A team of MSc students takes silver at the McGill International Portfolio Challenge
November 23, 2021
An HEC Montréal team turned in a brilliant performance at the McGill International Portfolio Challenge (MIPC) 2021, finishing in 2nd place out of the 5 finalists in this international student competition in finance.
The team of Master’s in Management (MSc) students Jonathan Bolduc, Julien Laberge, Thomas Lachance and Hugo Joemets-Painchaud beat out more than 100 university teams from all over the world, with the help of their coach, Jean-Philippe Tarte, Full-time Lecturer at HEC Montréal.
Their success earned them a cash prize of $3,750, like the other three finalist teams.
Jonathan Bolduc, Thomas Lachance, Julien Laberge and Hugo Joemets-Painchaud
The challenge for this year’s MIPC competitors was to play the role of external consultants for a fictitious pension fund based in the Netherlands. Their mandate was to restructure the fund so as to better distribute the intergenerational risk, reflecting a reform of pension funds being introduced in that country. They also had to ensure the sustainability of the fund and obtain a good return, despite low rates, all while keeping in mind the risk associated with climate change.
The solution proposed by the School’s team, dubbed Higher Yield Consulting, employed a complex strategy using different levers and tools. They included an original tool developed by the competitors themselves: the Intergenerational Risk Adjustment Factor (IRAF), used to adjust fund beneficiaries’ risk exposure depending on their age.
Note that the 4 team members are involved in managing the School’s student investment fund, the Fonds BNI-HEC Montréal.