Five top Kuwaiti schools to compete in CFA’s research challenge
Students to take part in regional final in Prague
KUWAIT CITY, Dec 1: CFA Society Kuwait, the local society of the CFA Institute — a global association of investment professionals made up of portfolio managers, investment advisors, educators and other financial professionals — held its Kickoff Meeting for this year’s Kuwait competition at Burgan Bank’s premises on Nov 22, 2016. Burgan Bank will serve as the subject company. Over the next few months, five teams of five students from the area’s leading universities and business schools will compete for a place in the regional competition. The participating institutions include: American University of Kuwait, American University of the Middle East, Australian College of Kuwait, Gulf University for Science and Technology and Kuwait University. This year, the EMEA Regional and Global Final will be held from April 26-28, 2017, in Prague, Czech Republic.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge offers students the unique opportunity to develop and present an equity research report and compete on a global basis. Students will learn from leading industry experts and their mentors and peers from the world’s top business schools. This annual educational initiative is designed to promote best practices in equity research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.
Mijbel Al-Qattan, the President of CFA Society Kuwait, said: “the CFA Institute Research Challenge is a great opportunity to showcase the local young talent in Kuwait, and provides students with exposure to the world of investment research and analysis.” Robin Bhattacharya, the Host Coordinator for the competition and a board member of the CFA Society Kuwait, added, “the competition is in its fourth year and we would like to thank Burgan Bank’s management for taking the time and effort to support this competition and the student participants.”
Juraj Beno, Head of Strategic Financial Planning, presented Burgan Bank, its strategy and the recently disseminated Q3 earnings. With regard to the competition, he pointed out, “Burgan Bank is devoted to the continued development of Kuwait and places significant importance on supporting the future professionals in the field and the development of the industry’s human capital at large.”
Globally, last year’s competition attracted more than 4,000 students from 925 universities in 75 countries.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge comprises:
Analysis of a publicly-traded company
Teams research a publicly traded company. The company’s management presents information to the student teams and is available to answer student questions.
Mentoring by a professional research analyst
Each team works with a CFA charterholder who mentors the team during the research process and reviews and critiques its report.
Writing a research report Each team produces an Initiation of Coverage report on its chosen company.
Kuwaiti business students attend a lecture by CFA Institute.
The report is reviewed and scored by a group of judges.
Presentation of research to a panel of experts
The teams’ final presentations are locally evaluated by panels of experts from top financial institutions. Panelists include heads of research, portfolio managers, and chief investment officers from the world’s top firms. The team with the highest combined written report and presentation score is the winner and advances to the regional level of the Research Challenge.
Advancement to the CFA Institute Research Challenge Global Final
Regional winners then progress to compete at the Global Final. At the regional and global stages of the Research Challenge, teams are evaluated solely on their presentations.