practical Handbook IPO: From Preparation to Implementation , 2006, p. 377
- ↑ DVFA, statutes , 2003, § 2 DVFA statutes
- ↑ Sylvia Englert: What does a financial analyst actually do? In: sueddeutsche.de . 2010, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on November 23, 2018]).
