7 марта 2019 г.

On March 5, six best university teams gathered at the 2018-2019 Russian final of CFA Institute Research Challenge held at Moscow Exchange. This was the 9th time CFA Association Russia held a local Research Challenge since the launch of the competition by CFA Institute.

After several months of researching the subject company Norilsk Nickel, 20 teams submitted their final reports in late January. A team of graders comprised of the members of CFA Russia marked the reports and selected the best six teams. These teams were then invited to the local final to determine the two winning teams which would go to the EMEA Regional Final in Zurich next month.

Five finalists were from Moscow – the Higher School of Economics (HSE), New Economic School (NES), Moscow State University (MSU), Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO); the sixth team came a long way from Baku, representing Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC).

Above: the team from the Higher School of Economics

This year it was the third time the Russian stage of Research Challenge had teams from other countries, as one university from Belarus and three schools from Azerbaijan joined our local stage last fall. Having done a great job at researching the company, one team from Azerbaijan made into the local final and was invited to Moscow.

Each team presented their work in front of a panel of judges, comprised of six highly-qualified financial professionals picked by CFA Russia’s educational committee. Following a 10-minute presentation, each team had to answer a series of questions coming from the judges.

Above: the competition judges

The level of competition has risen significantly over the past few years, as all the teams in this year final showed great research and presentation skills. After two and a half hours of presentations, the team from MSU appeared as a winner while HSE were runners up. Now these two winning teams will represent CFA Russia at the EMEA Final in Zurich on April 10.

The financial analysis of Norilsk Nickel, this year’s subject company, gave students a great opportunity to gain valuable professional experience, which will a huge help in their future careers. The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a tough competition and participants showed not only a solid knowledge of a financial analysis, but also other key professional skills, including team work, great communication skills, and determination.

Above: the team from Moscow State University emerged as the winners of the local stage of the competition.

CFA Russia would like to thank Kaplan Schweser, Moscow Exchange and Norilsk Nickel, the three companies that sponsored and helped to put together the local stage of the 2018-2019 CFA Institute Research Challenge.

To see all the pictures from the event, please follow this link.