After emerging champions in the national and regional rounds (read story here) of the CFA Institute Research Challenge, Team SMU went on to represent the Asia-Pacific region in the Global Final held in Prague, and has proudly emerged first runner-up!

The SMU team which has done Singapore proud comprised Haruki Chua Una Qiang (BSc(Econ), 2nd major in Finance), Ian Chua Yong Kwang (BAcc and BBM double degree), John Lim Keng Siang (BBM and BSc(Econs) double degree), Vedant Daga (BSc(Econ), 2nd major in Finance) and Zhong Yingyi (BSc(Econ) and BBM).

Although they were the only undergraduate team at the Global Final, the team was unfazed by the stiff competition posed by Master’s students representing BI Norwegian Business School (Norway), Barna Business School (Dominican Republic) and Seton Hall University (USA).

They presented their stock recommendation in front of an international and distinguished panel of judges comprising Ms Samantha Ho, Chief Investment Officer, Altus Holdings; Mr Qutaiba Al-Hawamdeh, Head of Asset Management, AB Invest; Mr Florian Esterer, Head Asset Management Equities, Bank J. Safra Sarasin; and Mr Jan Hayek, Head of Fund Management Division, Erste Asset Management.

After a hard fought battle, Team SMU team did impressively well by scoring only two percentage points behind the highest scorer – Barna Business School, emerging first runner-up amongst more than 1,070 competing universities from across the globe!

Recalling the six-month journey, Vedant, who is also the Vice President of SMU Cognitare, said, “It has been a great honour indeed to represent SMU at the Global Final.  Despite the disappointment of missing the coveted title by a minute margin, the journey has been a great learning curve for all of us – both at the professional and personal levels.”

“Our biggest takeaway is the close bond forged within the team and the memories we now share.  We are extremely grateful to CFA Society Singapore, our faculty advisor (Professor John Sequeira), our industry mentors (Mr Simon Ng and Mr David Leow) for their dedication and guidance at every stage of the competition. Kudos to our students clubs – SMU Cognitare, Student Managed Investment Fund (SMU-SMIF), and SMU Emerging Markets that had helped to hone and develop our skills so that we could compete at the global level.  I hope our efforts and achievement will inspire more students to join these clubs and encourage them to participate in such prestigious events, so that we can bring more laurels to SMU.”

Mr Simon NG, CFA Society Singapore, lauded the team for their success.  “The six-month CFA journey may have ended, but the team will never stop creating more wonders.  Thank you Team SMU for placing the school and Singapore on the world stage again!" he said.

Well done, Team SMU!

About the Competition

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. Student teams work to research and analyse a publicly traded company; write a research report highlighted by a buy, sell, or hold recommendation; and then present and defend their findings to a panel of industry experts.

This year, 1,070 university teams and more than 4,500 students worldwide participate in one of over 100 local-level competitions. Winners of the local competitions move on to regional competition held in Asia Pacific, the Americas, and EMEA respectively.  Regional winners subsequently advance to the Global Final, where one team is ultimately crowned champion.