Recently, students from SUSS Investment Interest Group (SIG) competed at the “Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Ethics Challenge 2021" – a University Ethics Challenge that promotes the highest standards of ethics, education and professional excellence through experiential learning. This challenge, participated by our SIG students annually, is part of CFA Institute's Future of Finance initiative and aims to prepare students who are entering the investment profession for ethical challenges in the workplace.
Competing teams of the ethics challenge were expected to identify and analyse the ethical issues in a given case study and judged based on their recommended course of action and ability to identify and analyse dilemmas and violations to the CFA Institute Code of Ethics & Standards of Professional Conduct.
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SUSS SIG team at the CFA University Ethics Challenge
Up against strong competitors from local universities, NTU, NUS and SMU, our SIG competing team, ‘Team Black and White’, consisted of three students, Isaac Teo, Sadayan Izzuddin and Dione Goh, who worked tirelessly, researching and studying the prevalence of real-world ethical dilemmas and proposed creative modern management solutions for the financial services industry. Fuelled by their determination to win, the team ensured that they were all well prepared by familiarising with the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct and worked collaboratively, pulling together a convincing and well-substantiated narrative for their presentation.
All their hard work and effort paid off as they triumphed in the semi-finals soon after, but the fight was not over. At the finals, Team Black and White geared up and contested head-to-head with NTU for the top spot. After a very close fight and rounds of contesting, the team secured their position as first runner-up. Elated by this delightful news, the student-led group shared, "It is an honour representing SUSS in the CFA Ethics Challenge and coming in as a National First Runner Up. We hope that our success, being the first team in SUSS’ history to attain a podium finish in a CFA competition, will inspire other students."
Dr Carmen Shih, Dr Tan Eng Joo and Mr Simon Ng, SUSS Investment Group advisors, were proud of the students’ achievements. "Ethics is an integral part of finance and it is gratifying to see our students develop a track record of excellence in this competition," praised Dr Tan Eng Joo, Senior Lecturer of SUSS Finance Degree.
Reflecting on the competition and their win, Dione Goh, Year 3 Finance Student and President of SUSS Investment Group, enthused, “Keeping my team motivated as we commit to our full-time internships and balancing our academic workload was a challenge in itself, and I am proud of my team for navigating the competition."
Well done, SUSS SIG!