September 19, 2005 Source: University of New Brunswick - Saint John:
http://www.unb.ca/news/view.cgi?id=835 UNBF SIF TEAM VISITS BAY STREET September 19, 2005 UNB Fredericton News Release: D360 Natalie Montgomery, Public Relations Officer (506) 451-6842 They’re headed to Bay Street. Students in the University of New Brunswick’s Student Investment Fund (SIF) Program will visit the financial district this month to gain insight into how the Canadian capital markets function. Their trip will take them to the Toronto Stock Exchange, brokerage firms, and investment offices of multi-billion dollar pension funds and mutual funds. The business students from UNB Fredericton will visit such high-profile firms as Barclays Global Investors, the largest asset managers in the world; RBC Asset Management, the largest mutual fund firm in Canada; and TD Newcrest, the Canadian index derivatives experts, just to name a few. The highlight of their trip will be a visit with David Dodge, governor of the Bank of Canada. While in Toronto, the SIF group will host an alumni outreach reception. The event will take place on Thursday, Sept. 22, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Intercontinental Hotel on Front Street. This will give Glenn Cleland, SIF director, the opportunity showcase the program and the students to SIF alumni and investment firms. The reception will also recognize the commitment of Phillips, Hager & North to UNBF’s Centre of Financial Studies (CFS). Housed within the faculty of business administration, the CFS coordinates the SIF program and other financial studies programs. With over $50 billion in assets, Phillips, Hager & North is the largest private investment counselor in Canada. “Support from our partners not only enables the centre to take the Student Investment Fund to the next level, but it also communicates the importance that the industry places on educating the next generation of investment management professionals,” said Prof. Cleland. Unique to Atlantic Canada, the SIF program began in 1998 through collaboration between the New Brunswick Investment Management Corporation (NBIMC), a provincially based institutional investment firm, and UNBF’s faculty of business administration. Seven years ago, NBIMC entrusted the SIF team with an investment stewardship of $1 million. Thanks to the successful decision making of the students in the SIF program, the NBIMC portfolio has grown to a record high $1.8 million. UNBF’s SIF program is giving students a taste of the real-life investment world. Students enrolled in the course invest real money in stocks, bonds and money-market instruments. They are responsible for managing millions of dollars and generating real returns. The two primary objectives of SIF are to give its students the opportunity to invest in the Canadian capital markets and prepare them for the industry-standard chartered financial analyst (CFA) level one exam. “Our students are doing what’s being done by practitioners and when they finish this course, they’re ready to write the level one exam,” said Prof. Cleland. “This puts them ahead of the game.” So far, more than 60 SIF graduates have written the exam. Their 54 per cent pass rate is well above the average industry success rate of 46 per cent between 1999 and 2005. Students in the program have also competed and performed well in national and international competitions. In fact, in 2003 and 2004, SIF students placed first in their category at the annual Redefining Investment Strategy Education Symposium and Competition in Dayton, Ohio. Over 100 schools from four countries participated in the prestigious competition, which is sponsored by the New York Stock Exchange and the Wall Street Journal. For more information on the SIF program, contact Glenn Cleland at 506-458-7510 or cleland@unb.ca. - 30 -
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