In 2021, the second year of the pandemic, we as a society have adapted to the new normal. We continued to live with Covid-19 and adjusted to a world where social and business interactions were still largely virtual. In 2021, we at NUS RMI have strived to strengthen our activities in this new format and also build a virtual presence via online conferences, social media footprint as well as virtual education. Continue reading for some brief updates on RMI’s activities in 2021!

NUS RMI Hosts Two Virtual Conferences in 2021

After cancelling the two annual conferences in 2020 due to the pandemic, RMI successfully hosted both the conferences virtually for the first time in May and July respectively.

RMI along with the Peking University’s (PKU) HSBC Business School and the Key Laboratory of Mathematical Economics and Quantitative Finance hosted the Fifth PKU-NUS Annual International Conference on Quantitative Finance and Economics virtually on 22 and 23 May 2021, given the travel restrictions and safety precautions in place considering the Covid-19 pandemic. The event was also supported by the NUS’s Centre for Quantitative Finance. Over the two-day event, the conference attracted over 300 participants, including members from the industry, academia, and students.

RESEARCH UPDATES

Industry Projects

Under the leadership of our Deputy Director for Industry Prof. Chen Kan, RMI has continued to pave the way for collaboration on industry projects, which aim at advancing the industrial applications of new research in the field of risk management. Below are some details on the progress of these projects over the year of 2021: 

1. Researchers at RMI have continued to work on modelling extreme interdependencies among financial assets for risk evaluation and portfolio construction. A framework for modelling the correlation structure of financial assets using vine copula is being developed. This framework has been applied to study the cryptocurrency correlation structure. The implementation of the vine copula captures the increased correlation at the negative tail of the asset returns, which is particularly prominent for cryptocurrency assets.

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN FINANCIAL ENGINEERING (MFE)

MFE Updates

On 19 January 2021 RMI hosted its annual on campus information session for the MFE Program’s August 2021 admission exercise. The information session, was one of the few in-person events hosted by RMI with all the safety precautions and safe management measures in place.

MFE classes continued to be conducted online with all teaching modules made available ‘live’ to the students. Student’s feedback on virtual learning has been positive, allowing our international students to take the classes virtually from their home countries with travel bans being imposed on and off throughout 2021.

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Training Programs Updates

This year RMI organized several training programs conducted virtually via Zoom. In January and May 2021 RMI welcomed its two annual cohorts for its Financial Risk Manager (FRM®) Certification Training Program – Part I & II and one cohort of the FRM program on Singapore Laws and Regulation. This program helps prepare professionals from the financial industry for the rigorous examinations to obtain the FRM® certification. RMI has successfully conducted this Program bi-annually since 2013 and prepared over 300 participants for the examination that takes place twice a year in May and November. The certification is globally recognized and administered by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP).

EVENTS