Members of the UTM Fast Four team

Banking students excel in national competition

Gareth Trickey

Four undergraduate students from U of T Mississauga have outclassed more than 220 opposing teams from across North America, Europe and Asia to finish in the top 25 of this year’s National Investment Banking Competition.

Jun Yo Kim, Sally Lam, Jin Young Han and Jiachen Yao, known as the UTM Fast Four, were among the top 25 competing in the finals in Vancouver last week.

The four students from U of T Mississauga’s Institute for Management and Innovation secured a finals berth after submitting one of the winning presentations in the preliminary round.

While the UTM Fast Four finished outside the top three, the students did have the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of a panel of managing directors and senior investment bankers from institutions such as Macquarie Capital, RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities.

UTM Fast Four member Kim said the team performed well in daunting conditions.

“The presentation part of the assessment was ok but the question and answer segment was very technical,” Kim said.

“The judges were obviously very experienced and if there were any holes in your answers they were quick to point them out.”

More than 30 business schools and universities from Canada, USA, Europe and Asia competed in the 2014 NIBC.

The challenges were designed to test students’ problem solving abilities, public speaking skills and understanding of complex financial concepts.

The top three teams from the finals shared $15,000 in prize money.

Kim said that while the competition required a lot of time and energy, the chance to present their studies to senior investment bankers made it highly worthwhile.  

“We found the event to be a valuable experience because we were able to meet and network with senior financiers,” he said.

“It also gave us the opportunity to gain professional training that you would otherwise only get from an internship.”