2019 International Youth Leadership Finance Summit (2019 IYLFS) organized by Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) Master of Finance (MF) Program rang down its curtain in Shanghai recently.
The theme of 2019 IYLFS is AI+Capital Markets. On one hand, it's in alignment with Shanghai's strategic plan to build a Nasdaq-Style Board in the near future and closely integrated technology innovation with financial service support. On the other hand, the theme this year allows participants to target a realistic company case scenario of their choosing. They are expected to develop or discuss the AI solution for the company after solid industry research, modeling evaluation and equity financing, then pitch the business to investors to raise virtual funding during the final competition. The theme gained great attention from both the students and the industry after its releasing. More than 1200 applicants applied to join the summit while only around 120 students from 22 top universities all over the world have been carefully selected to attend the final competition.
The competition projects range from E-commerce/Consumption, Education, Big Data Application, Smart City/Smart Agriculture, and Healthcare/Pharmaceutical. Five teams from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Peking University, McGill University and London School of Economics and Political Science eventually won the Best Pitch in five categories, and the team from Xi'an Jiao Tong University won the first prize.
Launched by the SAIF MF Program in 2013, IYLFS is designed to provide a platform of collective learning and advancement for students from all kinds of higher education institutions, which fosters their capabilities of communication and organization. Moreover, it also aims to improve their understanding on financial theories and practices through presentation, case competition and face-to-face interaction with business leaders and scholars in the financial sector.
Welcome Address
Welcome speech by Ms. Lin Yang, Head of MF Program, SAIF
Ms. Lin Yang, Head of Master of Finance Program, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, greeted the participants from all over the world with the welcome address. She pointed out that this year’s IYLFS attracted participants from world-class institutions, including not only local C9 and 985 universities like Tsinghua University, Peking University, Renmin University of China, Nanjing University, Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, but also international schools, such as University of Cambridge, London School of Economics and Political Science, McGill University, University of Surrey, Emory University, University of Toronto, Baruch College at The City University of New York and etc.
Mr. Jing Xiao, Chief Scientist of Ping An Group was invited as the keynote speaker at the forum part of the summit. During the case competition days, in addition to professors from SAIF: Prof. Zhan Jiang, Associate Professor of Finance, Faculty Director of MF Program, SAIF; Prof. David. X. Li, Professor of Finance, Faculty Co-Director of Master of Finance Program, Associate Director of CAFR, SAIF；Prof. Jie Hu, Professor of Practice, SAIF, formerly Chairman and CEO from Xunlei BigData Co., Ltd. and Xunlei Finance Co., Ltd., 2019 IYLFS also assembled a jury of industry leaders from well-known enterprises such as Panda Capital, Qiming Venture, Sequoia Capital China, Lantern Venture, Principal Financial Group, CCB Principal Asset Management and etc. The Summit also engaged in strategic partnership with CFA.
Opening Ceremony
Opening speech by Prof. Chun Chang, Executive Dean of SAIF
On January 20th, the first day of the competition, Prof. Chun Chang, Executive Dean and Professor of Finance at SAIF, greeted the participants and revealed his insights on AI, financial industry trends and 2019 IYLFS topics. He believed that the combination of finance and technology can create a new path for financial services to better serve the real economy. Fintech is a driving force for not only the Chinese economy, but also the global economy.
MF Program Introduction by Prof. Zhan Jiang, Faculty Director of MF Program SAIF
Prof. Zhan Jiang, Faculty Director of Master of Finance Program and Associate Professor of Finance at SAIF, gave a brief introduction of the SAIF MF program and its new track, MF-Fintech, to be launched at the autumn of 2019. She mentioned that SAIF’s mission is to build a world-class financial institute. SAIF is recognized internationally as one of the top business schools in the world. SAIF MF program recruits world-class faculty from leading business schools around the world, including those who have outstanding academic achievements and rich industry experience. The faculty here are leading the world’s most advanced industry research.
