The team made up of students from the MSc in Finance of the Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics was the winner of the national competition of the CFA Institute Research Challenge 2021, which took place last February 25, among several schools in Portugal –FEP, ISEG, Nova SBE, ISCTE - qualifying as the only Portuguese team to represent Portugal in the European semifinal of the competition, which will take place on the 13th and 14th of April.

The CATÓLICA-LISBON team, made up of students Christian Gahrens, Yann Lelong, Bernardo Garcês, Bernhard Schmits and Giovanni Verde, analyzed and evaluated SONAE financially, as well as the multinational's investment risks and ESG criteria (Environmental, Social and Governance ), under the guidance of Professor José Tudela Martins, gaining experience in the real world as they took on the role of research analysts. Each student was assessed for their analytical, assessment, reporting and presentation skills.

CATÓLICA-LISBON students will compete with teams from Cyprus, Croatia, Slovenia, Spain, Greece, Israel, Istanbul, Italy and Serbia in the European sub-regional semifinal. The winner will be qualified for the European final, culminating in the global final, which takes place on April 20 and April 22, respectively.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a global competition that takes place every year, promoted by the Chartered Financial Analysts Institute, which offers university finance students practical guidance, intensive training in financial analysis and the possibility of contacting the best professionals in the sector . This year the competition took place virtually in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.