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Two SKEMA FMI students excel in the Bloomberg Global Trading Challenge
The Bloomberg Global Trading Challenge brings together several thousand student teams from leading universities each year. The exercise tests one core skill: managing a virtual portfolio of one million dollars over one month. For the 2025 edition, two final-year students from SKEMA Business School’s MSc Financial Markets & Investments (MSc FMI), Salima Zalmat and Théophile Sautonie, delivered a standout performance.
The challenge follows one rule: invest to generate measurable profit. Each team operates with one million virtual dollars, a Bloomberg Terminal and a demanding benchmark.
“I want to highlight Salima and Théophile’s exceptional result. They ranked in the global top 1% with an annualised excess return of +93%.”
In this rigorous environment, the two MSc FMI students – enrolled in a programme ranked 2nd worldwide for finance by the Financial Times – showed strong execution and insight. Their final result speaks for itself: a return of 11.37%, equal to 113,711 dollars in profit and 99.3k dollars of outperformance against the benchmark. The team ranked 1st in France, 1st in the European Union (excluding the UK), 5th in Europe and 25th worldwide out of 2,695 competing teams.
A structured strategy
To reach this level, the students followed a clear framework. “Our aim was to build steady profit based on a coherent strategy. Each position went through a full fundamental and technical review,” they explain.
“I want to underline the outstanding performance of Salima and Théophile. Their top-1% global ranking and +93% annualised excess return reflect sharp quantitative expertise, rigorous modelling and precise execution. This challenge strengthens their career prospects and their grasp of real market practice,” notes Johann Barchechath, Director of the MSc FMI on the Grand Paris campus.
Their approach combined:
• macroeconomic analysis of the market regime
• structured sector rotation
• a quantitative stock-selection model
• risk-aligned exposure management
The MSc FMI as foundation
“The courses set a strong base. Then each of us brought our own experience. We combined our strengths to build a clear strategy,” says Théophile.
“The portfolio management course guided our technical analysis and exposure management,” adds Salima.
A defining experience for their careers
The competition encouraged both students to refine their plans for the future.
“I am drawn to trading and asset management. This experience strengthens my path,” says Salima. The challenge offers more than a line on a CV. It exposes students to near-real market conditions and prompts them to assess their fit with demanding financial environments. A view shared by Théophile: “The competition confirmed my desire to work in a technical setting.” Salima concludes: “The key is the ability to explain what you did and why.”
