In June 2018, the NEOMA BS Reims and Rouen campuses opened their new trading rooms, which were renovated and adapted to the needs of students, professors and researchers.

These trading rooms have computers connected to a giant database containing a boundless collection of financial information as well as the real-time status of the markets. They are not reserved for the exclusive use of traders. In fact, different specialists can go there and work side by side: account managers (buy & sell side), risk managers and supervisors, researchers, etc.

In an investment bank, a large company or a management consulting firm, the trading room is the nerve centre. In a school, it presents the opportunity to put students in an immersive situation and provides professors and researchers with the means and resources to remain close to the practices of the professional world.

“The trading rooms at NEOMA BS are equipped with Bloomberg terminals that provide real-time access as well as stock history reports and financial data. It’s a must-have in finance because the most important decisions are based on reliable, detailed information. The complete renovation of the trading rooms on the Reims and Rouen campuses will allow students and professors to connect better to real market data, the best practices, new products and new regulations,” said Sami Attaoui, head of the financial department at NEOMA Business School. “Our goal is to really reduce the gap existing between theory, our course teaching and practices.”

From balance sheets, profit-and-loss accounts, company profitability dating back twenty years, market capitalisation and floating dividend evaluations to information on company managing directors and financial governance, students and professors will have all this information at their fingertips in our trading rooms to assist with their courses and work.

“For example, I give a course that includes a simulation where each group of students has 5,000 virtual euros to invest in the market. They go on the Bloomberg terminals and create a portfolio that they manage on a daily basis. They then review the profitability of investments, buy and sell securities all while applying what they learned in class. At the end, they write a small thesis paper, which they have to present, defending their choices and explaining their errors or their successes. The students are placed in a real-life, immersive situation with real data,” explained Aloïs Kanyinda, professor of finance at NEOMA BS.

Far more than just a simple pedagogic exercise, the courses in the trading room help or students learn to use the tools used in the professional world and even obtain Bloomberg certification, thereby strengthening their CVs with this newly acquired, indispensible skill.

The trading rooms on our campuses are also a brand-new tool that serves a long-time recognised expertise of the school, which can be seen in the latest ranking in the June 2018 Financial Times, ”Global Masters In Finance - pre-experience programmes,” highlighting the excellence of our Advanced Masters in International Financial Analysis and the school’s 25th ranking (8th in France), which jumped 16 places from the previous year.