MWM Students Excel in Sustainability Investing Competition

It was a hugely successful inaugural run of the Master of Science in Wealth Management (MWM) Sustainability investing competition on 3 February 2023, supported by BNP Paribas, a leader in Sustainable and Responsible Investing.

The goal of the competition seems simple enough – to make a recommendation of “Buy”, “Hold”, or “Sell” on three publicly listed companies by integrating ESG analyses with fundamental analyses for each company.  Each company must be from a different sector and geographic market. There is no restriction on the sector, but the three geographical markets are restricted to APAC, Europe and North America. Yet, the analyses are nothing close to simple. 

Garth Bregman, Head of Investment Services, APAC, at BNP Paribas Wealth Management said, “Even professional asset managers do not find it easy to integrate ESG risks into fundamental analyses, and through this competition, we will truly appreciate that it is hard to do."

Indeed, the three finalist groups experienced the toughness of such an exercise and took some difficult questions from the judges during the finals. The winning group comprising Bing Liang, Coco Hu, Yuanyuan Cai, Ran Yan, and Hazel Sam, did a splendid job with their analyses by highlighting the strengths and concerns in ESG for each company, the key ESG strategies adopted by the company, and their ESG performance over time.

The team referenced both the ESG ratings provided by MSCI and Bloomberg, while diving deep into their own examination of the materiality of each “E”, “S”, “G” component of their selected companies. They coupled these with solid fundamental analyses using discounted cash flow analysis and relative valuation methods.



The winning team with the judges – Yuanyuan Cai, Coco Hu, Eleonore Dachicourt, Garth Bregman, Hazel Sam, Bing Liang and Ran Yan.

Eleonore Dachicourt, Head of Sustainability and Responsible Investing, Asia, BNP Paribas Wealth Management said, “The team presented an investment methodology that integrates ESG analysis and fundamental analysis, and explored risks and opportunities based on the material ESG factors of the company. They displayed great teamwork."

The winning team made a further impression on the judges with their concluding slide where they shared their views on the different ESG focuses across geographic markets and sectors based on the 3 selected companies.

When asked to reflect on one key learning outcome from the competition, the team leader Bing shared, “ESG analysis has a profound impact on the valuation of firms only if the methodology is specific, comprehensive, and consolidated with fundamental analysis." 

His teammate, Yuanyuan, couldn’t agree more. "The competition allowed us to gain insights into how ESG analysis could help us to identify and assess the underlying risks and opportunities of a company, and how these analyses could impact our requested rate of return of the company, and hence guide us to construct a portfolio with lower risk and higher returns," she quipped.

A third teammate, Coco Hu, echoed a similar learning takeaway. “ESG provides another angle to look at risk and required return for investors. Compared to historical financial ratios, I realised ESG metrics can be considered as forward indicators and therefore help improve our valuation."

Another teammate, Yan Ran, walked away with a real conviction in ESG investing. “ESG is real, and it is not a marketing trick. ESG will play a critical role in the financial industry in the coming years, and that it has the potential to disrupt the industry in meaningful and lasting ways," he said.

The last team-mate, Hazel Sam, summed up nicely their experiences in the competition. “One of my biggest learning outcomes is how every single contribution came together to be one cohesive narrative when we were willing to listen to each other attentively and put our differences aside,” she said.

Indeed, it is the exact winning formula for this team.

The annual BNP Paribas Sustainability Competition is a partnership between the Master of Science in Wealth Management (MWM) programme and BNP Paribas to nurture talents in the field of Sustainable and Responsible Investing. This competition is open to all MWM students. In addition, BNP Paribas supports MWM with an annual Sustainability Investing lecture. The MWM programme is indeed privileged to collaborate with an industry leader in a field that has gained critical attention, not because of a fad but simply because it is needed to make the world more just, more livable, and more prosperous for our future generations.