On 28 November 2013, the Banking Awards ceremony took place at the University of Liechtenstein. Eleven theses from the Master’s degree programme in Banking and Financial Management and the Bachelor’s degree programme in Business Administration with the focus area International Financial Services were assessed by the six-person expert jury.
The winners of the 2013 Banking Award Liechtenstein were Marco Schmid and Thomas Wachter. Simon Tribelhorn, Director of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association and Professor Marco Menichetti from the Chair in Business Administration, Banking and Financial Management at the Institute for Financial Services at the University of Liechtenstein presented the two graduates with their award – which carries prize money of CHF 2,500.00 – for the thesis projects submitted as part of their completed degree programmes. The graduates then presented their prizewinning theses to a knowledgeable audience.
From left to right: Professor Marco Menichetti from the Chair in Business Administration, Banking and Financial Management at the Institute for Financial Services at the University of Liechtenstein; Simon Tribelhorn, Director of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association; keynote speaker Professor Herbert Pichler; prizewinner Marco Schmid, BSc; prizewinner Thomas Wachter, MSc; Adrian Hasler, Prime Minister of the Principality of Liechtenstein; Professor Martin Wenz, Head of the Institute for Financial Services at the University of Liechtenstein.
A jury of researchers and practitioners
Alongside Professor Michael Hanke and Professor Marco Menichetti from the University of Liechtenstein, several external experts were also on the 2013 expert jury: Professor Jürgen Huber from the University of Innsbruck; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) certified engineer Adolf E. Real, MBA, President of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association; Elisabeth Zwicky Mosimann , lic. iur., LL. M., former Head of Group Legal and Tax Services at LGT Financial Services; and Professor Heinz Knecht, Head of the Retail & Corporate Banking Division and member of the Group Executive Management and the Board of Management at LLB.
The 2013 Banking Award Liechtenstein prizewinners Thomas Wachter, MSc (left), and Marco Schmid, BSc (right).
Award-winning thesis projects
Marco Schmid received the award for the Bachelor’s degree programme in Business Administration with the focus area International Financial Services. His Bachelor’s thesis titled Time Series Momentum is a theoretical and empirical analysis of the “momentum effect” on the German stock market, which also examines the possibility of predicting future stock market performance based on historical price trends. The University of Liechtenstein alumnus envisions a future career in banking or management consultancy and hopes to continue his studies by pursuing a Master’s degree.
The award for the Master’s degree programme in Banking and Financial Management was presented to Thomas Wachter for his thesis titled Is There an Optimal Time to Trade XETRA Stocks? In his thesis he carries out an analysis of German shares based on intraday information to find out if a trading time can be pinpointed at which transaction costs are significantly reduced. Since completing his studies, Thomas Wachter has been working in risk management and controlling at Sparkasse Ulm in Germany.
The future of the European financial market
Delivering the keynote speech with the title “The banking union – contributing to the stability of the European financial market” was Professor Herbert Pichler, advisor on issues regarding nationalized banks and the Financial Market Stability Act introduced by the Austrian Finance Minister Dr. Maria Fekter. In his speech he made reference to the current situation on the European financial market, the banking union and the European Banking Authority.
“A functioning European supervisory authority can play an important role in ensuring stability,” commented Professor Pichler. “For such economic policy coordination to work, we have to rethink the relationships between banks, supervisory authorities and politics.”
Professor Herbert Pichler, advisor to Austrian Finance Minister Dr. Maria Fekter, delivering the keynote speech with the title “The banking union – contributing to the stability of the European financial market”.
Further information can be found at www.uni.li/bankingaward