Two CityU business students have received the Silver Award in the first “Outstanding Financial Planning Award for Hong Kong Undergraduates” competition organized by the American International Assurance Company (Bermuda) Limited.

Eunice Lai Mei-ling and Vicky Lo Hiu-yan, final-year students of the Department of Accountancy and the Department of Economics and Finance respectively, brought home the trophy after an outstanding presentation on the selection of the most suitable financial planner in the final round of competition held on 17 March.

They were selected the best CityU team in the semi-final round, in which they were required to submit a report on a financial case study, chosen from three cases, before competing for prizes against representatives from other tertiary institutions in the final round.

In the semi-final, Eunice and Vicky designed a portfolio for a retiree that would generate sufficient income to cover retirement and a child’s education expenses. They beat the other CityU teams to enter the final round.

The award-winning students said they benefited from the practical knowledge acquired in CityU lectures and from the pro-active attitude to learning advocated by their teachers.

“We have learnt from our lectures that textbook knowledge rarely matches the fast-changing market and we should always acquire cutting-edge knowledge,” Vicky said. “Bearing this in mind, we researched various investment tools, in particular different types of bonds, to devise short-term and long-term investment plans to serve the needs of the retiree.”

Eunice and Vicky thanked their teachers for their valuable advice throughout the competition. “We would like to thank Dr Jimmy Fang Zhenmin, Dr Claudian Kwok Siu-kit, Dr Qu Baozhi and Dr Clement Wong Yuk-pang in the Department of Economics and Finance for their support, and Mr David Yip Sai-on in the Department of Accountancy for helping to improve our presentation skills in the Accounting Scholars Programme,” Eunice said.