CityU team wins the 18th "Citi Cup" Financial Innovation Application Contest

A CityU team predominantly from the College of Business has won the 18th "Citi Cup". CityU is the first Hong Kong university receiving this grand prize. The Financial Innovation Application Competition was hosted by Citi Financial Information Services (China) Co., Ltd. in Shanghai in June, attracting a total of 1,333 college students from 222 colleges and universities at home and abroad to participate. Contesting teams focused on key areas such as environment, society and corporate governance (ESG) and metaverse, and developed financial technology products with both commercial prospects and social benefits.

After fierce competition, the "Epiphany Insights: A One-stop ESG Analysis Platform Designed for Financial Institutions" project of the "Epiphany" team from CityU came out as winner of this year's competition, and also won the "Citigroup Challenge - Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance" special award. The key members of the CityU team were:

Richard Feng Zijing (BSc Computational Finance and Financial Technology, Year 3) – Team Leader

Julia Liu Meijun (BBA Marketing, Year 4) –Business and Admin Leader

Ethan Zhou Tianle (BSc Computational Finance and Financial Technology, Year 2) – Tech and Implementation Leader

Henry Sun Shaohang (BSc Computational Finance and Financial Technology, Year 2) - Business and Admin Leader

Anna Shen (BBA Business Analysis & Finance double major, Year 3) – Business and Admin Leader

Kenny Chen Rongxin (BSc Computational Finance and Financial Technology, Year 2) - Tech and Implementation Leader

Ada Peng Wanting (BSc Computational Finance and Financial Technology, Year 2) - Tech and Implementation Leader

Richard Feng Zijing, said “I feel extremely honoured to have won the National Grand Prize and the overall championship. I noticed that over the past 18 years, no CityU students had participated in or won the competition. Consequently, I sought the guidance of Dr Alvin Leung to help us establish our direction early on.”

“I believe that our Epiphany proposal can effectively address some issues in ESG financing, making banks and financial institutions safer and their processes more optimized. I hope that our project will continue to thrive in our collaboration with Citi and HK Tech 300, contributing to the development of the industry.”

Julia Liu Meijun said, “Participating in the 18th Citi Cup was undoubtedly the most fruitful and unforgettable experience of my college life. Over the past six months, my team and I engaged in countless discussions, both big and small, and spent many late nights working side by side. We encountered numerous challenges and obstacles along the way, but through perseverance and determination, we overcame them and emerged victorious.”

Founded in 2005, the "Citi Cup" is China's first campus public welfare event aimed at cultivating financial technology talents. It has been held for 18 consecutive years and has attracted more than 20,000 students and 2,000 teachers from home and abroad. This year's "Citi Cup" received strong support from Shanghai Caida Science and Technology Park Co., Ltd., and joined hands with Citi China Corporate Banking Department and Citi Innovation Lab to continue to launch the "Citi Challenge" including ESG themes.