December 12, 2005: Joel Padowitz, CEO of New York-based Palladium Capital Advisors today founded the Israeli Society of Investment Professionals (ISIP) and was named president of the organization. ISIP was established to advocate the highest standard of ethics and professional excellence in Israel´s financial services community and to vigorously advocate fair and transparent capital markets in Israel. The organization is the only one of its kind in Israel and boasts more than 100 members including 30 members who hold the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

CFA charterholders are required to be members of their local CFA member society. While Mr. Padowitz, himself a CFA Charterholder, is a member of his local chapter, the New York Society of Securities Analysts, he founded the Israeli Society of Investment Professionals which he hopes will be Israel´s local CFA member society. “Right now we only know of about 30 CFA charterholders in Israel, and the CFA Institute´s bylaws require 38 charterholders, but I am sure if we look hard enough we´ll find more,” said Padowitz.

“Israel is hands down the country with the most vibrant and sophisticated financial community that is yet to have a CFA member society. People don´t realize just how significant Israel is to world financial markets. For example, there are 72 Israeli companies listed on the NASDAQ which is more than any other foreign country ­ even Canada only has 64,´ he commented. There are currently local CFA member societies near Israel in Jordan, Lebanon, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Greece, and even Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but none in Israel itself.

The CFA program sets an international standard for developing the skills of financial analysts, portfolio managers and investment advisers. Only one in five candidates who start the three-level program successfully complete it and obtain the CFA charter. For those who do, they take on average about four years to complete the program and be awarded the CFA charter. There are currently about 116,000 candidates worldwide signed up to take the exams this year, for which it is recommended that candidates spend 250 hours studying for each of the three levels.

To learn more about the CFA designation click here.