A prize giving ceremony was held at the BOV Centre in Sta Venera for the winners of the BOV Investment Education Project. The team that performed best was called Kaizen and was made up of Charles Abela, Nicholas Ellul, Blayne Camilleri, Tyrone Mizzi and Robert Zammit. The team Cube came in second, with Sapphire placing a close third.
Seventeen teams made up of between five and six students in Banking and Finance participated in the project, which consisted of simulating real life investment management. Each team was provided with a virtual sum of one million euros, which they invested in listed stocks, shares or bonds worldwide, using Bank of Valletta’s Virtual Portfolio Platform. The BOV Virtual Portfolio, a feature on Bank of Valletta’s Internet banking service, allows users to track and monitor their investments and calculate profits and losses on their capital according to market fluctuations.
Charles Borg, Chief Officer Financial Markets and Investments at Bank of Valletta presented the certificates and cash awards to the winners. He was accompanied by Prof. Joseph Falzon of the Department of Banking and Finance at the University of Malta and by Prof. Ted Gardner who currently holds the BOV Chair in International Banking at the University of Malta.
Prof. Falzon explained that it was not only the final value of the investment that was considered to determine the winners. The investment strategy, the portfolio management and the ultimate liquidation had a weighting on the final result. The stockbroker arm of Bank of Valletta monitored the movements in the portfolio of each team. “Although trading took place in a virtual environment, students were given the opportunity to experience real life trading on the BOV Virtual Portfolio Platform, the same platform used in live trading with Bank of Valletta’s Internet Banking.”
During the same presentation, Atanas Belyovski and Kyle Debono were presented with the BOV Prize in Finance for achieving top marks in the fourth year (Hons.) course in Banking and Finance. Charles Abela and Steve Ellul were presented with the BOV Best Dissertation in Banking and Finance for the two best dissertations for the same year in the course. Ms Katrina Buhagiar and Ms Marie Claire Bonnici were also awarded respectively, the Malta Stock Exchange and the Central Bank of Malta best dissertation prizes.