For the last ten years the Convention of Independent Financial Advisors (CIFA) has been a catalyst for the protection of the rights of the investor. This responsibility has grown even more indispensible from the confusion, lack of trust and loss of hope caused by the economic and financial crises of 2008-2009 and still today as financial markets continue to be volatile, recovery still fragile and unemployment leaving a staggering 50 million people jobless, according to the International Labor Organization's (ILO) latest report.
In its focus and tradition of bringing more integrity to the global financial system, CIFA held its Tenth International Forum from April 25-27 in the financially and socially exemplar Principality of Monaco, bringing in hundreds of financial experts, private bankers and top UN officials to focus on the 2012 Election Year with the theme: “What Challenges for the International Financial System? Ethics, politics and finance”
Participants experienced three days of upfront and honest information unraveling the "behind the scenes" schemes and decisions that brought about the subprime crisis which was then followed by the debt crisis and "why the international financial system has become so harmful today." From shadow banking, liar loans and fraud to the stronghold of lobbying systems, corrupt political practices and failed regulation, the Convention of Independent Financial Advisor’s Forum unearthed the hard facts behind the crises. Participants learned, analyzed, and networked. The Forum provided an atmosphere of direct valuable insight and cooperation essential for understanding and much needed well being and success in our world--where the only constant is uncertainty.
CIFA’s Chairman, Pierre Christodoulidis said that, "In a digital age, governments have underestimated the public’s hunger for the truth."
From 2008 to today, The Global Financial Crisis has left consumer wealth in decline to the tune of trillions of U.S. dollars, forced people out of their homes, increased unemployment to staggering rates and drove 44 million more people into poverty between June 2010 and February 2011 as food prices soared to their highest levels ever, according to the World Bank. This has left more than 1 billion people hungry today, warns the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The Forum's dynamic and honest-talks concluded with a call for global financial markets "to facilitate and encourage the movement of liquid funds into the productive sector of the economy" with the sustainable practice of financial intermediation exercised by moral financial markets.
CIFA'S Secretary General, Jean-Pierre Diserens, acknowledged the growing number of CIFA members, saying that, "Over the past ten years, the CIFA has grown into a veritable international institution that plays a pivotal role in helping financial markets become more ethical." The forum succeeded at boosting momentum and cooperation toward the aim of ultimately shifting global action in this direction.
A non-profit foundation based in Geneva, CIFA's goal is to protect and defend the interests of Independent Financial Advisors at a global scale. Having gained a Consultative Status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council since 2007, CIFA is planning to bring intervention at the level of the UN General Assembly in mid May.