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Applied Portfolio Management Program

The Applied Portfolio Management Program (APMP) is a student-run investment fund that manages $1.5 million in assets. The APMP is a 4th year for-credit course (COM 490). Unlike a traditional offering, this course follows a 12-month experiential structure. This part-time commitment delivers invaluable hands-on experience.

The students make all the decisions when it comes to the fund. They receive guidance from an Investment Advisory Committee (IAC) of professionals and faculty. Students pursuing careers in financial services find this experience invaluable in gaining real‐life exposure to the investment industry.

Students at the Applied Portfolio Management Program

Portfolio managers

The portfolio managers are students responsible for managing the fund. They make all the investment decisions, with input from the IAC and the program director.

The portfolio managers follow the APMP's responsible investment philosophy. This integrates environmental, social and governance factors while focusing on a long‐term investment horizon. All portfolio managers communicate and collaborate with each other. It is important to do this on an ongoing basis and to come to a consensus on all major decisions.

Program prerequisites

Students must complete the Applied Investment Management Course (AIMC) through CFA Society Victoria. This non-credit course is offered from November to April each year. The course is available to 16 students and taught online with classes 1 week out of every month. AIMC culminates with students making a stock pitch on a TSX‐listed company to a panel of industry professionals. Questions about AIMC can be sent to Professor Michael King.

How to apply

Following the completion of the AIMC course, successful students apply to become portfolio managers in June. During July and August, incoming portfolio managers are trained by the outgoing managers. Each September, they take over the fund and manage it for 12 months.

Analysts

The analysts support the portfolio managers throughout their term. They report to the portfolio managers, who integrate their analysis into their decisions. 

Program prerequisites

Students must achieve a minimum grade of 80% in the following courses:

Business path

  • COM 371 - Management Finance
  • COM 445 - Corporate Finance and Valuation (summer semester)

Economics path

  • ECON 305 - Money and Banking
  • ECON 435 - Financial Economics

Due to internship commitments or personal reasons, students may not have completed either COM 445 or ECON 435 by September of each year. In this case, exceptional candidates who are enrolled in one of these courses for the fall semester (September‐December) may be invited to apply for analyst positions in September. Their participation in APMP is conditional on satisfactorily completing this course as a corequisite. 

How to apply

Every September, the incoming portfolio managers hire 2 to 3 analysts to join the team. These roles are for a minimum 8‐month term. Please note that exceptional analysts may be able to advance to more senior roles based on performance. 

Asset allocation & benchmark

The Investment Policy Statement (IPS) outlines the APMP asset allocation. The fund’s 2 clients, UVic Treasury and BC Investment Management Corporation (BCI), agree upon this asset allocation. The benchmark asset allocation is: 

  • 30% Canadian equities (selected from the TSX Composite Index)
  • 30% US equities (selected from the S&P 500 Index)
  • 40% Canadian fixed income (investment grade only) 

The fund can operate outside these weights, by being overweight in some assets and underweight in others. It must never go over 70% equity or 50% fixed income. 

The fund's performance is benchmarked against 3 indices:

  • 30% S&P/TSX Composite Index
  • 30% S&P 500 Index
  • 40% against the FTSE TMX Canadian Universe Bond Index 

The portfolio managers track the fund’s total return against this benchmark. At year‐end 2021, the fund underperformed the benchmark with a return of 15.03% vs. 15.35% for the benchmark. 

As of year‐end 2021, the fund was overweight in equity and underweight in fixed income with the following allocations:

  • 3% Canadian equities
  • 34% US equities
  • 31.3% Canadian fixed income

Investable universe

The APMP’s investable universe is limited to Canadian and US equities exchanged on:

  • the S&P/TSX Composite Index
  • the S&P 500 Index 

In terms of fixed income securities, the fund is restricted to investment grade securities issued by Canadian listed companies, government, and government‐related institutions. The fund can also hold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that hold securities in its investable universe. Furthermore, there is a regulation against the holding of derivative products as these are riskier assets. 

As of year‐end 2021, the fund held:

  • 10 Canadian equities
  • 11 US equities
  • 2 fixed income bond ETFs
  • a small amount of cash
2023 Annual report
13.71MB PDF file
Description of roles
121KB PDF file

Contact us

Students who want to receive more information about this program can contact Professor Michael King.