13th Pakistan Final
Online Via Zoom
March 2021
The Pakistan Final of CFA Institute Research Challenge was held online via Zoom on 3 March 2021.
Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL) was pronounced the Winner of the competition by our esteemed judges and Institute of Business Adninistration (IBA) - Team 2 was the Runner up. KSBL has won the Research Challenge Competition for the 5th time in a row this year!
The subject company for this year's local challenge was Meezan Bank Limited.
Out of a total of 16 participating teams from all over Pakistan, the following teams qualified for the Local Final.
- Institute of Business Administration (IBA) - Team 1
- Institute of Business Administration (IBA) - Team 2
- Institute of Business Management (IoBM)
- Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL)
- Sukku IBA University (SIBA)
Our Panel of esteemed judges included the following:
- Mr. Fawad Khan, Director, Center for Financial Studies, Prince Sultan University
- Mr. Imtiaz Gadar, CFA, Head of Capital Markets, Bank Al Falah Ltd.
- Mr. Navid Goraya, Chief Investment Officer, Karandaaz Pakistan
- Mr. Syed Suleman Akhtar, Chief Investment Officer, UBL Fund Managers Limited
- Ms. Uzma Maqbool, CFA, Head of Business Planning and Analysis, TCS Private Limited
Mr. Aamir Khan, Chairman, SECP graced the event as the Chief Guest and Mr. Irfan Siddiqui, President & CEO, Meezan Bank Limited also attended the online event and announced cash prizes for the finalists.
A complete video recording of the event is available here.
12th Pakistan Final
Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi
February 2020
The Local Final of CFA Institute Research Challenge was held on 3rd February, 2020 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi.
Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL) was pronounced the Winner of the competition by our esteemed judges and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) was the Runner up. KSBL has won the Research Challenge Competition for the 4th time in a row this year.
The subject company for this year's local challenge was National Foods Limited.
Out of a total of 13 participating teams from all over Pakistan, the following five universities qualified for the Local Final.
- Institute of Business Administration (IBA)
- Institute of Business Management (IoBM)
- Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL)
- Lahore Institute of Management Science (LUMS)
- National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST)
Our Panel of esteemed judges for the 12th Local CFA Institute Research Challenge included the following:
- Mohammad Shoaib, CFA, CEO, Al Meezan Investment Ltd.
- Ayesha Aziz, CFA, MD, Pak Brunei Investment Company Ltd.
- Asif Qureshi, CFA, Executive Director, Optimus Capital Management (Pvt) Ltd.
- Imtiaz Gadar, CFA, Head of Capital Markets, Bank Al Falah Ltd.
- Farrukh Sabzwari, Commissioner, SECP graced the event as the Chief Guest and Mr. Abrar Hasan, CEO, National Foods Limited was the Keynote speaker for the evening.
The event qualified for 2 CE hours for CFA Society members.
Pictures of the event are available here.
11th Pakistan Final
Avari Towers Hotel, Karachi
February 2019
The Local Final of CFA Institute Research Challenge was held on 1st February, 2019 at Avari Towers Hotel, Karachi. Karachi School of Business and Leadership was pronounced the Winner of the competition by our esteemed judges and Team B of Institute of Business Administration was the Runner up. KSBL has won the Research Challenge Competition for the 3rd time this year.
The subject company for this year's local challenge was Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited (HCAR) .
Out of a total of 13 participating teams from all over Pakistan, the following four universities qualified for the Local Final.
- Institute of Business Administration (IBA)
- Institute of Business Management (IOBM)
- Karachi School of Business and Leadership (KSBL)
- Lahore Institute of Management Science (LUMS)
Our Panel of esteemed judges for the 11th Local CFA Institute Research Challenge included the following:
- Farid Ahmed Khan, CFA - CEO, HBL Asset Management Limited
- Maheen Rahman - CEO, Alfalah GHP Investment Management
- Jafar Khan, CFA - Deputy Head of MENA/GCC Re gion, Internal Equities, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
- Murad Ansari - Head of Asia Frontier Research, EFG Hermes
Mr. Shahid Nasim, Executive Director, Supervision Department, SECP graced the event as the Chief Guest and Mr. Ahmad Umair Wajid, CFO, HCAR was the Guest of Honor.
The event qualified for 2 CE hours for CFA Society members.
10th Pakistan Final
Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi
March 2018
CFA Society Pakistan hosted the 10th Research Challenge Local Final on March 08, 2018 at Pearl Continental, Karachi. Among the sixteen participating teams, five university teams advanced to the local final:
- Institute of Business Administration, Karachi
- Institute of Business Management
- Karachi School for Business and Leadership
- Lahore School of Economics
- National University of Science and Technology
The ARX Asia Pacific Research Exchange Best Presenter award was secured by KSBL. The winner for 10th Local Final was KSBL.
