The Risk Management Association of Alberta, in conjunction with the MRU Financial Student Organization (FSO) hosted the second edition of the MRU RMA Alberta Commercial Lending Case Competition this past September. The competition is modeled after RMA competitions held in the United States and MRU is currently the only western Canadian University to offer a case competition in this format.

Building upon the success of  last year’s inaugural event, the organizers were happy to  report a 40% increase in student involvement for this year.  This year’s competition seen  10 teams comprised from 38 Bissett BBA student participants  plus six student volunteers to handle the logistics throughout the event. There were also nineteen RMA commercial credit professional-executives and ten faculty and senior management members in attendance. Each of the teams were provided with a dedicated industry mentor to give individualized advice on their analysis.

“It was an outstanding few days of learning, mentor-ship and networking! ” – Cathy Roy-Heaton

Each team was evaluated on their written and oral summary, identification of key risks, mitigation of risks, key ratio and financial analysis of the case, as well as their ability to professionally and concisely communicate their findings and defend their recommendations. The teams were extremely competitive as all ten teams placed within 15% of the first place team and there was only 1.2% differential between the 1st and 3rd placed team!