CFA Research Challenge
The “CFA Institute Research Challenge” in Switzerland is an annual competition among Swiss university teams, in which participating student teams are supposed to prepare and present a financial analyst report on a Swiss company. Each year, a different company will be selected.
At the University of Basel, Prof. Dr. Pascal Gantenbein (Financial Management) is your contact. Since 2016, the challenge is part of the curriculum. Since 2020, it is a colloquium on Master’s level (58972 CFA Research Challenge), but also accessible for Bachelor’s students.
For students at the University of Basel, a kick-off event will be held during the first two weeks of fall term (date tbd). At this meeting, we explain some essentials of financial analyst reports and appoint the teams. The further sequence of events is then determined by the schedule of the challenge. As a result, the challenge stretches over two semesters, starting in fall term and ending in the subsequent spring term. Credit points for the entire participation therefore are awarded in spring term.
Teams and students interested in joining the next challenge are welcome to contact Pascal Gantenbein (pascal.gantenbein-at-unibas.ch).
And here, you’ll get further information on the challenge from the CFA Institute: CFA Institute Presentation and Video. Further updates on the upcoming challenge will be published in the next session of this website when available.
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CFA Research Institute Research Challenge 2020/2021 in Switzerland and Liechtenstein:
Updates for the upcoming competition, please click here.
Furthermore, the "CFA Institute Research Challenge team from US will be hosting town hall style informational sessions for students and faculty interested in learning more about the CFA Institute Research Challenge. Everyone is invited to join the director of the competition, Brian Stype. He will provide an overview of the program, discuss changes for this season, review resources available to participating students, and more. There will be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions. Join the conversation on:
Wednesday, 9 September, 20:00–21:00 CEST: Registration
Thursday, 17 September, 04:00–05:00 CEST: Registration
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Official Information of the CFA Institute about the 2019/2020 CFA Research Challenge:
The challenge is an annual competition between teams of students in preparing an investment case consisting of a detailed research report and a presentation of a listed Swiss company. For the up-coming competition, we have selected u-blox. u-blox (UBXN SW), a global provider of leading positioning and wireless communication technologies for the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets. Their solutions allow people, vehicles, and machines to determine their precise position and communicate wireless over cellular and short-range networks. With a broad portfolio of chips, modules, and a growing ecosystem of product supporting data services, u-blox is uniquely positioned to empower its customers to develop innovative solutions for the Internet of Things, quickly and cost-effectively. With headquarters in Thalwil, Switzerland, the company is globally present with offices in Europe, Asia, and the USA.
Students will be supported by industry mentors and must present their results in front of a panel of senior investment professionals. The challenge provides students with a unique opportunity to gain first-hand experience in the investment world and to interact intensively with investment professionals and CFA charterholders. The Swiss champion will participate in the EMEA finals, to take place in the Dead Sea Area, Jordan on 1-2 April 2020 and possibly to the Global Finals in New York, USA on 20-21 April 2020. In addition, the winning Swiss teams will receive a cash prize of a total of CHF 3'000 as well as a certificate issued by the CFA Institute.
In setting up the challenge, the CFA Society Switzerland is trying to promote best practices in equity research and company analysis. CFA Society Switzerland is a member society of CFA Institute, the largest global association of investment professionals with more than 164'000 members and 151 member societies. CFA Institute awards the CFA Charter, the CIPM designation and runs the Investment Foundations Program. In Switzerland, the society has more than 3000 investment professionals as members. We are committed to leading the investment profession by setting the highest standards of ethics, education and professional excellence.
We are happy to share with you the following dates for the challenge:
- 26 September 2019, University of Zurich – Kick-off meeting (mandatory). The kick-off will include a presentation by Roland Jud, CFO of u-blox as well as a presentation by CFA Society Switzerland on the rules & regulations of the challenge as well as the detailed deliverables
- 26 November 2019 – Conference call with u-blox’s CFO (mandatory)
- 6 January 2020 – Anticipated deadline for the finalist reports
- 18 February 2020 – Anticipated deadline for the finalist presentations. Earlier deadlines will apply for competition within each university between the different teams.
- 27 and 28 January 2020, Gumligen – Presentation Boot Camp for finalists
- 20 February 2020, Aula of the University of Zurich – The Swiss Final presentations and award ceremony
Please be aware, as each year, only one team per professor / Univesity can attand the Swiss final competition.
Please note that pursuant to the rules of the Challenge, students are not allowed to directly contact the subject company outside the abovementioned events but may start to look at the company using publicly available information and start researching this industry as early as they wish.
Below some marketing material for your perusal.