Reply Sustainable Investment Challenge 2021

27 May 2021

On the podium are Guido Alberto Marsico (22 years old, University of Suor Orsola Benincasa of Naples), Vittorio Ranieri (21 years old, Bocconi University) and Vincenzo D’Ambrosio (24 years old, LUISS University).

With the announcement of the winners, the Sustainable Investment Challenge, the online competition created by Banca Generali and Reply in collaboration with MIP Politecnico di Milano, MainStreet Partners and CFA Society Italy, has officially come to an end.

The Challenge, created to introduce students to the world of finance and dedicated to sustainable investments has achieved record breaking results this year, involving more than 14,600 participants from 91 countries worldwide. An equivalent value of 1.965 million dollars was generated through a total volume of 76,746 trading operations executed in the best ESG-rated companies, in order to achieve a positive impact for future generations.

Before entering the "live" competition, participants had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and learn to invest in a sustainable way through the exclusive e-learning content made ad hoc by Reply, Banca Generali and MIP Politecnico di Milano: 8 sections of dedicated learning, 18 bite-sized tutorials and social content, was released during the 5 weeks leading up to the competition as part of the Test&Learn initiative.

At the end of the final round, which saw more than 2,200 transactions, each participant submitted a report providing evidence and explanations for the strategy adopted. This allowed the competition jury - made up of Replyers who are experts in both ESG and investing – to evaluate the performance of the 100 finalists who participated in the competition, considering the precise strategic decisions of their sustainable investments and nominate the winners.

About the winners:

Guido Alberto Marsico, born in Naples in 1998, is currently enrolled in a master’s degree in Economics, Management and Sustainability at the University of Suor Orsola Benincasa.

Vittorio Ranieri, born in Spoleto in 2000, is currently undertaking a bachelor’s degree in International Economy and Finance at the Bocconi University.

Vincenzo D’Amborsio, born in Avellino in 1997, is currently enrolled in a master’s degree in Economics and Finance at LUISS University.

Among the distinctive skills that enabled the winners to success was: the ability to read market contexts in the medium/long term and the identification of the best companies to invest in. These factors were complimented by an excellent ability to sum up and represent the strategies planned and undertaken.

"We are extremely satisfied with the great success of this new edition of the Reply Investment Challenge, not only for the numbers achieved and the strategies adopted by the participants, but also for the importance of the competition theme itself - explains Roberto Tognoni, Executive Partner of Reply, he adds - the Challenges allow new generations of talents to experiment with innovative training dynamics and this year we had the opportunity to bring many young people closer to the theme of ESG investments ”.

"We are happy to have been alongside an educational and fun initiative such as the Investment Challenge which started with the ambitious goal of raising awareness among European students on the issue of sustainable portfolios. Objective fully achieved, given the great success and response among the thousands of subscribers - comments Andrea Ragaini, Deputy General Manager of Banca Generali, who adds - For us who were among the first to take the path of offering ESG investment solutions for families, by concretely measuring the results not only financially but also for the environment and social implications, seeing the determination of the young people in facing this challenge with sustainable “trade” strokes was truly gratifying. The hope is that initiatives like this will raise awareness that investments build the foundations for a new horizon. From this premise comes the commitment to financial education and the responsibility to speak differently and with new tools, including ESG investments ".

Marco Giorgino, Senior Professor of Finance at MIP Politecnico di Milano: "Having participated in the Investment Challenge 21 as a partner of Banca Generali and Reply is a source of pride for MIP Politecnico di Milano. In fact, our School is aware of the strong need to educate and train financial operators who are attentive to the risk and sustainability of investments. This challenge made it possible to do it in an experiential way, thus confirming the attention that MIP places on projects based on advanced experiments like this one ".

"MainStreet Partners is very proud to have contributed to the success of this year's Reply Investment Challenge, which for the first time has combined the search for purely financial returns with aspects related to sustainability - explains Rodolfo Fracassi, co-founder and Managing Director at MainStreet Partners, who adds - We have made our proprietary ESG models available so that participants can get insights into ESG results before investing their capital. We are gratified to know that many students and particularly young people have taken part in this challenge, demonstrating that the new generations see sustainability as an essential factor in the choice of investments. MainStreet Partners has believed in sustainable investing since its inception in 2008 and seeing that today the entire financial industry is looking for solutions and tools to invest with ESG considerations makes us very confident about the role that our sector will have for a more sustainable future, for both society and our planet".

“For CFA Society Italy the training of young people and future talents in the world of finance is a fundamental value. Furthermore, sustainability is one of our basic principles and we are constantly focused on the ESG issues that are revolutionizing the sector. As an association we have always been at the forefront of promoting challenging initiatives like this and the edition of the Investment Challenge with the Reply Sustainable Investment Challenge 2021 has thrilled us" commented Giancarlo Sandrin, president of CFA Society Italy.

The Investment Challenge is part of Reply’s Challenges programme, which aims to target the most innovative trends in coding, creativity, cyber security and finance. Since 2018, more than 100,000 people have joined the Reply Challenges community, and last year more than 8,400 players took part in the first Reply Investment Challenge.