The Swiss CFA Society in 2009 awarded its First Financial Innovation Prize comprising of a cash award of CHF 5'000 to reward contributions fostering practical innovation in finance.
The contribution were submitted in the form of a research paper with practical applicability, or an innovative financial product, process or approach. Candidates must be professionally active in Switzerland. Preference was given to candidates at the beginning of their career.
Selection process:
The winner was selected by the award committee convened by SCFAS. The members of the committee were:
Christian W. Hafner, Managing Partner, Wegelin & Co. Private Bankers
Professor Michael Rockinger, Swiss Finance Institute and University of Lausanne
Dr. Renato Staub, Senior Asset Allocation and Risk Analyst, UBS Global Asset Management
Winners:
The panel of judges of the SCFAS 2009 Financial Innovation Prize have decided to award the prize to Philipp Isenegger and Rico von Wyss for their paper 'The Valuation of Derivatives on Carbon Emission Certificates - a GARCH Approach'.
It was felt that the paper constitutes an important step in combining finance and environmental issues, and, in so doing, addressing a problem that is of huge importance in our contemporary world. The paper involved a considerable amount of work, and is one of the first on the pricing of futures on CO2 emissions in Europe. The authors used empirical evidence to extend the existing literature, and the paper will be of practical use in developing pricing models - it will be directly applicable in producing software for traders in the emissions market. This paper closes a scientific research gap and constitutes research at any advanced stage.