A University of Jordan (UJ) student team from the School of Business was named winner of the local 2022 CFA Institute Research Challenge hosted by the CFA Society Jordan. The UJ team is to represent Jordan at the Regional Semifinals on 4th April 2022 and at Sub Regional on 12th March 2022 in Dubai.

The team comprised of 4 undergrad students: Abdel Rahman AL-Badarin, Alina Saif, Shahed Shheiber, and Nadia Masharqa, and was mentored by Dr. Mohammad Tayeh as faculty adviser and Suhaib Al-Tal from Arab Potash Co.

The Challenge was held under the support of the Amman Stock Exchange and in participation with CFA Institute. The team competed against students from 4 other leading Jordanian universities to produce the best comprehensive valuation report on Jordan Phosphate Mines Co. (JPMC). JPMC has been selected given its status as a leading Jordanian company with world-class reporting and corporate governance standards.

The presentation was made on the 1st of March and was evaluated by a panel of judges comprising leading investment industry experts. The presentation carried a 50% weight towards the final result while the actual submitted report, which was graded by CFA Charter holders, carried the other 50%.

The UJ team now advances to Sub Regional Competition which will be held in Dubai on 12th of March 3, 2022 and to the Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA) Regional semifinals which will be held virtually on the 4th of April 2022 where it will compete for a place at the Global Final on the 17th of May 2022 in New York.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a research competition for which students write an equity research report on a publicly traded company, and present their equity recommendation to an expert panel. The teams are judged on their written reports and oral presentations and a winner is selected.

“Congratulations to the UJ Team for becoming the Jordan champions,” said Jameel  Anz, CFA, and President of CFA Society Jordan. “We are extremely proud of holding this challenge for 9th time running in Jordan and feel that we all emerged as winners after this event. We truly wish the UJ team the best of luck in the next stage of the competition," he added.  

It's worth noting that CFA Jordan was established in 2002 to promote best-in-class ethical and professional standards within Jordan’s investment community as well as raise awareness about the CFA designation.