This year our prestigious judges were:
- Mr. Imtiaz Gader, CFA, Head of Capital Markets, Bank Alfalah,
- Mr. Muhammad Asim. CFA, CIO MCB Arif Habib Savings and Investment,
- Mr. M. Asad, CFA, CIO, Al Meezan
- Mr. Sajjad Anwer, CFA, CIO, NBP Fullerton Asset Management Company.
- Mr. Taimur Khan, Chief LNG, LPG and Chemical
Mr. Richard Morin, CEO, Pakistan Stock Exchange, graced the occasion as Chief Guest.
9th Pakistan Final
Avari Towers
February 2017
Eleven universities participated in the Local IRC held on Thursday 16 February 2017 at Avari Towers Karachi. Bank Alfalah was the target company. Mr. Atif Bajwa, CEO and President of Bank Alfalah, graced the occasion as the chief guest. He appreciated the Society for organizing such events.
This year prestigious panel of judges for local finale comprised of:
- Mr. Muhammad Sohail CEO Topline Securities,
- Mr. Farrukh Sabzwari, Director Equities Sales at Credit Suisse (former),
- Mr. Abdul Aziz Anis, CFA, Director – Head Equity Broking, BIPL Securities and
- Mr. Mir Muhammad Ali, CFA.
Ashraf Bava, CFA, President & Advocacy Chair CFA Society Pakistan delivered the welcome note highlighting Society’s many accomplishments and projects underway.
One of the board members of the CFA Society Pakistan, Muhammad Asim, CFA, gave an overview of the competition and its significance while also performing the role of Master of Ceremony.
Syed Akbar Ali, CFA, FRM, the Project Head of IRC, had coordinated between universities and industry mentors, his zealous efforts brought about the well planned Local Finale.
8th Pakistan Final
Students from 12 leading business schools in Pakistan such as Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, IBA Sukkur, Institute of Business Management (IoBM), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore School of Economics (LSE), NUST Business School, FAST – NU, Karachi School for Business & Leadership, Bahria University, Greenwich University, Iqra University and SZABIST took part in the competition this year. Pakistan State Oil (PSO) was selected as the target company.
IBA Karachi won the competition and its team will proceed for Regional final to Chicago, USA. The 1st Runner Up of the challenge was LUMS while KSBL was the 2nd Runners Up. Mr. Yacoob Suttar, DMD - Finance/CFO, Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd graced the occasion as Chief Guest and appreciated the efforts of the students in their in-depth analysis of the Company. He also recognized the efforts of CFA Society Pakistan in nurturing the talents in the country and hoped for bright futures for the younger generation. Mr. Ashraf Bava, CFA, President and Syed Akbar Ali, CFA, FRM, Chair GIRC from CFA Society Pakistan also spoke on the occasion.
Last year, there were a total of 127 local finals, with more than 3,700 students from over 825 universities worldwide including top business schools being ranked in Financial Times. To mark the 10th year of the Global CFA Institute Research Challenge, both regional and global finals of this year's CFA Institute Research Challenge will be held simultaneously in Chicago, USA during April 2016.
7th Pakistan Final
This year, the winners of the Local Finale of 7th CFA Institute Research Challenge (IRC) were students of IBA, Karachi who proceeded onto Manila, Philippines to compete in the regional challenge held on March 12, 2015. Great work and great exposure for the aspiring students!
CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring by industry professionals, intensive training in financial analysis and great exposure both locally and globally. Interest can be gauged by the fact that 865 universities participated globally in the 7th Research Challenge.
CFA Pakistan has run the Local Finale of the Research Challenge successfully since last few years. Eleven Universities from Pakistan participated this year and the subject company was United Bank Limited (UBL). We are grateful to Nadeem Naqvi, MD Karachi Stock Exchange who was kind enough to allow us to conduct the kickoff meeting in KSE auditorium. Mr. Arif Akmal Saifi, CFA - Financial Controller, Head of Investor Relations, UBL made the initial presentation about the bank to the students. A live streaming was arranged for the universities based outside Karachi at Lahore, Islamabad and Sukkur followed by Q&A session.
Senior members of the industry volunteered to evaluate the research reports and act as judges to the Challenge. Five universities made it to the Local Finale which were IBA Karachi, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore School of Economics (LSE), National University of Science & Technology (NUST) and Karachi School for Business & Leadership (KSBL). IBA Karachi won the Local Finale while the First and Second runner ups were LUMS and LSE respectively. Mr. Aameer Karachiwala, Chief Operating Officer of UBL, graced the occasion as Chief Guest and appreciated CFA institute's and CFA Society Pakistan's initiative and efforts in arranging industry competitions that support the students in their career and expand their exposure.