Financial Trading Competition at University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management Attracts Students from Around the World

TORONTO, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Finance and business students from around the world will once again gather at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto for an elite student trading competition. The seventh annual Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC) takes place in the Rotman Financial Research and Trading Lab from February 18 to 20. This year's competition features forty-four teams of undergraduate and graduate students, including teams from the University of Hong Kong, University of Chicago, University of Queensland Australia, and Cass Business School (London, UK). The teams will battle for $25,000 in prizes that will be awarded to teams based on performance.

RITC features simulated trading cases that challenge students by engaging them in competitive trading, risk management, and analytical scenarios.  Each case is designed with a specific theme, such as commodities trading or credit risk.  Winning teams are able to demonstrate over the three day event their ability to understand, price, and successfully execute trading strategies on a consistent basis to outperform the rest of the field.

Following last year's competition, faculty advisor Jason Hall from the University of Queensland, said that "the competition does an outstanding job of simulating conditions in the world of finance".

"Students work really hard at their home universities to win the privilege to come to RITC," says Kevin Mak, competition director, who is also the manager of the Rotman Financial Research and Trading Lab.  "Some of the best young minds in the area of trading have come here to show off their talent.  Employers have noticed that and are aggressively recruiting them from the competition."

"The lab's experiential learning approach is a natural setting for collaborative development of new trading cases that are featured at RITC every year," adds Rotman Prof. Tom McCurdy, who is the founder of the Rotman Financial Research and Trading Lab, one of the earliest educational finance labs in the world.

Media are invited to the opening outcry trading session and reception, which will be held at the Rotman School on Thursday, February 18 at 7:00 p.m. To celebrate the competition, participants, sponsors, and Rotman faculty and staff will also be opening the market at the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday, February 19 at 9:30 a.m.

BP Canada Energy Company, Canada's leading natural gas value chain company, has sponsored the BP Commodities Trading Case this year. In addition, Alpha Group sponsored the Alpha ATS: Sales & Trader Case and CIBC sponsored the CIBC Algorithmic High Frequency Trading Case. Additional financial support for the competition was provided by Manulife Financial.

Complete details regarding the competition are available online at www.rotman.utoronto.ca/finance/lab/competitions-itc10-home.asp.

The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is redesigning business education for the 21st century with a curriculum based on Integrative Thinking. Located in the world's most diverse city, the Rotman School fosters a new way to think that enables the design of creative business solutions. The School is currently raising $200 million to ensure Canada has the world-class business school it deserves. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.

SOURCE Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto