IBA Team Wins Two Awards at CFA Institute Research Challenge 2018-19

February 1, 2019: The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual, global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. Students work in teams to research and analyze a publicly traded company and then write a research report on their assigned company with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation. CFA IRC is a unique blend of academic and industry knowledge and is one of a kind experience which greatly adds to the knowledge bank of participating students.

The subject company for the challenge this year was Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Ltd and two teams from IBA, Patronus and Top Gear, participated. Their research delved into the auto industry dynamics including a thorough analysis of the factors impacting the industry's growth and those posing the highest risk. Interactions with the industry mentors remained a crucial part of the competition which not only assisted them with their initial research but also subsequently provided guidance to shape their ideas coherently. This 4-month long endeavor taught them to navigate through the process of research, the value of teamwork and confidence in presenting our ideas.

Both teams from IBA successfully cleared the first round in which they made a financial model and wrote an equity research report on Honda Atlas Cars (HCAR) and were ranked among the top five teams out of all participating teams from more than ten universities of Pakistan. Team "Patronus" which comprised of five undergraduate students: Hafsa Shad, Hibbah Muhammad, Manisha Gridhari, Mubashira Aslam and Muhammad Owais.team was successful in winning the best presentation award at CFA IRC Local Final. The same team was also awarded the second position in the overall local final (initial report submission plus presentation).

"Winning two awards was not possible without efforts of a number of people. We would like to thank IBA for providing us with this unique platform, our mentor- Ms Shumaila Badar- for her insight and continued support, our alumni- for their honest feedback and guidance, and our faculty advisor- Ms Sana Tauseef- for her trust in our ability. It has been an amazing and unforgettable journey we're all proud to have been a part of!"