CIFA, a non-profit Swiss foundation, was setup in Geneva, Switzerland, in December 2001, under the auspices of the Swiss Group of Independent Financial Advisors (GSCGI), as a high level international center in the field of finance, asset management and global financial counselling

CIFA aims to protect and defend the interests of Investors and Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs) at national and international levels, as well as to be the ideal contact point for financial advisors and wealth managers, legislators and regulators.

With individual investors’ rights in mind, CIFA chose to focus on enhancing the basic status (the very foundations of their independent businesses) of IFAs around the globe, by promoting the highest professional standards, best-practice rules and ethical rules.

These specific goals have been pursued relentlessly by CIFA, which has the highly impressive ability to approach them from several interesting angles through the intelligent selection of renowned international speakers. Each year, the appropriateness of topics, along with the excellence of presentations and relative round-table discussions have been remarkable.

By 2007, CIFA had already become a NGO (non-governmental-organization) in “special consultative status” with the ECOSOC, the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council. CIFA attends and speaks at several UN gatherings organized at the initiative of the General Assembly, ECOSOC, Group of 77, UNCTAD, UNITAR, FOSS, etc.

A year later, in 2008, “THE CHARTER OF INVESTORS’ RIGHTS” (www.cifango.org), developed under the supervision of the UN’s ECOSOC, was introduced during the CIFA’s VIth Forum held in Prague, The Czech Republic. Finally, the basic rights of investors were taken into account in finance!

In February 2015, The United Nations reclassified CIFA to the “general consultative status” with the UN-ECOSOC. As a result, CIFA joined the select UN club of 140 NGOs accredited to interact during UN thematic debates.