EVENT REPORT

CFA Global Investment Research Challenge 2010

CFA Global Investment Research Challenge is an annual financial competition sponsored by the international CFA association. In this competition, participants’ analytical skill, business prowess, and communication skills were put to test. The competition required students to conduct thorough financial research and perform a business analysis on a public company as a practicing financial analyst would. By competing in this challenge, aspiring student analysts could acquire hands-on experience on equity research and further sharpen their analytical skills.

The NTU finals round of the CFA Global Investment Research Challenge 2010 concluded successfully on 25 October 2010. Six teams were selected to compete in this round based on the reports they had submitted earlier. Each team delivered a fifteen minutes presentation detailing their research as well as their justified conclusions. Following the presentation, participants fielded sharp questions thrown by the judges. The best two teams would be selected to represent NTU at the national level, whereby they will contend teams from NUS and SMU.

Beginning in the morning, successive teams made their presentations and left their marks in the minds of the judges. It was apparent from the presentations that all participants had put in serious thought and reasoning behind their presented conclusions. The presentations ended by late noon, leaving the judges highly impressed with the great quality of analysis and level of effort and skill evident in each presentation. With the end of the challenge came the time to announce the winners. The team titled “The Tomato Professors” emerged champions out of the six teams.

Teo Chin Seng from the winning team shared that “the motivation to win drove them all to put their best effort forward into the competition, having prioritized the preparation for this event over all else.” This determination took them very far, driving some teammates who were unfamiliar with financial analysis to take it upon themselves to read up and learn through self-study. Lawrence Teh, remarked that he was extremely satisfied with the team’s performance. Indeed, their hard work had clearly paid off and the team duly rewarded, with satisfaction written over all their faces.

The judges commented that the winning team stood out from the other competing teams with their strong presenting skills, as well as the delivery of a well-detailed and well-rounded analysis. Professor Siriwan pointed out that a common mistake among the participants was an excessive focus on numbers and quantitative details. This could cause some of the teams to lose sight of the bigger picture and overlook some important and otherwise obvious qualitative issues. This was a piece of advice that future competing teams should certainly take heed of.

Nonetheless, all teams had given their best shot, and all went home with an unforgettable experience and stronger analytical skills. We congratulate the top two teams of the NTU finals round and we wish them the best of luck in representing NTU at the national stage!