News

Congratulations to our 2023 spring graduands, many of whom attended the CFM Graduation Dinner that was held on April 11 in their honour. The soon-to-be alumni spent the evening enjoying drinks at the open bar, socializing over a delicious dinner provided by UW Catering and Events Services, and listening to a few inspiring words from CFM Co-Directors Justin Wan and James R. Thompson.

In an interview conducted by Jon Parsons for UWaterloo news, Co-Director James R. Thompson discusses the current banking crisis and its resemblance to the banking issues that took place back in 2008. James goes in-depth to discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) along with other US banks, the subsequent effect of this on Canadian companies and European banks, and advice for Canadians who are concerned about the recent banking instability.

We would like to congratulate our very own CFM student, Alex, on being named Co-op Student of the Year for the Faculty of Mathematics! From hybrid work at Mastercard to launching a first-of-its-kind call centre savings initiative, Alex has made outstanding progress and has proven time and time again that he has dedication and terrific work ethic.

On February 13, 2023 at the Toronto Sheraton Centre, CFM student Piero C. spoke at the DECA Provincials for their Leadership Development Academy. Piero’s portion of the presentation 一 which he delivered alongside Harrison C. 一 focused on educating prospective students about FinTech and CFM.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Co-op Prep Session 2 that was held on January 12th, which included dinner, an engaging presentation, and volunteer-run information booths. The turnout was bigger than expected! Also, a special thank you to our presenter Melanie Bullagao and all of our amazing volunteers.

One of our CFM students, Rachel, has written a thoughtful article detailing 5 lessons that they have learned during the final term of their second year, after the switch was made from online to in-person studying. From useful insight on productivity to motivational advice on starting new habits, Rachel offers a polished article that is definitely worth taking a look at.

The Second Annual CFM 101 Team Competition was held in December. Teams were again required to choose from a basket of stocks to include in their portfolios to meet pre-set goals. Importantly, students did not know the basket of stocks from which their code must choose. This year, there were some devious and unexpected curve-balls thrown into stock ticker list in an attempt to get their code to do unexpected things. Happily, many groups wrote thorough code which produced very reasonable portfolios.

The first-ever CFM course to be offered at the University of Waterloo ended with a portfolio-generation competition. Teams of three first-year CFM students were tasked with coding portfolio-creation applications in the python programming language that were set loose on the market, with final portfolio values determined as of the close on Monday, December 6.

Professor James R. Thompson, co-director of the Computing and Financial Management program and a Professor at Waterloo’s School of Accounting and Finance, has been elected as a president of the Northern Finance Association, a Canadian-based association of researchers in the field of finance.

Keshav Chawla has long harboured a passion for computer science and finance. When he discovered a way to pursue both disciplines simultaneously through Waterloo’s Computing and Financial Management program, his choice of university was clear. “I knew how robust and built-out the program was before coming in,” he explained. “Having that combination of both disciplines was the perfect fit for me.”