The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an equity research competition among student teams from the world's top university business and finance programs. It offers the best real-life experience for groups of young talents to produce a complete research report on a company and compete with other (international) teams! Ethics, education and professional excellence are core to the competition and it provides participants with the opportunity to showcase technical and soft skills and meet employers. 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.
To get a better picture of what to expect, read the following:
Upon invitation from CFA Society 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. The winning team receives a €1000 check and a one-day presentation training (market value €5000,-) to further develop their skills. The winners will advance to the Regional, Sub-regional Western Europe Finals and possibly even the global Research Challenge Finals in New York. The second team receives €500 and the third team €250 in prize money.
Throughout the competition, CFA Society Netherlands' investment professionals volunteer as mentors, graders and judges and teach students best practices in equity research and corporate analysis.
For the 2024-2025 competition year, we are very much looking forward to a live - and no doubt lively - competition! The competition will start in fall 2024.
Participating teams in 2023/2024:
Learn more about the CFA Institute Research Challenge.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge owes its success to the invaluable input of volunteers who serve as committee members, mentors and report graders. Find out how you can contribute your time and skills to benefit the Research Challenge and help university students find their way in the investment industry. Download the job descriptions via CFA Institute Research Challenge or contact Alex Morozov for more information.
Research Challenge Benelux:
Sub-Regional dates:
Regional and Global Final Dates (for the 2023 / 2024 competition)
The local events up to the Benelux Finals are organised and hosted by CFA Society Netherlands. The sub-regional, regional, and global competitions are hosted by CFA Institute.
This year’s Research Challenge was among our most successful competitions in history in terms of its reach. We started with 16 teams participating, including first-time participants Utrecht University and Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (Morocco). Given the number of participants, we opted to expand the number of finalists to 4 teams, and given how tight the range of report grades was, we are happy we did!
Every year we try to challenge students when it comes to business complexity, and Aalberts was no exception, with several only somewhat-related businesses under one umbrella. Significant differences in these segments made the analysis challenging – understanding addressable markets, future competitive positioning, margin and cash flow generation – and test management team’s ambitious plans in the process – would be a tall task even for a seasoned equity analyst.
The reports quality was particularly good this year, and 4 finalists – Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), ICHEC-Louvain School of Management, Amsterdam Business School (ABS), and Utrecht School of Economics (USE) – were only separated by an unprecedented 1 point! While all report grades were remarkably close, the presentations revealed one clear and unanimous winner. Team Utrecht was complimented by the judges for its compelling investment case supported by well-articulated and organized evidence. What a debut for them in the Finals!
See here for the picture gallery.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge Benelux is sponsored by:
