CFA Society Toronto Ethics Challenge

The Canadian Ethics Challenge is a Canada-wide competition between university student teams from undergraduate and graduate finance or economics programs coordinated by CFA Society Toronto. Each team analyzes a case study created by CFA Institute and distributed through CFA Societies Canada that is released in January, and presents their findings four weeks later at a local-level competition highlighting the ethical dilemmas and solutions based on their case study. The winners from each local competition moves forward to compete at the national level of the competition coordinated by CFA Societies Canada. This year’s national competition has been postponed until the fall of 2020.

This year’s winners of the local competition for CFA Society Toronto’s Ethics Challenge were from the University of Waterloo’s School of Accounting and Finance. Jenny Chen (team captain), Effy Gao, Joanne Leung, and Tristan Yuen delivered a stellar presentation to the judges at the local competition held on February 11, 2020. Dr. Krista Fiolleau, CPA, CFA, was the faculty advisor for the winning team.

(left to right) Tristan Yuen, Effy Gao, Jenny Chen, and Joanne Leung

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. Students write an equity research report on a publicly traded company, and present their findings to an expert panel. Teams that take first place at the local level competition advance to the virtual regional competition. Teams will use video conferencing technology such as Zoom to record their presentations, given current social distancing guidelines. The top teams from each of the regional competitions will advance to the virtual global competition, where one team will be crowned as champions.

This year’s CFA Society Toronto and CFA Society Ottawa Research Challenge local competition winners were from the University of Waterloo’s School of Accounting and Finance. Mitchell Ho (team captain), Logan Fraser, John Guttman, Isaac Wong and Pamela Zeng delivered a comprehensive presentation on this year’s subject company, Descartes Systems Group Inc., with a confidence and clarity that won over the judges on February 20, 2020. Steve Balaban, CFA, was the faculty advisor and Jeannine LiChong, CFA, was the team mentor for the winning team. The winners from each local competition move forward to compete at the regional level of the competition, which will be held virtually in April 2020.

(left to right) Logan Fraser, Pamela Zeng, Mitchell Ho, and Isaac Wong

Undergraduate Finance & Economics Scholarship Awards

In our continuing efforts to promote the high standards of the CFA designation to our next generation of financial professionals, CFA Society Toronto was pleased to host the Undergraduate Finance and Economics Scholarship Awards. Third and fourth-year finance or economics students from universities and colleges across Ontario submitted their applications, along with their resumés and a 500-word essay outlining why they should be selected for the award, in December 2019. Their submissions were reviewed by a panel of investment practitioners and CFA Society Toronto volunteers, and the top scoring applicants also had phone interviews with the judges. Here are this year’s scholarship winners, who were celebrated at the Annual Awards Reception on February 20, 2020, following the 2020 CFA Society Toronto & CFA Society Toronto Research Challenge at the TMX Broadcast Centre.

Third-year Recipients

First place ($3,000): Deven Chander, Queen’s University

Second place ($2,000): Tina Fang, Queen’s University

Third place ($1,000): Lucy Yang, University of Waterloo

Fourth-year Recipients

First place ($3,000): David Hao, Queen’s University

Second place ($2,000): Garbo Liu, University of Waterloo

Third place ($1,000): Nicolas Ouellette, Queen’s University

(left to right) Lucy Yang and Stephanie Poon, CFA, Research Challenge judge and reception emcee

For more information on CFA Society Toronto awards and scholarships, please contact awards@cfatoronto.ca or call 416-366-5755 x225.  

Volunteer Spotlight Awards

Vikram Iyer, CFA has been a dynamic Mentorship Program Mentor since 2017. While in the program, Vikram has enthusiastically worked with his protégés to guide them in their career progression. Vikram remarked that he’s also learned a great deal form his protégés over the years. Vikram was tagged as a Mentorship Program Speed Mentor twice, and he’s also been a lead speaker for that program’s “Day in the Life of” speakers series. During that presentation, he spoke about structured credit and collateralized loan obligations and the challenges of investor awareness and potential risk/return trade-off.

As a university lecturer and Mentor with the Society, Vikram has a passion for helping others achieve their professional goals. The Society would like to thank Vikram for all his efforts with the Mentorship Program and being such a dedicated volunteer! 

Ashley Warburton, MFin., CFA has been a society volunteer on the Industry Relations & Corporate Governance Committee since 2016, and recently joined the Member Communications Committee in 2019. She is a tireless advocate for diversity within our industry, and her volunteer efforts have focused on expanding the dialogue on this important issue through the development of Society events and partnerships on the subject. She recently had the opportunity to sit down with CFA Institute CEO Marg Franklin, and profile her for the December 2019 edition of the Society’s The Analyst. Thank you, Ashley, for your continued support and in adding value for our membership and with the Society! 

To view past Society Volunteer Spotlight and Spirit Award recipients, please click here.