Research Challenge

CFA Institute Research Challenge

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an equity research competition among student teams from the world’s top university business and finance programs. CFA Society Netherlands introduced the Challenge to the Netherlands as a means to promote best practices in research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.

In 2010 the Challenge was expanded to include Belgium and in 2013 Luxembourg was added to create the CFA Institute Research Challenge in the Benelux.

See an introduction to the challenge: Two-minute video about the Research Challenge

Read what the press wrote: Coverage in het Financieele Dagblad

To get a better picture of what to expect, read the following:

Research Challenge Benelux Finals 2019

How is the Challenge organized?

Upon invitation from CFA Society VBA Netherlands, local universities assemble teams of 3 to 5 persons each. Under guidance of a mentor, students write an equity research report on a publicly traded company, and present their findings to a distinguished panel of experts.

The teams are judged on their written reports and the accompanying presentations and a winner is selected. Every member of the winning team receives a CFA program scholarship as well as a €1000 check. Furthermore, the winner will advance to the EMEA and possibly even the global Research Challenge Finals. Throughout the competition, CFA Society Netherlands’ investment professionals volunteer as mentors and judges and teach students best practices in equity research and corporate analysis.

The 2019-2020 Schedule

Oct 18: CFA Institute deadline to submit list of participating universities. We are kindly asking you to send me a confirmation of your participation prior to October 11th. Students will have 2 weeks (end of October) to complete their individual registrations.

Oct 23: Kick-off event held at Erasmus University from 16:00 to ~18:00. The participating teams are invited to attend to learn about the Challenge, get pointers from an industry expert, hear from the prior winners about their experience, and get an overview of the Factset platform that students will get access to during their research process. We will at that time also unveil the name of the “target company”. This informal introduction will be followed by drinks.

Nov 22: A “Day at the Sponsor” event held at NNIP offices in Den Hague. In the past, the event started around 12:00 and lasted until evening. The program will include a company presentation from the target company’s senior executive (a 30 min presentation followed by Q&A). Given this is the only opportunity for students to ask questions directly to company’s management.

Early January (TBD): Research submission deadline

Mid-February (TBD): Local Finals (Amsterdam)

1-2 April 2020: EMEA Regionals (Jordan)

Volunteers needed

The CFA Institute Research Challenge cannot be successful without the invaluable input of Volunteers in the form of committee memebers, mentors and graders.

Each university team in the past had been assigned an external mentor. If you are interested in being paired up with someone with background in research and analysis, please let us know. If you do opt to be paired up, we would strongly encourage your students to take advantage of this very valuable resource!

Find out how you can contribute your time and skills to the Research Challenge and help university students make their way in the investment industry. Download the job descriptions at CFA Institute Research Challenge or contact Alex Morozov for more information.

Past Challenges

To view summaries of past Research Challenges.