IBA Karachi won the local final of 8th CFA Institute Research Challenge (IRC) held at a local hotel. Renowned financial sector professionals belonging to top-tier banks, DFIs, AMCs and Brokerage Houses attended the annual event hosted by the CFA Society Pakistan. The winning team will now represent Pakistan at the 2016 Asia-Pacific Regional Finals to be held in Chicago, USA on 11-13 April 2016.
Owing to credible repute and strong investor relation support, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) was chosen as the subject company for research challenge this year. Students from 12 leading business schools 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 were required to present detailed equity research report for the company.
The IRC is an annual competition organised by the CFA Society Pakistan which gives opportunity to the students from Pakistan's top business schools to learn from the industry experts and compete with their peers. The challenge teaches participants best practices in equity research through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.
Ashraf Bava, President CFA Society Pakistan delivered the welcome speech in the event and talked about various activities society is presently doing. One of the board members of the CFA Society Pakistan, Syed Akbar Ali, who was also the Project Head of IRC, gave an overview of the competition and its significance while also performing the role of Master of Ceremony.
This year panel of judges for Pakistan Final comprised of Qasim Lakhani (CEO Fortune Securities), Sajjad Anwar (CIO NAFA), Muhammad Asim (CIO MCBAH) and Imtiaz Gadar (Head of Public Markets, Bank Al-Falah) while the graders were Imran Rafiq (Head of Research NIT), Sanam Khan (Head of Research & PD Al-Meezan Investments), Sana Abdullah (Head of Research Tundra Fonder) and Fawad Khan (Head of Research KASB Securities).
This year the CFA Society Pakistan also invited key note speakers to talk about "Role of LNG in Energy Mix of Pakistan" in the event. Khalid Rahman, MD SSGC and Babar Chaudhary, GM PSO enlightened the audience on the LNG project and its future prospects. Yacoob Suttar, Chief Financial Officer PSO, graced the occasion as the chief guest and appreciated the quality of the young presenters and their ability to handle testing questions from the esteemed panel of judges.-PR