NBS undergraduates win the CFA Ethics Challenge 2021

Congratulations to Spade Capital and Luminous for emerging Champion and Second Runner up respectively in the CFA Ethics Challenge 2021!

Companies in Singapore are increasingly posing ethical dilemma scenarios to prospective internship and job candidates. Organised by CFA Society Singapore in the 4^th consecutive year, CFA Ethics Challenge 2021 was a great event where participants would be introduced to a new approach to ethics pedagogy through experiential learning. Competing teams were challenged to analyze ethics dilemmas and violations of the given case company and make recommendations on how to handle these issues.

After emerging National Champion at the Singapore Finals, Team Spade Capital represented Singapore at the APAC Regional Ethnic Challenge.  The team went into head-on competition against teams from Japan, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and the Philippines, and was eventually crowned the Grand Champion in the regional challenge.

Interestingly, Spade Capital’s 3 team members, Kok Yu Rong Martin, Wong Shi Han and Creighton Stanley Yeo Wei Chen, were all from the same programme, specialisation and study year (i.e. ACBS, Y2, Banking and Finance).

Reflecting on the experience, they shared the following thoughts: “It was a challenge to condense our insights into a succinct presentation within 48 hours. Nevertheless, it was fruitful to have appreciated the importance of ethical behavior in the investment management industry. Having a clear flow of presentation, coupled with rigorous analysis of ethical violations and comprehensive solutions to tackle them, helped us stand out from amongst 120 teams in the APAC round.”

The team would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to the CFA Society for the opportunity to represent Singapore as well as to NBS UPO for coordinating the communications between the team and the organizers. 

Team Luminous, consisting of Priyanka Rakappan (BUS, Y2), Jerlyn Chua (ACBS, Y2) and Tanasorn Rajanasingsawd (BUS, Y2), emerged as 2^nd Runner Up in the 2021 CFA Ethics Challenge Singapore Finals.

The team stood out with their detailed and thorough analysis of the industry and ethical dilemmas. They impressed the panel of judges with executable strategies.

Reflecting on the experience, Team Luminous shared that “It was interesting to see the industry through an ethical perspective, especially since the focus of most challenges is on competitive strategies. Through working on the case and having discussions with the judges, one of our key takeaways was understanding the fact that there are always grey areas when it comes to ethical dilemmas. Hence, when developing recommendations, we have to focus on multiple aspects instead of trying to address just one issue. All in all, this experience was certainly an eye-opening one and through this competition, we understand ethics on a deeper level, especially in the context of financial institutions.”

Well done, teams Spade Capital and Luminous! Thank you for making NBS proud!