INVESTMENT CLUB'S LECTURES ON FINANCIAL MARKET

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On of the perks of studying at RIT Croatia is a possibility to engage in the works of various students clubs - from sports, to robotics, there is also a club for those interested in the world of finance. "Investment Club at RIT Croatia is not a typical student club. It is organized by students, and mentored by one of the professors, but to join, one has to demonstrate a great amount of interest and be highly skilled in critical thinking as those are required to perform duties in the club," says Mislav Horvatić, the club's president.

He says the club is designed so that it could best help students who are interested in financial markets and would like to pursue a career in that field. "We believe that students can benefit greatly from familiarizing with the financial markets early in the career. I know it did for me when I applied for one of the big 4 financial auditing companies, and was asked to "analyse the given financial statement" in the entry test. I got the job," says Mislav.

To achieve a better competitive advantage for the students who are a part of it, Investment Club helps its member test their knowledge to better mimic the world of financial markets once they start pursuiting their careers at the job market. Members of the club learn how to do market analysis, company analysis, and to draw conclusions from them using critical analysis. "They are using the newly acquired knowledge with the one from RIT curriculum, and by doing that, they are constantly improving their skills. In addition to that, after every public company analysis, members aim to predict what could happen next and decide if they would like to sell, buy, or hold shares of that company. To make a reasonable prediction, one has to know how to analyze the market, which means that they have to learn how various events can influence the market" explains Mislav.

Led by our professor Dr. Vanja Vejzagić, the student Investment club has been very active this semester with organizing a series of interesting lectures about the financial market. The lecture series ended on April 25th with the awarding of certificates to all students who attended the lectures. Mislav explains: "We took it even further by organizing a series of lectures for students who may not be that interested in financial markets but would still like to learn about it. The lecturers for this series were all finance professionals from respected companies and after completing the assignments, students earned a certificate that says they showed "Great Understanding of Financial Markets".

The lecture series included the following topics and speakers:

1. Intro to Lecture Series - Mislav Horvatić, IC President
2. What is the financial market - Dr. Vanja Vejzagić, RIT Croatia
3. Stocks & Bonds - Hrvoje Bujanović, CFA, MBA (Executive director of corporate banking, PBZ)
4. How to invest in stocks & bonds - Tomislav Kesić, CFA, MBA (Portfolio manager & Investment analyst, Allianz ZB Invest)
5. Understanding macroeconomics - Milan Deskar (Macroeconomist & fixed income analyst, Erste Bank)
6. Understanding financial statements - Marko Šlibar (Co-Head of Investment banking, InterCapital)
7. Behavioral finance & technicals - Marko Badurina (Adviser to managing board, Sberbank)
8. Political vs. economic cycle - Dr. Vanja Vejzagić, RIT Croatia
9. Mathematics in finance - Dr. Kristijan Tabak, RIT Croatia
10. Financial crisis of 2008 - Davor Vorih (Portfolio manager, InterCapital)
11. How to be great in finance - Antun Burić (Head of institutional sales, Erste Bank)