Three students from Iasi, Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca are the winners of the Quant Olympics 2022 competition on credit risk models

Three students from Iasi, Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca are the winners of the first edition of Quant Olympics Romania, the competition on credit risk models organized by Deloitte Romania in partnership with Banca Transilvania.

The contest was open to first and second-year students of master programs across the entire country in the fields of data science, data mining, artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and econometrics, from academic institutions such as the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE), University of Bucharest (UB), Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi (UAIC), West University of Timișoara (UVT).

Alexandru Malainic, student in the Data Mining Master program at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi, Mihai Condrat, student in the Data Science Master program at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at University of Bucharest, and Claudiu Veresezan, student in the Econometrics and Applied Statistics Master program at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration from Babeș-Bolyai University, were the first, the second and respectively the third-ranked contestants. The competition awards consisted of financial prizes and employment opportunities with Deloitte Romania and with Banca Transilvania.

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Contestants were assigned tasks simulating real professional life, consisting of designing a credit risk model to estimate the probability of default of hypothetical banking clients, based on data provided by the organizers. The entries were assessed by a jury that included Deloitte Romania experts in financial risk – Elena Grigore, Risk Advisory Director, and Andrija Djurovic, Risk Senior Specialist Lead – and Banca Transilvania credit risk management professionals – Annamaria Andreica-Suciu, Deputy Manager of the Financial Risk Management Department, Cristina Lehaci, Head of Credit Risk Modelling and Collective Provisions Parametrization, and Andrei Rusu, Credit Risk Analyst Expert – Statistical Modelling.

“Quant Olympics’ main goals were to help students prepare for actual professional life, to support them in making the first steps in their career, but also to raise awareness on the credit risk models’ challenges. We are passionate about what we do, we are constantly expanding and reinventing our roles, for instance through the use of technology, such as applying cutting-edge machine learning methods in risk management, and we hope to inspire future generations to choose this professional path. This project was initiated by our risk advisory team specialized in financial services and I take this opportunity to congratulate all students who engaged in this challenge and submitted their projects, the university professors who supported us in this endeavour, my colleagues who organized the event and to thank to our partner, Banca Transilvania, that strongly supported this project and made it possible for the students to face a real credit risk modelling challenge”, said Dimitrios Goranitis, Banking and Capital Markets leader, Deloitte Central Europe, promoter and sponsor of the competition.

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“An effective process of building rating models that captures the variable level and the determinants of credit risk that may emerge over time is the foundation of modern banking. This is doubled by the validation of the models that assure us that only the best statistical models are deployed in the relationship with our clients. Thus, Banca Transilvania is in touch with the academic community to support them in tailoring the curricula and we wish to thank the professors for their continuous support and for mentoring the students engaged in this challenge. For students, the bank organizes varied internship programmes to boost young professionals’ opportunities in the digital era. We teamed up with Deloitte in such a project for offering students the possibility to gain practical experience in a challenging environment, to benefit from top players real life experience,” said Luminita Runcan, Chief Risk Officer, Banca Transilvania.

The contest had two stages, and eight competitors qualified for the finals, which included, besides developing a credit risk model, presenting it to the jury, and answering their questions.