TORONTO, April 25, 2017 /CNW/ - University students from across Canada will compete for recognition as emerging finance leaders in the 2017 Canadian Ethics Challenge. Judged by a panel of senior industry professionals, students will analyze a challenging ethical case study in real-life investment scenarios.

The Canadian Ethics Challenge local competitions are held between Janurary and March and hosted by CFA® Societies across Canada. Winners from each local level competition will advance to the national finals on 01 June 2017 at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Toronto. This is the first time CFA Societies Canada will host a nationwide competition of this nature.

"On 09 January 2014, CFA Society Toronto held the first Ethics Challenge, where three teams from local CFA Institute Program Partner Universities participated. With the overwhelming success of this initaitive, we are proud to see it evolve into a nationwide competition. By working together with local Societies across the country, we are able to broaden our reach to educate future practitioners on the importance of maintaining high ethical standards and how it affects the bottom line." Sue Lemon, CFA, CEO, CFA Society Toronto.

The Canadian Ethics Challenge is designed to increase students' awareness of the ethical dilemmas they may encounter as future investment management practitioners. Student teams are given an ethics case to study and evaluate. Each team presents its analysis and recommendations to a panel of judges and following a question and answer period with each team, a winner is selected. The competition gives students an opportunity to navigate real life ethical dilemmas developing the next generation of ethical leaders in support of building a stronger Future of Finance.

"The winning team will have the most accurate conclusions on violations to the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct. Decisions will be based on the quality of the team's understanding of the ethical issues involved, quality of their analysis, presentation, and responses to the judges questions." Emily Burt, CFA, local competition judge for the Prairie region.

Finalist teams from each local competition include:

Each student team from competing schools include a faculty advisor who serves as the team's mentor to provide students with practical advice and guidance throughout the competition.

"It was clear that the teams spent a long time co-ordinating, researching and presenting their responses in a thoughtful and careful manner." said Dale Griffin, faculty advisor for the student team from University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business. "There was clear passion for the contest and a strong desire to convey a sense of right and wrong in the investment management industry." added Dale.

For more information visit  the Canadian Ethics Challenge.

About CFA Societies Canada
CFA Societies Canada is an alliance of the 12 Canadian member societies of CFA Institute, with over 16,000 combined members in Canada. CFA Institute is the global body that administers the Chartered Financial Analyst® exam and sets voluntary, ethics-based performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. CFA Institute is a global, non-profit professional association of more than 146,000 investment practitioners and educators in 148 member societies. CFA Institute and its member societies work together to achieve a common vision - to advance ethical decision making and rigorous educational standards throughout the investment profession, along with protecting and promoting the CFA designation. For more information, please refer to www.cfasociety.org/canada

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