A team of students from the Master’s in Finance at HEC Lausanne won the Swiss CFA Institute Research Challenge at the University of Zurich on 20 February. This is the eighth victory for HEC Lausanne in twelve years of taking part in the challenge: an excellent achievement that consolidates its position as an incubator for future financial analysts. The School congratulates both the winning team and Prof. Norman Schürhoff, who supervises them.
In 2020, the team of students from HEC Lausanne qualified for the international final, which the Lausanne team won in 2018.
What is the CFA Institute Research Challenge?
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a global financial analysis competition, organized by the CFA Institute to promote the emergence of new talents. It is awarded for the best presentation and written analysis of a listed company by a team of students. In 2022, the case analyzed by the Swiss teams involved the evaluation of SIG Combibloc, a leading supplier of aseptic packaging systems and solutions.
A first victory in this year’s national final for HEC Lausanne
This year, the competition at the Swiss level took place online. 34 teams (6 teams on the last day of the final) of three to five Master students from the universities of Basel, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, Liechtenstein, Neuchâtel, St. Gallen, Zurich, as well as from the Università della Svizzera Italiana and the ZHAW gave their presentations in front of a panel of experienced finance professionals.
The winning team, supervised by Professor Norman Schürhoff, was chosen for providing both the best presentation and the best written report. The team members were Jeremy Roulier, Gabriel Mendes, Emilien Isakov, Ugo Portella and Mikael Augusto. "We are very honored to represent UNIL in the CFA Institute Research Challenge. Faced with so many motivated teams with a wealth of skills, we are very happy to be named winners of the Swiss final. This competition underlines the importance of a deep and complete education, which perfectly characterizes the teaching that the University of Lausanne offers to its students. Therefore, we would like to warmly thank our professor Norman Schürhoff and his assistant Sam Wagner as well as our mentor Henri Enguerran Badoux and all the people who made it possible for this competition to take place in the best conditions. We will now represent Switzerland in the EMEA with pride and passion", comments Ugo Portella, the team captain.
Next: the EMEA final!
This victory secures the HEC Lausanne team a place in the EMEA finals in April and May 2022, where it will represent Switzerland virtually. We hope their preparations for the final go well and wish them every success!