Ateneo crowned 2019 CFA Institute Research Challenge Asia Pacific Regional Champions

The winning team from Ateneo de Manila University

A team of Ateneo students emerged as winners in the recently concluded Asia Pacific Regionals of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge held in the Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge (IRC) is a global investment research competition that provides students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. In his opening remarks prior to the Regional Finals, CFA Institute Managing Director for Asia Pacific Nick Pollard told the students “we’re sowing the seed in your head right now about the importance of our industry to society as we move forward. You are the future of the investment profession.”

The Ateneo Research Challenge team is composed of Management Engineering seniors Katreena Dachelle Chang (Team Captain), Carina Monica Chua, Vince Benedict Say, Gabrielle Marie Tayag, and Christine Abigail Yu. They were mentored by faculty adviser Alfonso Miguel Sevidal (BS ME ’17) from the Finance and Accounting Department, industry mentor Mark Alan Canizares (BS LM ’99) from Manulife, and local society representative April Lee-Tan (BS ME ’96) from CFA Society Philippines.

The Ateneo team bested universities from 26 other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

For this year’s CFA IRC, CFA Society Philippines selected D&L Industries (DNL PM) as the subject company for the written report and presentation of Local Challenge participants. Last February 22, the team won the Local Finals and earned the right to represent the country in the regional round.

The Ateneo team successfully cruised through the Semifinal round, where they were bracketed with the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (India A), Guangdong University of Finance (Shenzhen A), American University of Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Guizhou University (Chengdu), and the Indian Institute of Management (India C). They advanced to the Regional Finals with the highest rank for both their written report and presentation.

In the Regional Finals, teams were graded solely based on their ten-minute presentation followed by a ten-minute question-and-answer portion in front of a panel of judges. The judges included Japan Value Equities Chief Investment Officer Atsushi Horikawa, UZABASE Inc. Chief Research Officer Mifnaz Jawahar, CFA, Franklin Templeton Investments Executive Vice President Peter Wilmshurst, CFA, VinaCapital Managing Director Thu Nguyen, CFA, and Franklin Templeton Investments Co-Head of Private Equity Claudius Tsang, CFA.

ADMU bested teams from Peking University HSBC Graduate School of Business (Shenzhen B), the University of Sydney (Sydney), the Indian Institute of Management – Kozhikode (India B), and the University of Western Australia (Perth).

The team’s victory marks the Ateneo’s third regional championship following back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016. It is also the fifth regional title of the Philippines overall.

The team of Management Engineering seniors will now represent the Ateneo, the Philippines, and the Asia Pacific Region in the CFA IRC Global Finals this April 25 at the New York Marriot Marquis. They will compete with the winners of the Americas and EMEA Regionals for the title of Global Champion.

“A big congratulations to the team from Ateneo de Manila University for winning the CFA Institute Research Challenge Asia Pacific Finals tonight! An incredible achievement for the team—wishing them all the luck at the Global Finals in New York next month,” Pollard said.

The 2019 CFA IRC Asia Pacific Regionals was made possible through the following sponsors: FactSet, Kaplan Schweser, Refinitiv, and State Street Global Advisors.

From left to right: CFA Institute Managing Director for Asia Pacific Nick Pollard; Ateneo Management Engineering
Seniors Carina Monica Chua, Christine Abigail Yu, Gabrielle Marie Tayag, Katreena Dachelle Chang, Vince Benedict
Say; Local Society Representative April-Lee Tan; Industry Mentor Mark Alan Canizares; Faculty Adviser Alfonso
Miguel Sevidal

The article was written by Alfonso Miguel N.  Sevidal