Some Singapore university students got a taste of applying risk management concepts to the corporate world when they took part in the recently concluded MSIG Insurance Risk Management Challenge (RMC), a case competition organised by the Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Risk Management Society (RMS).
This year’s event drew a record 40 teams, made up of 143 participants from Singapore-based universities. In February, teams were issued a case study of BuildingSG, a fictitious company vested in property development and retail malls management and asked to do a risk assessment on the company’s upcoming plans to remain on a positive growth trajectory, in the face of thinning profit margins and a downward trend in sales and revenue. From their submissions, 12 teams were shortlisted for the semi-final, which were then whittled down to five teams which presented to a team of judges in the grand finals on 11 March 2017.
RMC finalists were judged based on their understanding and appreciation of the case, analysis and thought process, how they drew to their conclusion, and presentation of their report, including how they handled judges’ questions.
The winner was a team from the National University of Singapore’s Department of Real Estate, which wowed the judges with its effort to understand the industry in proposing solutions and its professional slides.
Career opportunities
The annual RMC not only offered students from all disciplines an insight into risk management, but also provided them with the chance to network and acquire subject matter knowledge during workshops and coaching sessions conducted by professionals in the industry like KPMG and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The event was also a window for the industry to promote risk management and nurture talent among the tertiary institutions. At the finals, RMC partner sponsor MSIG Singapore briefed participants on the wide range of career opportunities in risk and insurance, with a recent graduate staff member sharing his work experience with the audience. Other related collaborations MSIG has with NTU include establishing a book prize for the statistical modelling, cooperation on a pilot Nat CAT modelling programme and being a founding member of the Cyber Risk Management Project.
This year’s RMC was sponsored by MSIG, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BDO, Dun & Bradstreet, KPMG and the Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau.