Royal Institute Colombo wins CFA Sri Lanka Research Challenge 2017

CFA Sri Lanka announced that Royal Institute of Colombo won the local competition of the CFA Institute Research Challenge 2017 and would advance to the Asia Pacific Regional round where they will compete against leading universities from the region. 
The Royal Institute team consists of Chamath Muthukuda, Buddhika Peiris, Anojan Srikanth, Nishara Sangapalaarachchi and Ibrahim Hameem. The team was supported by lecturer Travis Gomez, CFA and mentored by Mifnaz Jawahar, CFA. 
The winning team beat six other teams including the team from the University of Colombo, who emerged the runner-up, and teams from the University of Kelaniya, two teams from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, American National College Sri Lanka (ANC) and Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APITT).
Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. A panel of judges consisting of charterholders with hands-on investment analysis and management experience holds the students to demonstrate real-world standards in analysis and ethics. It is a reflection of students’ dedication and perseverance needed to succeed. The competition’s strong focus on ethics and professional standards leaves the youngsters confident that as future investment professionals, they have the ability to create a sustainable investment industry.
The competition began in June 2016 and students presented their analysis and buy/sell/hold recommendations on Sunshine Holdings PLC, one of the largest conglomerates in the country at the local finals held at Ramada Hotel on January 13. Their presentation at the Sri Lanka Research Challenge was the culmination of months of research, interviews with company management, competitors and clients, investment research and presentation training including training conducted by Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services.
Each university sent a team of three to five students to participate in the local challenge. The competition was the first step of two for a local team to advance towards the global final in Prague, Czech Republic. The students from the Royal Institute will now travel to the ‘Super Regional’, where they will match their wits, analytical skills and presentation abilities against student teams from the Asia Pacific region and if successful, will advance to compete in the Global Final.
CFA Sri Lanka Vice President and Research Challenge Chairperson Zaffar Jeevunjee said, “We would like to congratulate all the teams that took part in this year’s local challenge and we wish the Royal Institute of Colombo the very best as it goes on to compete at the Regional Final in Bangkok. 
The CFA Institute Research Challenge enables Sri Lankan university students to learn and develop best practices in equity research. The training and mentoring they receive during this competition, from CFA Charterholders, industry experts, as well as the senior management of the target company, is an invaluable complement to their regular course work.”