Bank of America Research Challenge enticed students to analyze the stock market to compete for a place in the final stage of the bank’s internship selection process
A team composed of three students from Insper’s Undergraduate Programs won the international Bank of America Research Challenge. The competition, which took place between August and November 2020, asked groups of students to analyze a major automotive company’s stocks. The prize for the challenge’s winning team was a place in the final stage of the bank’s internship selection process.
It is one of the main financial market competitions for Brazilian undergrads. The contest attracts over 150 groups of three or four students from the most diverse colleges across the country. During the challenge time, meetings and mentoring sessions with the bank’s local and global analysts and directors were also carried out.
For Fernando Bandeira Maia, a third-semester Economics student at Insper, the competition’s long process yielded much learning for the participants. “Insper was an essential aspect in our conquest, not only for the knowledge acquired at the school and the analytical training but also for the access to research resources, professors, and entities.”
Pedro Teo, a student in the 4th semester of Business Administration, also considers that taking part in the competition the bank proposed brought forth valuable results. “Besides having had contact with several bank analysts, we had the opportunity to assist some groups of colleges from all over Brazil who reached out to us after the competition results announcement. This exchange of knowledge is priceless, and we are thrilled to be able to contribute”.
“InFinance’s culture of excellence [learn more below] has encouraged us to always think ‘outside the box.’ It resulted in both unexpected analyses and a non-trivial conclusion,” adds Gustavo Berger, a sixth-semester Mechatronics Engineering student.
Discover InFinance
InFinance is a student organization created in 2012 with the purpose of bringing everyday university life closer to the financial market’s reality. The entity promotes a series of events and lectures open to the Insper community. InFinance members are also trained through classes and projects – mentored by market professionals – in the Fixed Income, M&A, Private Equity, Credit, and Equity Research hubs.
“Insper and InFinance were instrumental in this achievement. While Insper provided us with academic knowledge, InFinance granted us practical knowledge of the corporate finance world by bringing its members closer to the country’s leading financial institutions. The various training courses organized by the entity also brought fundamental technical knowledge to the complexity of our analyses.” Fernando explains.
Learn more about InFinance here (content in Portuguese).
