DVFA

DVFA membership (in German) is open to people who design, manage or monitor financing and investment products, make or advise on investment decisions, or analyze credit and other financial risks. The annual fee is 300 euros, and students who aim for a career in the capital market can join as junior members for 50 euros a year.

Members attend the online forums and conferences of DVFA free of charge and pay 20 euros plus VAT for in-person events. They also get a 10 percent discount at the DVFA Akademie, up to 300 euros a year, and a reduced fee for the EFFAS Summer School.

Thorsten Müller of Lighthouse Corporate Finance chairs the DVFA board (in German), with Ingo R. Mainert of Allianz Global Investors and Roger Peeters of pfp Advisory as deputy chairs. Further board members are Prof. Dr. Sven Bienert, Peter Thilo Hasler, Katrin Lieber-Braun, Volker Sack, Michael Schmidt, Bernd Schröder and Ingo Speich. Sina Karin Hähnchen manages the office of the association, and Fritz H. Rau is honorary chairman.

An advisory council supports the board, with members such as Oliver Behrens, Prof. Dr. Andreas R. Dombret and Sebastian Schmid, editor-in-chief of the Börsen-Zeitung. An ombudsman council handles complaints under the professional code, and an admissions commission decides on new members.

DVFA holds forums and conferences (in German) with keynotes, talks and panel discussions in Frankfurt, each followed by a get-together for networking. Regular formats are the DVFA Asset Management Forum, the DVFA Immobilien Forum, the DVFA Governance and Stewardship Conference and the online DVFA Investment Consultant Conference.

The 15th DVFA Asset Management Forum (in German) discussed German and European sovereignty, the pension reform in Germany and the use of AI by asset managers. Speakers pointed out that the number of listed companies has almost halved in 20 years and that Frankfurt ranks only 29th in the Global Financial Centres Index.

Since 2016 the DVFA Scorecard for Corporate Governance (in German) has rated the governance of DAX companies with headquarters in Germany, since 2019 also MDAX companies and since 2022 SDAX companies. The analysis uses only public sources such as websites, annual reports and sustainability reports, and companies may check the facts before the results are published.

The scorecard builds on the German Corporate Governance Code and adds international codes and good practice. DAX and MDAX companies receive their own evaluation free of charge, and SDAX companies can order one for 950 euros plus VAT.

DVFA commissions write best-practice standards and position papers (in German) for research, banking and asset management. The DVFA Stewardship Guidelines of 2019, revised in 2023, describe how institutional investors and asset managers in Germany use investor dialogue and voting rights. DVFA represents its members in the expert advisory board of BaFin and in bodies such as EFRAG and the ICGN.

DVFA is an active partner in EFFAS, the European federation of financial analyst societies, and belongs to ACIIA, the international umbrella of the CIIA. Thorsten Müller, the chair of DVFA, is deputy chair of the EFFAS Executive Management Committee.

The office of DVFA (in German) is at Bockenheimer Landstraße 93 in 60325 Frankfurt am Main. The association is registered at the district court of Frankfurt under the number VR 8158.