UK Investment Banking Series (UIBS) is a national investment banking competition that takes place every year. Two main challenges, mergers & acquisitions and trading, are incorporated in this prestigious competition. The UIBS’s financial sources, including the Imperial College Finance Society, the London School of Economics, University College London, King’s College London, and the Oxford University Finance Society, contributed to the project. These prestigious Societies have created the UIBS with the assistance of some of the most well-known investment banks in the world.
UIBS’ M&A Challenge is based on a recent European purchase. The financial analyst from the Investment Banking Division is in charge of the work for the M&A Challenge. For example, they’ll work in five-person groups on a case study in investment banking. During the training program, candidates learn how to cope with the difficulties when two organizations merge to establish a new one in the real world.
Participants will have three weeks after the publication of the case study to submit their pitchbook for consideration in the preliminary round of the competition. The groups are responsible for developing a solution to an issue that a prospective customer may be experiencing. Performing an analysis of their client’s performance, strategy, and competitive position and assessing the inherent risks and opportunities in the sector is how they intend to achieve this assignment for their clients. Participants must do research using publicly accessible materials to prepare a persuasive presentation that tackles critical concerns and persuades their target audience to accept their idea.
After a comprehensive assessment of all of the pitchbooks that have been submitted, eight teams will be chosen to advance to the Final Round. They have just twenty minutes to persuade a panel of investment bankers that they are right. Each participant is given a mark based on how successfully they engage with others in groups, offer quantitative and qualitative evidence to support their assertions, and obtain and present material within the constraints of the time restriction. The tournament’s champion and runner-up will be announced after completing the competition. After the competition, everyone who qualified for the Finals will be invited to a catered networking event with representatives from our supported businesses and their fellow competitors.
• Trading Challenge
The UIBS Trading Challenge requires the organization of twenty-three three-person teams, each of which must consist of three people. A total of ten hedge fund (HF) and ten investment bank (IB) teams will participate in each trading session. The ability of participants to communicate, negotiate, and think analytically will be evaluated as part of this research. In this case, Dynamic Simulations will give the software and resources, and the company has an extensive and expanding track record in teaching and executing tasks.
Participants will have the opportunity to spend time on an HF or IB team for two weeks each as part of the challenge. There will be five equities and three derivatives traded on the day of the event, which will make up the total trading volume.
For a hedge fund team to be able to participate, it needs traders, researchers, and a portfolio manager. On the other hand, a trader, a researcher, and a sales trader are all required members of an investment bank team.
At the outset of the challenge, participants will be given research articles to construct their daily strategy for the next week. Participants are required to react to any developments during the day as the day continues. The teams’ achievements will be recognized at the end of the competition.
After the tournament, the team that performs the best in its respective sector will be declared the competition’s overall champion. A reception will be held after the day to facilitate networking.
Do you have what it takes to be the winner, or at least qualified, of this competition? This article discusses all the things you should know about investment banking, M&A, and trading.
Investment Banking
Investment banks offer various services to both institutional and individual investors, including underwriting new debt and equity securities, assisting with the sale of securities, and facilitating mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, and other broker transactions. Investment banks may help with the issuing and placement of stock.
They also handle a broad range of financial transactions, and they help with various them. If a client is contemplating an acquisition, merger, or sale, it is feasible for an investment banker to give guidance on the value of the business and the best method to structuring the deal. As part of the process, a corporation may also issue stocks to generate funds for client groups and gather SEC-required documentation in preparation for a company to go public, among other things.
An investment banker is a professional who works for a financial institution and is responsible for assisting businesses, governments, and other organizations in the planning and managing of large-scale projects. Predicting possible issues and addressing them before they occur helps them save their customers money and time.
Investment bankers, as a group, are highly educated individuals who maintain a careful watch on the current status of the financial markets. Consequently, businesses and organizations seek the advice of investment banking professionals to prepare for their future growth and development needs successfully.
Investment banks are middlemen between corporations seeking to sell their stock or bonds to the general market. The investment bank contributes to the maximization of profits by pricing financial commodities and conforming to regulatory regulations.
An investment bank may purchase all or a portion of a business’s shares directly from the firm during an initial public offering (IPO). Consequently, the investment bank will take up the initial public offering (IPO) responsibilities. The IPO is outsourced to an investment bank to streamline the process.
Additionally, the investment bank has the benefit of selling its shares at a premium to the price at which they were initially purchased, which is a significant advantage. Furthermore, there is a considerable degree of danger involved. The risk that investment banks will lose money if they overestimate the worth of a company and then have to sell their shares for less than they paid for them exists even if their analysts utilize their skills and abilities to price the stock appropriately.
Trading
Trading is defined as the act of buying and selling stocks, commodities, currency pairings, and other financial instruments regularly to profit. It is necessary to diversify to outperform conventional investments. The yearly returns of 10 percent to 15 percent may be satisfactory to investors; however, the monthly returns of 10 percent may be acceptable to traders. Purchase at a discount and resale at a premium are two ways to make money in the trading business. It is feasible to profit from declining markets by selling at a premium and then purchasing to recoup the loss at a discounted price (known as “selling short”).
Investors who hold positions for an extended period generally employ protective stop-loss orders to exit losing bets at a defined price level when a position becomes less lucrative. Traders often use technical analysis tools such as moving averages and stochastic oscillators to identify trading opportunities with a high possibility of success.
In the financial world, “trading style” refers to the amount of time it takes to purchase and sell stocks, commodities, and other trading assets. It is possible to categorize the work of a trader into four primary types:
2. Swing traders are characterized by their ability to hold positions for days or even weeks at a time.
3. Day traders have no considerations for overnight positions to take into account for.
4. A scalp trade is characterized by the fact that positions are only held for a few seconds or minutes at a time.
In establishing one’s trading style, the size of one’s account, the amount of trading time one has available to them, the extent to which one has traded before, one’s personality, and one’s level of risk tolerance all play a part.
Flow and agency traders are two of the most prevalent kinds of traders in the market. The opposing traders serve as proprietary traders when they cannot contact either the buyer or the seller. These traders execute deals on behalf of their respective firms. Every day, traders must keep track of economic trends and developments and market data and market reports.
A wide range of backgrounds and educational levels are represented among the traders on the floor. A bachelor’s degree in finance, mathematics, or accounting is required by many firms nowadays. There are no prerequisites for becoming a trader in terms of academic qualifications. Most trading businesses need Series 7 and Series 63 licenses to operate.