How does CFA compare to Actuarial?

Interms of examinations, level of difficulty, and depth of knowledge required?

My friend is taking CFA level 2 and i was pretty surprised with some of the things which are included, especially the statistics which is included on the course.

Would CFA invlove the depth of knowlede/understanding that CT studies involve, for example proving formulas, knowing their derrivation and being able to work out complex problems from first princibles as opposed to just knowing a few results and putting values in forumlae?

 

I don't know about comparing the two in terms of material, but if you have qualified as an actuary I think you are exempt from papers 1 and 2 of the CFA but still have to take 3. If you have the CFA qualification, I don't know if you are exempt from any Actuarial exams.

 

Think you can qualify for ST0 - although we know that the F&I is more strict now with ST0.

 

I found this quite intriguing, as the reality on the ground seems to be the exact opposite -

http://www.bppfinancialservices.com/faq/cfa-exam-faq.htm

states:
"Am I exempt from any part of the CFA® exams?
There are no exemptions available for any level of the CFA program.
"

http://www.actuaries.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/150216/cfa_exemptions.pdf

states that the Institute will give exemptions from CT1, CT2, CT3, CT7, CT8 and ST0 to a CFA charter-holder.

So it seems the CFA examinations are worth more from a convertibility perspective -
the CFA exams give many exemptions from the Actuarial exams, but the Actuarial exams give no exemptions from the CFA exams.

 

I heard that the first couple of CFA exams are really easy but the ones after is tough.

 

Only tough from an amount of work perspective.

The work is easy, compared to actuarial exams, but is a lot.