Students embark on share market research challenge

28 July 2011 MEDIA RELEASE – For immediate release

Students embark on share market research challenge

The 2011 CFA Institute Research Challenge has kicked off in New Zealand with the winners destined for Hong Kong to showcase their share market research skills at the Asia Pacific finals.

The Challenge attracts over 500 universities and over 2,500 students from around the world to compete in the local, regional and global finals. Teams of three to five students are tasked to write an in-depth research report on companies listed on the share market and present their findings to heads of research, portfolio managers, and chief investment officers from the world’s top firms.

The New Zealand round is being run by the CFA Society of New Zealand and six universities are participating in the 2011 Challenge: University of Auckland, AUT University, University of Canterbury, Massey University, University of Otago and Victoria University of Wellington.

The Challenge is supported by Capital IQ, which provides access and training to its vast financial database – an invaluable resource for the students. The student teams will be analysing Ryman Healthcare, an NZX 15 listed retirement home operator.

Katrina Kruger, the president of the CFA Society of New Zealand says:

“The CFA Society of New Zealand promotes the highest standards in investment research and is delighted to organise the local round of the CFA Institute Research Challenge which involves up to thirty Kiwi students gaining first hand experience of share market analysis”.

Rhiannon McKinnon, a director of the CFA Society of New Zealand who has organised the New Zealand round says:

“The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an exciting opportunity for students to experience “real life analysis”, putting theory learned in the classroom into practice, and presenting to a panel of leading fund managers in New Zealand”.

The three judges are all CFA charterholders and work across the New Zealand fund management industry: Guy Elliffe from AMP Capital, Paul Richardson from BT Funds Management and Andrew South from Brook Asset Management. The teams are guided both by their faculty advisers and by mentors who are also CFA charterholders working across the investment industry – enabling them to pass their professional experience to the next generation of analysts.

Last year, the New Zealand round was won by a team of five Massey University finance students which went on to compete for the Asia Pacific title hosted in Bali, Indonesia.

Massey team member, Annie Zhang, who is studying for a PhD, says, “The Challenge was an extraordinary experience. It enabled us to refine the finance skills we learnt at university and apply them in a New Zealand context, analysing companies on the New Zealand share market. Competing in the Asia Pacific finals in Bali was great fun and provided networking opportunities with industry heads and future leaders from all around the world”.

The New Zealand finals will take place on 28 September 2011 in Auckland.

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About the CFA Institute and the CFA Society of New Zealand:

The CFA Institute is the global, non-profit professional association that administers the CFA curriculum and examination program worldwide and sets voluntary, ethics-based professional and performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. The CFA Institute has more than 100,000 members in more than 130 countries, 87% of whom are CFA charterholders.

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