Sri Jayewardenepura Uni in Asia Pacific’s top six in global investment research challenge

From left: Rasanga Weliwatte, K.A. De A. Wijesinghe, Punsalani Dias (Team Leader), Malinga Arsakularatne – President CFA Sri Lanka, C.R. Ponnaperuma and V.O.V. Karunaratne

Representing Sri Lanka, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura advanced to the Asia-Pacific regional final of the 2011 Global Investment Research Challenge (Global IRC), hosted by CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals.

The university was one of six that made it into the final out of 16 teams that competed from across Asia-Pacific region.

University of Jayewardenepura was the winner of the CFA Sri Lanka Challenge 2010 held last year and proceeded to take part in the Asia Pacific competition. While this was the fourth year running that CFA Sri Lanka Challenge was held, it is the first time that the Sri Lankan team made the finals in the Asia Pacific competition.  The CFA Sri Lanka Challenge 2010 was conducted by CFA Sri Lanka with the Colombo Stock Exchange as the main sponsor and supported by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka.            



From around the world, more than 500 universities have participated this year in local competitions as part of the Global IRC. They include more than 600 students from 142 universities from Asia-Pacific.

In the regional final held in Bali, Indonesia on 25 February 2011, 16 student teams, which were the winners of local competitions in Japan, South Korea, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, and New Zealand, took part.

The six teams were selected to the Asia Pacific final were: National University of Science and Technology – Pakistan, University of the Philippines, Diliman – the Philippines, Thammasat University – Thailand, Indian Institute of Management, Shillong – India, University of Sri Jayawardenepura – Sri Lanka, and Massey University – New Zealand.

The Asia-Pacific champion this year was Thammasat University from Thailand, which will proceed to compete in the grand finale of Global IRC to be held in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States.

Dr. Ashvin Vibhakar, CFA, Managing Director of Asia-Pacific Operations, CFA Institute commented: “The mission of CFA Institute is to prepare future leaders in the investment profession. Through the Global IRC, the future generation of investment professionals comes to know the rigor and high ethical standards required of investment management.”

“Business and finance schools from top universities across Asia Pacific have increasingly recognised the value and benefits of participating in the CFA Institute Global IRC, with the number of teams growing dramatically from 29 in 2008 to 142 this year,” he said.

An international panel of judges consisting of leading finance professionals holds the students to real-world standards in analysis and ethics.

Judging panellists in the Asia-Pacific final were Poltak Hotradero from the Indonesian Stock Exchange; Keisuke Ito, CFA, from Japan; Aaron Low, CFA, from Singapore; Jane Shao, CFA, from China; and Peter Wilmshurst, CFA, from Australia. They commented that the quality of presentations was outstanding, and all finalist teams performed extremely well.

Students of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura team were: Charmini Romesha Ponnamperuma; Punsalani Ishari Dias; Rasanga Abhishek Weliwatte; K.A. De A. Wijesinghe and Vidanage Olar Vijith Karunaratne. Their faculty advisor is Y.K. Weerakoon Banda and industry mentor is Nishantha Jayaweera, CFA.