Keynote Speech
Keynote speech by Mr. Jing Xiao, Chief Scientist of Ping An Group
With the theme of “Exploration and Practices of Artificial Intelligence (AI) +Finance”, Mr. Jing Xiao, Chief Scientist of Ping An Group discussed topics including the evolution of AI technology & its applications. He thought AI is still under primary stage, and human are more powerful than AI so far. Through the collision of ideas in the following Q&A session, the participants had a deeper understanding on "AI + Capital Markets", which sets a good start for the following competition.
Competition Days
The participants proposed their business pitches during the next two and half competition days. Through poster exhibition, live broadcast via Weibo and interaction on WeChat platform, 2019 IYLFS demonstrated the collective wisdom of the teams and their innovative exploration of AI+ Capital Markets application scenarios.
After attentive listening, judges inquired more details about their business plans in the Q&A session, advising participants to put more emphasis on the necessity of AI adoption in their plans, to use more direct data in analyzing potential benefits, and to highlight unique advantages compared to horizontal competitors. Competing teams are advised to consider the specific needs of the project and how to put the projects into practice. The collision of opinions and in-depth insights from experts led participants and audience to ponder more over these topics.
“We are impressed by the presentations of all participants. Their performances have exceeded even our expectations. Hope that participants will know more about market needs after the summit and put their innovative thought into practice”, commented the judges from the industry.
Impressive presentations on the competition days
Intense Q&A with other participants
Insightful comments from judges
Students from MF18 & MF19 also gave special presentations on AI solution pitches for CreditX, Gowild and Phoenix Tea during the non-competition session. With the guidance of SAIF professors as well as mentors from the China Academy of Financial Research, MF students have more chances to communicate with companies, thus they have a more profound understanding of the topics and their application solutions are also more practical.
Special team presentations by MF18 & MF19 Students
Panel Discussion
During the panel discussion on January 22nd, chaired by Prof. Zhan Jiang, Faculty Director of Master of Finance Program and Associate Professor of Finance at SAIF, Prof. Jie Hu, Professor of Practice and Former CEO of Xunlei BigData & Xunlei Finance; Zhongyu Zhang, Partner of Lantern Venture; Weihong Liang, Partner of Panda Capital; Wenyao Wu, Chairman of Strategic Committee at Phoenix Tea; Wei Zhang, Technology Partner, Senior Risk Control Director at CreditX; Wei Xu, CFO of Gowild; Honghui Zhu, Researcher of China Academy of Financial Research, SAIF to share their insights on the AI industry, including what are the status quo and outlook of AI applications in China and what kind of changes AI will bring to the financial sector. Furthermore, the panelists also conveyed valuable advices to MF students based on years of experience and practice.
Prof. Zhan Jiang, Faculty Director of SAIF MF Program, hosted the panel discussion
Concluding remarks by Prof. Zhan Jiang
Closing Ceremony
Closing speech by Mr. Jie Pan, Associate Dean of SAIF
Mr. Jie Pan, Associate Dean of SAIF delivered the closing speech and extended his best wishes for all participants. Even it’s just a four-day event, participants thought it’s a wonderful experience to discuss the hot topics with outstanding peers from all over the world. The 2019 IYLFS organizing committee and participants attended the closing ceremony at Laomatou.
2019 IYLFS also provided remarkable rewards. The recipients of the Best Pitch Prizes in each category were awared with cash bonus, and the winning teams were awarded both cash bonus and CFA scholarships.
Performance by representatives from Nanyang Technological University, Wuhan University, and Xi’an Jiaotong University
The Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) was established at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with strategic and financial support from the Shanghai Municipal Government and premier overseas Chinese scholars. In February 2016, SAIF became a member of American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) as one of the youngest business schools in the system.
As SAIF’s flagship program, SAIF MF Program started recruitment in 2009. In the Financial Times’s (FT) 2018 ranking of global business schools, SAIF MF was ranked No.1 in Asia and No.10 in the world and topped the table of all its Asian peers in terms of Value for Money and Salary Increase. Today, SAIF MF is one of the most recognized Master of Finance programs in Asia. Building on the success of our current MF program, SAIF is launching a new track — the MF-FinTech Program from 2019.
