ASSESSMENT BRIEF

You are a newly appointed equity analyst at a prominent US Asset Manager. Senior management has asked you to write a report analyzing the financial sector of the S&P 500 index as of the market close March 9th, 2020.

You have been specifically asked to evaluate the XLF (Financials) ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) of the SPDR (Standard & Poor’s Depositary Receipts) – see links & spreadsheet on Moodle.

You have been asked to make recommendations, where appropriate, regarding a potential rebalancing (for example: increasing or decreasing the index weightings) of the current holdings.

Your report should focus upon the commercial challenges/opportunities facing the financial sector, and the potential disruption of existing financial business models from so-called ’Fintech’s’.

The financial sector portfolio manager has also asked that you utilize a range of valuation techniques to justify your investment recommendations.

Students are encouraged to independently research, present their own findings, and support their work with figures, graphs and examples wherever applicable.