Teams from Italy and Canada Tie for First at the Rotman International Trading Competition at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management

TORONTO, Feb. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fifty-two teams including 281 student traders, analysts, and risk managers representing forty-seven different universities across Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia participated in the 11^th annual Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC) which was held at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management from February 20 to 22.

When the dust settled after six rounds of trading, two teams representing LUISS University in Italy and Universite Laval in Canada tied for first overall in the competition. A team of Master of Financial Engineering students from the University of California Berkeley placed third while a team of Master of Financial Engineering students from Baruch College placed fourth. A team of Bachelor of Commerce students from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary placed fifth.

The RITC utilizes simulated trading cases that closely mimic different aspects of real world markets -- including those for commodities, fixed income and options -- as well as particular strategies such as algorithmic market making. In addition, there were two outcry sessions which will recreate the traditional trading floors.  The competition was held on the state-of-the-art BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab, which opened last fall at Rotman School.

"Congratulations to all of the teams for their excellent preparation, enthusiastic participation and exemplary performance," said Marco Salerno, the manager of the BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab.

"The participants demonstrated their skills making real-time decisions to manage risks and opportunities associated with complex issues in financial markets", added Prof. Tom McCurdy, who is the Bonham Chair in International Finance and Founding  Director of the Lab.

The University of Toronto team composing of: Wilson Chen, a Commerce student at the University of Toronto Mississauga; Leo Guo from Engineering Science; David Hung and Iffat Kashif who are Rotman Master of Finance students; and Bowen Xue and Kevin Yang who are both students in the Rotman Commerce program; finished in the top ten in a very competitive field.

BP Energy Company was the sponsor of the BP Commodities Trading Case and CIBC World Markets was the sponsor of the CIBC Yield Curve Trading Case. Additional financial support for the competition was provided by Thomson Reuters, Capital IQ and CFA Society Toronto.

The Rotman School's BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab is a fully equipped lab designed to promote experiential learning in the area of financial markets and data. The competition cases are implemented over the highly acclaimed Rotman Interactive Trader application, a market simulation tool being used in over 40 universities and money management firms around the world. Further information on the lab is available at http://financelab.rotman.utoronto.ca/

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.  For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.

SOURCE Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto