Volume 15 Issue 3

VOLUME 15 ISSUE 3

15-3 Poker Tournament > 10

Interfaculty Prom and photopage > 15, 20

Lasertag > 33

DSF, MIcompany and Triple A Risk interviews >16, 22, 34

3 Inhouse days> 14 , 24 , 32

International Chef > 30 The mathematics behind fairness in tennis > 26 3 interviews > 14, 16, 22

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A flying start at the bank that thinks and acts like entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.careeratnibc.com.

preface

01

from the president It is undeniably an exciting time for us as the end of the academic year is approaching. It might seem like I’m thinking a little too far ahead right now, but it is not far from the truth. Whether you are an MScor BSc- student, you will probably have a tough studyblock coming for which you are already preparing yourself (mentally). You might be preoccupied by writing your MSc or BSc thesis, solving your first case with ‘basiswerkcolllege’ or as a firstyears you might be stressing about the last few courses. All in all, the end of academic year 2012-2013 is approaching and it might be over faster than you think.

>>47

The same goes for us as the current board of the ED. We slowly try to get a good insight into who might succeed us and as the last few months of the academic year come along we will shift responsibilities accordingly. In a board year you get a habit of looking quite far ahead into the future because of all the planning that is necessary.

Due to this we are slowly developing the sense that the end of our board year is slowly approaching, even though we still have nearly half a year to go until the official end of the reign of the 47th board. The idea of the change of board immediately makes one reminisce about the past year. A board year certainly offers a steep learning curve that in a way that you wouldn’t find in textbooks. I can thereby wholeheartedly recommend doing a board year as it is definitely worth it.

And there is still plenty going on at present without looking too much into the future. At the time of writing we are still occupied with various career/recruitment-events such as Icansultancy, ABN Amro Investment Night and a CV-training by Deloitte. Alongside this, big projects such as SPED are running on full speed and the trip to North-America (Chicago, Toronto, Boston, New York and Washington) is shaping up nicely.

All in all, I would like to wish everyone the best of luck with the last few months. Hopefully, by the time this Estimator has hit the press, the sunshine will have come out of hiding, spring will be in full bloom and everyone will be able to have some time off with a beer or soda in the ‘Oude Haven’.

Christiaan Lensvelt President of the ED 2012-2013 x

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p e r iodi c a l m a g a z in e

02 Table of contents 01. From the president // 03. Editorial // 04. Agenda 06. Who is who? // 08. Elections // 10. Poker Tournament 11. Meeting with....// 12. Chef // 13. Solution puzzle 15-1 14. Inhouse day Flow Traders // 15. Interfaculty Intrigue 16. Interview DSF // 18. LED // 20. Centerfold 22. Interview MIcompany // 24. Inhouse day Bain & Company 25. After Exam Drink // 26. The mathematics behind fairness in tennis 30. International Chef // 32. Inhouse day Optiver//33. Lasertag 34. Interview Triple A - Risk Finance // 36. Adventures of the board 37. Puzzle // 38. Studysection // 40. List of graduates

11 18 30 33

p

Meeting with...

A new interesting rubric where we meet former board members of the ED ×

p

LED

Econometricians from all over the country headed to Utrecht for the LED 2013 ×

p

p

International Chef

Lasertag

Meet Chef Radermacher for a culinary trip around the world x

Participants faced each other in the dark basement of a boat. ×

Advertisements 00. NIBC // 05. Actuarieel Instituul // 25. MIcompany // 31. DSF // 41. Triple A Risk Finance // 42. Mercer

Colofon Final Editing > Emiel Verhaert Editorial Office > Sierk Wiegers, Max Schotsman, Jelle Huisman, Marijtje van Leeuwen and Ruud van Luijk Photo: Emiel Verhaert Office address > Erasmus University, Room H11-02, Burg. Oudlaan 50, P.O box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, estimator@ectrie.nl Acquisition > Roman Gorlov, phone: 010 - 408 14 39 Circulation > 850 copies Printer> Nuance Print Design/DTP > Het Econometrisch Dispuut. Estimator is a periodical from the Econometrisch Dispuut

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editorial

 03

Academic year: 80 % complete

> Dear reader, As time is flying by, as well as some very cold winds, it is hard to realize there are little over three months remaining before the start of the summer holiday. Although some start their holidays earlier than others, the holiday planning can start.

Please keep in mind though, that lots of studying still needs to be done and working hard should not be underestimated. However, taking some time off is also highly recommended and the upcoming EDactivities are excellent for just that.

After the notions above, it must also be said that a passing of royal powers will take place and for the first time since 1890, a king will take place on the throne.

In this Estimator we also are introducing a new section! Each edition from now on, we are doing are very best to meet up with a previous member of the ED-board. Here we will see what their study time was like, relive some memories, see how their careers unfold and what they would advise students to do. In this edition, we start with Stephanie la Grouw, media officer in the year 2004-2005.

Have a lot of fun reading this Estimator and we would like to wish you lots of success in the last couple of months!

Kind regards, Emiel Verhaert

>>

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04 Agenda

Agenda Week 18: Post-exam drink Week 19: EC Football tournament Week 20: PWC inhouseday Beerpong tournament Week 21: Case Choice Finance Week 22: Karaoke drink Week 23:

No activities due to studying for exams

Week 24:

No activities due to studying for exams

Week 25: Exams Week 26: End-of-the-year party

*These dates are with reservation.

>>

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Treed in de voetsporen van Johan de Witt “In een snel veranderende wereld, met financiële risico's en een groeiende behoefte aan meer creatieve manieren om deze aan te pakken, zijn er voortdurend mogelijkheden voor persoonlijke en professionele groei.”

Waarom kiezen voor een actuariële vervolgstudie?

Waarom actuarieel professional worden? > Je wilt werken bij een verzekeraar, pensioenfonds, financiële onderneming waar risicomanagement een belangrijke rol speelt, of voor een adviesbureau waar je klanten adviseert over verschillende vormen van risicomanagement. > Jouw unieke vaardigheden dragen bij aan strategische beslissingen die door financiële ondernemingen maar ook door overheden worden genomen. > Het beroep van actuaris werd in 2012, maar ook in 201 1 en 2010, gekozen tot de meest ideale baan met een goede ‘life balance’ (Studie&Werk, Elsevier en SEO, juni 2012).

Wat biedt het Actuarieel Instituut > Verschillende parttime opleidingen op diverse niveaus, die de combinatie werken en leren mogelijk maakt. > De mogelijkheid tijdens de opleiding door te ontwikkelen, doordat theorie vrijwel direct in praktijk toegepast kan worden. > Uitstekende opleidingsfaciliteiten, docenten en experts uit het beroepenveld.

Actuarieel Instituut Voor meer informatie over de opleidingen van het AI kunt u terecht op www.ag-ai.nl of neem contact op met Sandra Oudejans op telefoonnummer 030-686 61 57 of per e-mail sandra.oudejans@ag-ai.nl.

06 Who is who?

who is who? > This edition it is up to the activities and SPED committees to introcuce themselves. These 2 committees are responsible for all our social activities and our studytrip!

>>

e e t it

s e i t ivi

m m co

t c A

Hello, my name is Mechteld Ferment. I have introduced myself here before on plenty occasions, so I’ll skip over that part.

Let’s just conclude that the Activities Committee has organized a fabulous prom and a magnificent city trip to Berlin, so it’s a shame you’re only getting to know us by now. Luckily, we still have the party left at the end of the year! See you at the after exam drink!

Hi, My name is Jennifer, 19 years old and I’m in the first year of Econometrics. This year I’m one of the members of the activities committee. I joined this committee because I like to organize activities and i thought it would be a educational experience to join in such a committee. So far I’ve helped to organize the promnight and the citytrip to Berlin. I’ve had a lot of fun doing this and I’m looking forward to organize further activities, such as the final party. I hope my undertakings will be a succes. X

Hi everyone, I’m Koen a new member of the new Activities Committee. We organize all the fun stuff, such as the prom and the berlin trip. Now I’m in my second year, in my first year I went to all the activities that are now organized by my committee.

So it’s nice to plan and organize these events myself now, together with my co-members Christiaan, Mechteld and Jennifer. For this year an amazing event still awaits us, so prepare yourself!

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who is who?

07

SPED committee

Hey all, I am Eric Slob, a second year econometrics student. I am part of the SPED committee and you can usually find me around H10, stalking the companies in order to get the best internships for the participants. This is a great experience, since it is great to work together with the other committee members. The only downsides are the long hours we make and the continuous rejection of companies. This is sometimes depressing, but we fortunately always have Tjian’s funny remarks to cheer us up. Due to the high pressure we are facing, you could compare us with something like a call center. Once we are finished with the calling we will get to the best part of our committee: The study trip itself!

The destination is to be kept secret, but I can tell you one thing: it is going to be amazing!

Next to being part of the ED call center (which is quite awesome), I also enjoy rowing, running and reading. However, I en joy the SPED the most, since the committee is simply the best. Kind regards, Eric

I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was!

Calling companies is my real test, to mail them is my cause.

I will travel across ED events, searching far and wide.

Each company to understand, the money that’s inside.

Internship, it’s you and me.

I know it’s our destiny.

Internship, oh, you’re my best friend.

In a world we must fix them.

Internship, a heart so true.

Our sweet talk will pull us through.

Dear fellow econometricians. My name is Hao Zhou and I’m a second year econometrics student and currently part of the SPED or international research project committee. Either way I’m glad to be a part of it. Being part of Tjian Lam’s callcenter division is surely an unforgettable experience to my time here at the Erasmus. One thing I definetely learned here is dealing with being rejected over and over again.

Sometimes the absence of success is depressing. However, seeing my fellow committee members go through the same process somehow makes me feel better. I have long forgotten the true meaning and experience of free time, as free time equals callcenter in my dictionary. Even though times are tough for callcenter Lam, we will get as many companies as possible and make SPED 2013-2014 a success.

You reach me and I leach you.

Companies, gotta catch them all!

Every contact along the way, each rejection I will face.

I will stalk them every day, to claim every internship place.

Come with the IRP, the time is right.

There is no better team.

Phone in hand, is always a delight.

Under Tjian’s regime!

Bob Maks

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08 elections

Elections The elections for the two most important bodies will take place soon. From Tuesday, 7 May 2013 until Monday, 15 May 2013 you can vote for the candidates for the Faculty and University Council. This year again econometricians will run against other ESE candidates for a position and represent the student body on a faculty and university level. Tjian Lam and Robin van Straalen, hopefully two familiar faces by now, will make sure the voice of the econometricians will be heard!

Tjian Lam, currently Educational Officer at the ED, has been responsible for all the educational activities, like our study project and the BETA

>>

awards, but also for our students in the international programme. Robin van Straalen, Career Officer at the ED, has made various career related events possible, like Find Your Match, the Quantitative Finance Project or the I Cansultancy event.

So, do not let your vote go to waste and vote for Tjian Lam and Robin van Straalen!

> FACULTY COUNCIL Vote Tjian Lam for the Faculty Council 2013-2014!

As a member of the Faculty council, I want to represent your opinions and beliefs in the faculty. Within my power it is my duty to make your student life as best as possible at the Erasmus School of Economics. Some of the things that I stand for are: - More recognition for Econometrics students - Extending opening hours of the H-canteen - More workspace at the computerlab for

laptop users - More exchange possibilities for students - Against the N=N for the second year

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elections

ELECTIONS

FACULTY

AND

 09

UNIVERSITY

COUNCIL! 7 TO 15 MAY 2013 Voting is possible at: www.eur.nl/vote

>>

> UNIVERSITY COUNCIL Vote Robin van Straalen for the University Council 2013-2014!

In the University Council, as your representative, I will commit myself to making a better study environment. As an econometrician it is important that you have enough facilities available to complement your student life here on campus. That is why I stand for the following points:

Development: - More recognition for extra-curricular activities - Better information about developments on the university - More opportunities for guidance from the university Education: - Making sure nominal=normal is not implemented

in the second year and higher, in order to encou

rage room for personal development - Increase exchange possibilities university wide by

sharing contacts from the different faculties - Review of tuition fees for international students

and students doing a 2nd Bachelor or Master Facilities: - More computer workspaces and software packa

ges as eviews and matlab available on computers

campus wide - Extended opening hours for the library during exams - Higher quality catering - More bike sheds

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10 poker tournament

poker Tournament

On 9 January it was time for the heaven of probability, beer and bluff: the yearly returning ED- poker tournament. The place of this tournament was Café Spiegel, a cozy and atmospheric café in the center of the city.

> The heat was soon on once the bets were on. The four tables with each 8 players started their games and the first cards were played.

Soon the first players dropped

>>

final table was full of new players.

The winners of last years were sitting at the bar or were simply not attending. They probably felt too weak for the enormous competition of this year’s candidates.

After a quick but exciting final

were whipped away. While most of the people were gone by the time the owner wanted to go to sleep or do some other middle class hobbies, some of us continued the awesome night at café Beurs. Here we partied into the early hours.

Ruud van Luijk ×

“Only the ones who watched the film Rounders recently stayed in the game. ” out, cursing about other players’ luck and their own lack of skill.

Some went away, but most stayed to spectate with a delicious cold beer in their hands. Every 15 minutes the small and big blind were raised and more people dropped out. Only the ones who watched the film Rounders recently stayed in the game. The

game all the Le Chiffres were done and Bernadette Zantman was the last woman standing. The first female winner for a long, long time, congratulations!

Luckily the evening wasn’t over.

The games were evaluated while everyone was enjoying their drinks and the last tears of losing

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Meeting with...

11

Meeting with...

Stephanie La Grouw

Commencing this edition, each time we will meet with a previous board member of the ED. In the interesting conversations we have, we want to see how their careers are evolving, what they learnt from the board year and what the differences are between the ED now and then. I met with Stephanie la Grouw, media officer from 2004-2005.

> It was the first warm day of the year (17 degrees, before all the cold started again) and we had agreed to meet for a drink after work. The place where we met was café Pardoen, the go-to pub of the 39th board. Located in the ‘Oude Haven’, the terraces were packed. After taking a spot, we ordered a drink and started our conversation.

Our first topic was the Estimator magazine. When designing the magazine in those days, uploading was not yet common. After designing the magazine, they saved it on a big floppy drive (later that year they switched to cd’s), and the magazine was brought to the design studio by bike. When you arrived there, the designer opened the file immediately so they could discuss the lay-out of the magazine on the spot and look at possibilities to make the magazine even better.

Stephanie was also responsible for the MET. Besides four regular METs, one MET-special was published that was sent to every student in de ESE faculty. This MET showcased a series of bachelor theses that were written.

Before that year, there only was a thesis for the masters’ degree, but in the year 2004-2005 the bachelor thesis was introduced.

Because it was the first year, the students did not have a very clear

idea about how to write a bachelor thesis. This was the perfect opportunity to create a valuable edition for the students with insights on how to write their own thesis and it was a big help for students that year.

The final piece of printing worked on that year was the almanac.

The colour chosen that year was ED-green which was in big contrast compared to the red almanac last year. The theme: Robust. That year, the almanac was actually made twice, due to a

ning experience. Trainings for the board, networking, and organizing all kind of events are very useful. The ED-room was at H11, next to a professor’s room.

Because there were many people coming in and out of the EDroom, this was not an ideal situation. After some great lobbying work of the president, the EDroom moved to a room twice as large at H10, the central place until this day. The way some board members started their day is also remarkable; together with a fellow board member, Stephanie

“You learn a lot from trainings for the board, networking, and organizing all the events.” crash of the old Macintosh where all backups were deleted. After a moment of depression, all members of the committee and the board teamed up and worked day and night in order to publish the almanac in time for the already planned drink where the almanac was handed out.

Their board year at uni was exciting, both socially and as a lear-

used to swim 60 lanes before starting their day in the ED-room.

>> own marketing intelligence company, Gibbs Quantitative Research & Consulting. The experience of being in the ED board did come in very handy here. Because you already got to deal with companies you get a better idea of the corporate industry. For example visiting different companies in order to raise sponsoring money, negotiations with print houses and organizing activities. Gibbs now exists 5 years and when you know that the majority of businesses fail within their first 5 years, you see that they have done a phenomenal job getting the company started.

It was a fantastic meeting and the facts that passed by were very interesting. I wish for a long continuation of this rubric.

Emiel Verhaert ×

‘What does Stephanie do now?’, you probably wonder. When having a board year on your resume it is easy to think that one would work at a big multinational company. Instead, Stephanie teamed up with friends from Erasmus and they started their

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12 chef

Chef Mihailovic

A new edition of the Estimator, a new edition of The Chef. This

time the honor went to David Mihailovic, second-year econome-

trician and a very active member of the ED. On Monday the 11th of March, the small part of the Estimator committee that was not on vacation visited the Chef’s casa on Kralingen’s Korte Kade.

>> Chef:

> The first challenge of the night came with the starting time of the dinner: eight o’clock. Since the members of the Estimator committee are Dutch citizens through and through, we are used to eating earlier. That’s why we hoped David had cooked a lot. It turned out that he did not just

David Mihailovic

Startyear:

2011

Favorite Dish:

Lobster

ED-highlight: Paris & Berlin trips cook a lot, he cooked great as well.

The second challenge of the night was getting access to the food. As

David’s bell had been broken for a while, some committee members had to stand in the cold for a couple of minutes. Once inside, we were immediately warmed with our chef’s house wine: Chateau David. Coincidentally, this was precisely the wine the committee had bought as a surprise gift.

Though our surprise might have failed, the first course on the menu did not. Although I don’t exactly recall what it was, it was exotic and delicious. This meal was eaten up quickly because of the hungry persons at the table.

The main course was pork tenderloin, stuffed with plums, served with sauerkraut and mash potatoes. The pork and plums proved an original and tasty combination, leaving the eaters longing for more. At one point some committee members even considered eating the share of David’s absent roommate, who was unfortunately stuck in a mandatory Skills lecture.

on the crème brûlée ourselves, with David’s personal portable flamethrower. Luckily, handling the flamethrower was not as difficult as I had thought beforehand and the caramel turned crisp with ease. This is how dinner at Chef Mihailovic turned into a completely new experience for the Estimator committee members.

After dessert, we stayed and talked for quite a while about all new global and local developments. At about 10.30, it was time to close off and leave David with the Chateau of his name.

Sierk Wiegers ×

As good as the first two courses were, David’s dessert proved even more spectacular. We were allowed to harden the caramel layer

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puzzle

13

Solution puzzle Estimator 15-1 Since the puzzle from the first Estimator of this year has still not been

>>

solved I will now give a solution. As a reminder this was the puzzle:

We have 2 mathematicians, A and B. We pick four different numbers out of {1,2,…,9,10}. A and B both know we picked 4 numbers, but they don’t know which. We add up the numbers and tell A the result. We multiply the numbers and tell B the result. We put A and B together in a room but they are not allowed share their given number. We ask them how many numbers they know.

A: I don’t know any number.

B: I know one number.

A: I know two numbers.

B: I know all the numbers.

What are the numbers?

> There is undoubtedly a analytical solution to this problem, but lets look at a brute force solution for convenience.

The first piece of information we have is that A knows no numbers. This tells us if the combinations are possible.

Sum Combinations Known Possible 10 1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4 no 11 1,2,3,5 1,2,3,5 no 12 1,2,3,6 1,2 no

1,2,4,5 1,2 no 13 1,2,3,7 1 no

1,2,4,6 1 no

1,3,4,5 1 no 14 1,2,3,8

yes

1,2,4,7

yes

1,2,5,6

yes

1,3,4,6

yes

2,3,4,5

yes This leaves a total of 196 combinations. Now we apply the same logic to the information given by B, and the fact that only 196 combinations are possible where A knows no numbers.

This gives us for B: product combinations known possible 48 1,2,3,8 1,2,3,8 no 54 1,2,3,9 1,2,3,9 no 56 1,2,4,7 1,2,4,7 no 60 1,2,3,10 1,2 no

1,2,5,6 1,2 no etc.

Now the first product where we only know one number is 168 (the combinations are (1,3,7,8), (1,4,6,7) and (2,3,4,7)). The information from B leaves us with 65 possibilities.

Now A says that she knows 2 numbers. Here we go again: Sum Combinations Known Possible 16 2,3,4,7 2,3,4,7 no 17 2,3,5,7 2,3,5,7 no 18 1,4,6,7

no

2,3,4,9

no

2,3,6,7

no

2,4,5,7

no Only numbers that sum to 29 are now remaining, the combinations are (2,8,9,10) and (4,6,9,10). B now says that he knows all numbers because the only remaining products are 4 x 6 x 9 x 10 = 2160 and 2 x 8 x 9 x 10 = 1440. Either 2160 or 1440 was given at the start to B so he is able to determine the 4 factors.

Max Schotsman x

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14 inhouse day

INHouse day Flow Traders

On the first day of February the Econometrisch Dispuut provided another opportunity to get to know a company better, this time we

>>

could visit Flow Traders, a market maker who mainly specializes in Exchange-traded funds (EFT’s). > As the company is located in the capital of the Netherlands, we had to leave Rotterdam early by train in order to be on time. At 10 o’clock we arrived at the office and we were welcomed in their break-out room with coffee and tea.

The day started with a corporate movie and a presentation about Flow Traders, which gave a good insight in what Flow Traders actually does. For the occasion, the recruiter of the American office was there as well, and provided us with a short presentation of the international opportunities Flow Traders offers to their employees. Finally, the application process was discussed as well, and as the companies has been growing grown enormously over

the last few years, they are always looking for potential traders, who can help bring the company to higher levels.

We then had a short break with coffee, tea and snacks, which was followed by a short introduction by one of the traders with an insight in his daily life. Afterwards we could feel the excitement of trading itself during the Trading Challenge. Using slides, which displayed the stock price on a day, we had to shout buy or sell at the moment the stock price had

“We could feel the excitement of trading itself during the Trading Challenge.”

We were then invited to the trading floor where we actually could see the traders at work. In addition, also technical staff was present in order to immediately fix IT problems, if these would arise. In trading, it is important to be the fastest in order to make a profit, so you also need the fastest systems in place. Many of the traders sat behind 4 to 8 screens, searching for market opportunities.

reached a specific threshold (at that threshold a profit could be made). The potential trader who shouted buy or sell the first could take the profit. We had different rounds, and although trading was quite easy in the beginning, we soon traded in derivatives in the stock price. After playing all rounds, the winner, who had the highest cumulative profit, won the prize, a large bottle of expensive

champagne.

The in-house day ended with lunch, which consisted of delicious sandwiches, soup, a sausage roll and a wide range of drinks. In the meantime we could talk to the traders present, some of which also had studied Econometrics in Rotterdam. We could use the pool table, or one the many arcade games (racing, poker, etc.). At the end all of us received a nice goodie bag, which also contained an umbrella, very useful as it just had started raining outside.

Robin van Straalen ×

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interfaculty prom

For single econometricians, the 14th of February can be a cold and lonely day. To lighten up their spirits on Valentine’s Day, the ED in collaboration with Cedo Nulli, MAEUR and FBMG organizes the annual interfaculty prom. The two pillars beneath this extremely successful event: unlimited free drinks and the option to pick up some psychology students.

Interfaculty Intrigue > Keeping the second pillar in mind, I and some fellow econometricians pulled on our dress suits and tuxedos and set out for the prom without a date. For the first time, the prom was held in the Schielandhuis. Originally intended as a government building, it is the only building from the 17th century that is still standing in Rotterdam. Nowadays, the Schielandhuis serves as a city museum and a hangout for econometricians on Valentine’s Day. The new location turned out to be a great success: the old building provided a great atmosphere. As the doors closed at 11, the space was soon packed. Firstly, we checked out the awesome bar where all the free drinks were located. Beer and wine flowed

faster than it had ever flowed before. And since all available drinks were free, many econometricians will have tasted some rare cocktails for the first time.

The drinks were served in nice glasses: something that proved

15

>>

ded, this opportunity was in great popular demand. After the drinks and pictures, many guests turned to the spacious dance floor. Here, a band consisting of students was in charge of entertaining the guests. The party kicked off early

sful edition of the annual prom was already closed off. All present will already be longing to next year’s edition.

Sierk Wiegers ×

“Beer and wine flowed faster than it had ever flowed before.” quite tiresome for the waiters during the later hours of the night.

Because most people do not wear their tuxedos every day, an experienced photographer was present to shoot the ideal group pictures. And judging by the long rows some persons sneakily avoi-

and the dance floor quickly warmed up. Luckily, there was the option to cool off and relax in the beautifully decorated garden of the Schielandhuis. Thought it might be better to say that it was beautifully decorated at the beginning of the night.

At 2.30 am, another very succes-

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16 interview

Interview dSF For this edition of the Estimator, we visited the Duisenberg School of Finance (DSF) in Amsterdam.

DSF was established in 2008 by different Dutch universities. Its purpose is to encourage new thinking in finance and to contribute to a healthier global financial sector. It provides four Master programs: Risk Management, Corporate Finance and Banking, Financial Markets and Regulation, and Finance and Law . Our interviewee was Patty Duijm, an editor of last year’s Estimator magazine. Nowadays, she follows the Risk Management master at DSF.

> Can you tell something about yourself and your study on DSF? I studied economics in Amsterdam at the VU University. Last year, I did a transition year in econometrics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. During that year, I was awarded a scholarship to the Duisenberg School of Finance. I am currently studying the M.Sc. Risk Management and I believe this is a very good follow-up to econometrics. I really enjoy my study and the inspiring environment of motivated students make it a great last year of being a student while preparing for a career as well.

What does Risk Management focus on?

The master focuses on risks inside banks and insurance companies. As an econometrician, you can analyze the models that are used there. However, becoming a good Risk Manager demands for more. In econometrics, I learned how to understand and

work with models. At Duisenberg, I learn how these models are used in practice and I learn to critically look at them. Finance is so much more than perfect mathematical models and rational decision making.

What were the advantages of your study econometrics?

My pre-master education in econometrics was the perfect preparation for the Master Risk Management. The program itself is challenging, so without the relevant knowledge about modeling and economics it is going to be very difficult here. It is required to have a quantitative background in order to start with the master Risk Management. My two Dutch classmates have also studied econometrics. Foreign classmates have usually studied something like business mathematics, informatics or engineering, which is also a quantitative study.

What is the difference between DSF’s Risk Management or Corporate Finance and Banking and the master Quantitative Finance at EUR? First of all, Risk Management is absolutely not comparable to a master Finance that you can take after an economics study.

Quantitative Finance, which you can take after econometrics, roughly offers the same courses as the M.Sc. Risk Management.

However, Risk Management offers a more practical approach.

For example, there are so-called Applied Risk Management courses in which people from business visit the campus to work with us for an entire day.

Those days are usually held once a study block and are in addition to the normal lectures and classes. This cooperation with the private sector is not something you see at other universities. Besides that, Duisenberg offers the Duisenberg Leadership Programme (DLP); a comple-

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interview

17

very young, but there are many applicants each year. However, to keep the uniqueness and the quality high, there is a limited number of 35 places for each master.

>>

mentary program consisting of non ‘standard book courses’ (e.g.

Behavioral Finance, Finance & Sustainability) for all four masters. Career workshops are also part of DLP. We are offered a good preparation and an internship as part of the program makes this study the perfect preparation for a career. I believe DSF’s program is more relevant to my future than other programs.

we visited Boom Chicago; a comedy theatre. Some time ago, I went to Prague with a couple of fellow students here. So the students here are really very close to

We heard there are many international students at Duisenberg?

Yes, we have about thirty different nationalities on a total of 120 students. Many of them come from South Africa, Russia and India. I enjoy this international community as it is very fun and interesting to work with people of different backgrounds. I’m also in the Social Committee at Duisenberg.

We organize events so that students can get to know each other and the Netherlands. For example, we participated in the Dam-to-Dam walk and last week,

What are the requirements to enter Duisenberg?

First of all, your grade list is checked out. Also, they look for activities beside your study that you have done on your resume. For example, this includes being active in a student organization.

Being a motivated student is very important. After the grade list and resume are checked out, you will probably get invited for an interview. For some programs, including the M.Sc. Risk Management, a GMAT/GRE is required as well. The university is

What is the most challenging aspect of the Risk Management master?

A full-time master at Duisenberg is challenging and time consuming; a job on the side is not something students do . To get the best out of us we are given many case studies and assignments.

Those are very useful, require good teamwork, but it will take some time as well. However, at the DSF campus we are offered a good environment with all the facilities to work and study, in silence or within your team. All students have a card which allows them to enter the Duisenberg building 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.

Can you give advice to current students in econometrics?

I would really advice you to enjoy your bachelor time, because it will be over before you know it.

You are still very young. If you have the time to take a year off, I would really consider it.

“This is a very good follow-up to econometrics.” each other.

Especially if you have the opportunity to do an interesting project, for example a research project or a board membership (Econometrisch Dispuut) After your master, it is likely that you will immediately start working and you will not have the chance to do such things anymore.

On Thursday the 4th of April there will be an open day at Duisenberg School of Finance for all interested. All econometrics students are very welcome to check out the available master programs and meet current DSF students. For more information; www.dsf.nl

Marij van Leeuwen & Sierk Wiegers ×

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18 LED

LED On Tuesday, the fifth of February, econometricians from all over the country headed to Utrecht for the Landelijke Econometristen Dag (LED) 2013. This year, members of the study association Asset | Econometrics (from Tilberg University) had the honour to organize this day. This event took place at the Beatrix Theater, which is strategically located next to the central station. Here are experiences shared

by Jelle Huisman & Max Schotsman

> We arrived early in the morning at Utrecht Centraal where the event was held. After ditching our coats and receiving coffee and a goodie bag (for those wondering: it contained lots and lots of pens), there was a debate between a professor and an executive of the ING bank. Maybe debate isn’t the right word, since they just briefly shared their viewpoint on the banking system and after that started answering questions from the attendants.

The reason for the lack of debate was probably to keep the schedule. Anyway.

been there for a few years. After the presentation we started working on a simplified version of a case they had actually worked on, which turned out to be fun to do. If you are interested in consultancy I recommend going to one of their

For the uninitiated the LED stands for Landelijke Econometristen Dag (national econometricians day), and is the largest yearly congregation of econometricians ever probably. The purpose is for econometricians in the last two years of university to find internships, meet recruiters, get a job etc.

Then it was time for lunch, which was pretty uneventful (What do you want from me, I’m an econometrician not a writer). After that it was time for the second. Mine was Deloitte, which I picked not knowing that it was a pension advisory case. We started out with another presentation and got a case where we advised a company which pension insurance to use. It was interesting to do, but pensions are not my cup of tea.

After this we had drinks with recruiters and the chairman of the Social Economic Council gave a speech about what they do (really

After the debate it was time for the first case. I signed up for the Boston Consulting Group’s case.

It started with a presentation about how it is to work there by a couple of consultants that had

interesting stuff).

Following up there was a dinner with recruiters/representatives from the companies. This is an awesome way to get some insight into what kind of people work at a

“I can heartily recommend going to the LED next year...” in-house days/recruitment events. After solving the case they showed their solution to the case, which was pretty similar to ours.

company and just meet people in a more informal way than you would at a job interview. I applied for eating with PWC and we ate at a table with about five students and three people from PWC, so lots of opportunity to ask questions and such. After that the LED concluded with a party at some bar in Utrecht. Where drinks were already paid for so if you want to see drunk econometricians, that was your best bet.

I can heartily recommend going to the LED next year if anything I wrote sounds even remotely fun to do.

Max Schotsman ×

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led

>>

After a brief reception, everyone moved to the auditorium for an introduction talk and a debate. The debate had some very noteworthy speakers: Arnoud Boot (Professor of Corporate Finance and Financial Markets at the UVA), Dirk Schoenmaker (dean of the DSF and Professor at the VU Amsterdam) and Harold Naus (General Manager of Market Risk Management Bank in ING Group).

Next, there were two rounds of cases, interrupted by a lunch break. At these cases, students were placed at different companies according to their preferences. During these cases, groups of students mostly get the same assignment, which resembled some of the practices of the company. Then these groups had to compete for the best solution.

Some of the companies even had very nice rewards for the winners, like a barbeque or a bottle of wodka. When all the hard work at the cases was done, it was time for the next speaker: Wiebe Draijer, chairman of the Social Economic Council (SER). After an interesting talk about the use of quantitative analysis for policy advises, some pre-dinner refreshments were served. During

 19

this drink, you got the opportunity to talk with representatives of any of the companies present. The dinner conveniently took place in a hall in the Beatrix Theater. Once again, students were placed at a company according to their preferences. This dinner was a very useful way to get to know what it’s like to work at the company you were placed at. At some of the companies, the employees/recruiters switched tables between courses, such that you get to talk to different people.

When the dinner was finished, the LED committee organized buses to get to the hostel in Bunnik, where the students could change clothes for the party. The party, with free drinks(!), was held at Filemon&Baucis.

In my opinion, the LED 2013 committee did a great job at organizing this event. The preparations for the LED 2014 have already started, by a committee from the study association VESTING (University of Groningen).

Jelle Huisman x

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>> VOLUME 15 ISSUE 3 // ESTIMATOR EC ONOMETRISCH DISPUUT

22 interview

MIcompany One of the three interviews is with MIcompany, located in the capital of our nation. A known company for some, but new to others. We speak with an old boardmember of the Econometrisch Dispuut: Ilya Petoukhov. > Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Ilya Petoukhov and I am a Project Leader at MIcompany, where I started working about five years ago. I also studied econometrics (Quantitative Marketing) in Rotterdam and was the president of the 39th board of the Econometrisch Dispuut, 8 years ago.

What does MIcompany do?

To be honest I could never explain it as well as it is stated on our website (www.micompany.nl), but I will try to summarize. We are a customer analytics company. Our three core capabilities are impact, sustainability and learning.

Impact because we really want to make a difference. That is why we aim to work together with the market leaders in every branche we work in. If we finish a project we leave the company with a potential return that is worth a lot more than the client investment in MIcompany. Therefore we also want our plan to reach the boardroom level. The essence of our work is to identify big opportunities for companies using customer analytics.

Secondly, we would like to build a sustainable relationship with our clients. When we finish a project, we do not leave the client, but try to provide our client with longterm contributions. We are not just looking at next year’s revenue, but more at the long-term revenues. This makes sure that we do not come up with shortterm solutions.

The third capability is learning.

That is why we have the MIacademy. It is not enough that you show people that something works; you have to teach them to understand and apply analytics themselves. The MIacademy makes this possible. We do not aim to finish a project and leave a document; the client needs to learn using analytics themselves in the long-term. For more information I would like to refer to our website.

We thought that MIcompany is a marketing analytics company,

but you stated otherwise. What is the difference between marketing analytics and customer analytics?

People use these two terms for different things, which makes it hard to define the meaning of either one. We call ourselves a customer (or officially: commercial) analytics company and not a marketing company. My view is that the main difference is that we work from the perspective of the costumer, not from an aggregated market(ing) perspective. If you look at the aggregated level you will draw many wrong conclusions. We want to understand our client’s customers and only then draw conclusions.

What does a normal day looks like, or since you work in projects: what does the timeline of the project look like?

There is never a normal day, as every project is different from one another. Generally, when you

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interview

>>

start with a new project you need to first obtain knowledge of the client’s data and understand their organizational structure. You have to look where the opportunities are and from there you can develop your strategy. This process takes about three months and is the most intensive type of project. In this way you get to learn the company and its business very well. After this we look at the different directions where growth potential can be realised.

But this is only just the beginning of a client relation! After this we start working on the ideas and opportunities that were identified or arise as we go along. We monitor current projects and we estimate how effective they have been and what the return has been up till now.

Implementing the project, is that only done by MIcompany employees themselves?

From MIcompany’s side, small but efficient teams are sent to the

client. The client itself also provides a (usually larger) team of its own employees. The challenge is to make sure they are really part of the project and therefore can really help with the work. That is when you have the biggest impact.

Also, if they work by themselves they learn the most and most importantly: they have more manpower. The only problem is that the employees of the clients sometimes object to changing their way of working. However, they always can do some pre-analyses and help us obtain the correct data. We often also interview the board of the business; they have the best ideas to change the company.

On the other hand we also deliver desk proposals.Using our analytics expertise we solve a problem, for example forecasting. In this example our expertise gives us the opportunity to not only predict a certain result, but more importantly why we expect this result.

reasonable explanation? That is the reason why we look for analytically strong students.

What is the career path in MIcompany?

In an ideal situation you start as a working student employee at MIcomany. When you have proven yourself and if we are convinced you like MIcompany enough to

“We want to understand our client’s customers and only then draw conclusions. ” The companies deliver a lot of data. What is the quality of this data?

To be honest, the quality of the data is not always as high as you wish for. That is also the challenge in this business: to make the best of the situation, even though you do not have all the pieces of the puzzle. Sometimes there are errors in the data, like double entries, misplaced commas or gaps in the data. Luckily gaps are easy to notice and fairly simple to estimate. Overall, with our experience we do not have much trouble correcting these errors. We always ask ourselves: does this data or analysis result have a

consider a career here you can become a trainee. Usually our trainees are fully involved (like a fellow full-time analyst) in projects and also visit the client as part of the team. With trainees, we can also invest in helping them to write their master thesis at MIcompany. After graduating your studies, you can continue as an analyst. The next steps are: senior analyst, project leader, expert leader and ultimately partner. Most people take around three years for each step, but this is strongly related to your own competence. When you are project leader, you are encouraged to specialize in certain areas of ex-

23

pertise and become expert leader.

We are the only company with such a unique combination of capabilities in our business, so we have enough requests from clients. Thus we are in the position to choose the best companies and most impactful and interesting projects. Therefore we are always looking for new talent as employees. In selecting we are looking at the bigger picture, not only at your grades. So we are not only recruitin+g cum laude students, although intelligence takes a big role in the recruitment process.

Ruud van Luijk & Bert Wassink ×

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24 inhouse day

Inhouse day Bain & Company

Bain & Company is a renowned strategy consultant firm that operates all across the globe. Clients that Bain & Co. have been working for keep coming back and have a high return on the fees of Bain & Company. On the 14th of February they opened the doors of the Amsterdam office for a selected group of students.

>>

> The day started with a presentation about Bain & Company and what it is like to work in the consultancy world and about the unique selling points of Bain & Company. For example, Bain & Company measures the return of their clients on their fees and hands over an actual to-do list to the management that needs to implement changes. Where other consultancy bureaus stop when they hand over their consultancy report, Bain & Company still wants to ensure they are worth their clients’ investment!

the offices abroad, work at one of Bain & Company’s clients for a while (or as they call it: an externship), study for an MBA or even leave the office for a while to go on a sailing challenge from here

Following the introduction of Bain & Company some of the consultants were introduced and they told about all the opportunities possible while working at one of the most prestigious consultancy bureaus. You can work in one of

After these presentations, the case was introduced. How could we turn around a chip-making company that has decreasing revenues? A number of steps of how to handle this strategy consulting case were given and the group

was split in four. Each group went in a different room and under the guidance of a strategy consultant they worked on the case. This all happened with a challenging time limit, as the consultants have to deal with when working with their clients.

When the presentation for the case was prepared, there was a

”The opportunities are endless, and personal growth is valued highly at Bain & Company.” to Sydney. The opportunities are endless, and personal growth is valued highly at Bain.

break for lunch; in a café right opposite the office building sandwiches with a glass of juice or milk were prepared. There was an opportunity to have a conversation with consultants, time to discuss the case or just to have some small talk.

Now everyone was ready for the presentations. The acting CEO of the chip manufacturer was ready

to receive advice and a to-do plan.

Each group had to answer a different step of the case and at the end of each short presentation the groups got critical questions from the CEO and had to defend their case. After the presentations, the new company objectives were clear, the strategy for the firm was determined, and the CEO was given a to-do list and it was time to take action to turnaround the chip manufacturer.

Finally, the application process at Bain & Company was explained, and it is possible to have a 10 week internship at Bain. When you make it to the final step at the office, you will have five(!) interviews in one day to see if you really fit with the company.

The Inhouse day was finished, we went back to the station and returned to Rotterdam, now knowing about the interesting career opportunities at Bain & Company.

Emiel Verhaert ×

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26 mathematics in tennis

The Mathematics behind Fairness in Tennis As you’re reading this, it will probably be warm and sunny. The start of spring also heralds the start of the tennis season with the French Open and Wimbledon. As most of you will know, the big tennis games have recently become somewhat fairer with the introduction of the Hawk-Eye system. Like all advanced computer systems, a lot of mathematical models are needed to make sure that it works.

> The Hawk-Eye system has been developed in 2001 by engineers at Roke Manor Research in England. The system is based on triangulation and uses visual images provided by ten cameras as well as timing data and preloaded models of the playing area. Triangulation, a basic concept in geometry, is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points.

The basic idea is often illustrated with the analogy of the ship. The idea is that one wishes to measure the distance from a shore to a certain

“Hawk-Eye uses advanced mathematics and clear principles.” ship. Two observers are needed who stand on a straight line. Each observer measures the angle between the shore and the ship from his position. Using the distance between the two observers and the angles they have measured, the law of sines can be used to find the distance from the shore to the ship. When we define d as the distance shoreship; l as the distance between the observers and and as the found angles, the following formulas hold: Thus: It can now be derived (try this at home) that:

From the last formula, it is clear that it is not too difficult to determine

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mathematics in tennis

27

And of course for z goes the following:

>>

Because the Hawk-Eye system uses ten cameras that are set up in a special manner, the values for r1, r2, r3 and d are known. So by the formulas given above, the coordinates of the tennis ball can be calculated.

These coordinates are then mapped out against a known model of the tennis court and, most importantly, the sideline, baseline and service line.

What has been presented here is a simplification of how Hawk-Eye works. In reality, Hawk-Eye also uses estimates of the ball’s velocity and how the ball dents when bounced off the court to determine a more accurate position of the ball’s position. But even though Hawk-Eye uses advanced mathematics and clear principles, it is still not entirely accurate. The system has a 3.6 mm margin of error. This can be quite troublesome, like in the 2008 Nadal-Federer Wimbledon final when HawkEye called a ball in by 1 mm. But until a more advanced system is developed, we are gowing to have to forget about these 3.6 millimeters.

Sierk Wiegers x

the distance to a certain point and its coordinates. The idea of triangulation stems from ancient Greece and has seen many practical applications. Unfortunately the formulas just discussed only apply to 2D-triangulation, while the Hawk-Eye system needs to determine a 3D distance to the tennis-ball.

Triangulation in three dimensions is known as trilateration. The main difference with triangulation is that the point of interest is now on three different surfaces instead of two. The trick in trying to find the coordinates of the one point is to find the intersection between the three surfaces. Technology in the Hawk-Eye cameras is able to normalize these spheres, so that the center of one is on the origin and the center of another is on the x-axis. Now we can write down the equations for the spheres:

On the display you can see the entire rally that has been played.

Of course, for the intersection we need a point that satisfies all three equations. We will shortly show how this point can be found. Firstly, we determine x with the first and second equations:

Substituting x yield the intersection of the first two spheres:

Substituting

yields the expression for :

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28 Photo’s > the most recent suspect of spying the ED-room ×

>>

> Anxious to see their performance ×

> Noooooooo ×

> 90’s model pose ×

I want you! x

> Is my score significant?

Lasertag is scary! x

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Photo’s

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> Yes! I will rock the next CV-selection ×

>>

> The board’s favorite combination: Beer & Pizza ×

> The new Einstein! ×

> Photobomb Tjian ×

> If you know what I mean × > Oppan ED-style ×

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30 chef

Chef Radermacher

On a cold tuesdaynight, we got a warm welcome at the residence of Jan Radermacher. The very first international Chef. Living near de Oude Haven, the location of his residence is very pleasant. As soon as I walked in, the first course was already on the table.

> As an appetiser we got served some cheese with grapes.

According to Jan, this stood for food that had something Dutch in it, as Holland was the start of our culinary tour around the world we were about to experience.

The entree was melon served with some prosciutto with a tad of balsamic added on top. The presentation was excellent as you can see in the pictures. The culinary destination of this dish was southern Europe.

The conversations while dining were the trip to Berlin and how this compared to last year’s trip to Paris. And Jan’s take on the cities.

Jan preferred Paris as a city to spend a weekend. However, since Jan comes from Germany, there

is still a lot to explore in the Netherlands as well. Jan already has been to Amsterdam and the

was a bowl of rice with chicken and spices, served with an omelette on top. Bert even got the logo of the ED made out of syrup on his omelette! This dish represented South East Asia. It tasted very well and our stomachs started to fill up quite a lot. Then Jan asked what committee he should do next year, out of the many committees that the ED has to offer. Naturally, Estimator came out first, and the second place went to the SPED committee, that Jan could join halfway through

“Holland was the start of our culinary tour around the world we were about to experience.”

Hague with fellow international students and we gave advice on what cities to visit in the Netherlands. Jan already had plans to visit Maastricht the weekend following our dinner and it is good to see that Jan is having a good time.

By the time the main course was served, we were again surprised by the presentation of the food. It

and small pieces of apple, topped with apple compote. Again another course that had amazing character.

After all these courses we had a cup of tea and we discussed how well Jan did compared to other Chefs we have had during the last year. Jan really comes in high if we were to make a ranking.

We could barely stand up from our chairs and started thinking about rolling home as the dinner was coming to an end. We had a fantastic time and would like to thank Jan once again for his hospitality!

Emiel Verhaert x

the second year.

Actually we were full, however a third course was still remaining.

Somehow, when you want to eat dessert, it seems that you have another stomach that opens and fortunately this was the case. Jan made his favourite dish and our culinary trip ended in Austria. We were served Kaiserschmarnn. A scrambled pancake with raisins

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32 inhouse day

Inhouse day Optiver

On Thursday the 7th of March, twenty motivated econometricians visited the Amsterdam office of Optiver. Optiver is a proprietary global market maker, focusing on listed derivatives, cash equities, ETF’s, bonds and foreign exchange. We had no clue what they were doing. But we learned exactly that.

> The first thing one notices when visiting Optiver is the incredibly informal office culture: we were received in a large room with pool tables and a beer tap. A large number of beverages awaited us there to take our minds off the long journey by train. Then we were accompanied to a large meeting room, where one of Optiver’s recruiters gave a presentation about the company. One of the facets he explained was the required calculation test each trader applicant has to pass. But he had a surprise in store: we were requested to make the same calculation test on the spot. Some of us were relieved to hear they got the necessary score for being an Optiver trader. True winner of the calculation test was Thomas Bel, who outscored the rest of us.

>>

Another aspect the Optiver recruiter discussed what they basically do. As said in the introduction, the company is a proprietary trader: thus they only trade on their own account. Being a pro-

were rewarded with stories of two Optiver traders. Being an Optiver trader is a fascinating job: you have to perform on your best all day to beat the competition in making the best deals. This can be very stressful, as we could hear by the frequent shouting of certain words when visiting the trading floors. But an Optiver trader does not necessarily have

“You have to perform on your best all day to beat the competition in making the best deals.” prietary trader, Optiver has no clients, which gives them the liberty to decide where they invest.

Optiver invests in a large number of markets across the globe, with three well-situated offices in order to monitor activities in each time zone.

After the unexpected introduction to the application process, we

This game provided some real insight into the world of market making and was quite difficult in the beginning. Yet again, Thomas Bel won the day by beating the other finalists in the trading card game. Luckily for losers, their sorrows could be drunk away at the closing drink. Here we got the chance to personally speak with some of the traders. So after nice drinks and good pizza, this very interesting day at Optiver’s office ended.

Sierk Wiegers ×

to sit behind (six) screens all day; there are also many opportunities for business trips to cities like Paris and London. Besides, there is the opportunity of working in Optiver’s international offices in Chicago and Sydney.

To round off our introduction to Optiver’s business, we were asked to play a trading card game.

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lasertag

33

Laser tag On the twentieth of March, the Freshmen committee organized a lasertag event. A brutal event where it doenst matter if you play against your friend or not. If he or she has another color (for some among us even the same color wasn’t an obstacle), you just shoot! > Many unexperienced (and few experienced) participants faced each other in the dark basement of a boat. There were several rounds, such that everyone could play two games of lasertag. For me, the first game didn’t really turn out as I expected. What was

there, during which I accidentally ran into a wall, I noticed a rather large number on the display on my body armour. Being optimistic, I thought that I had done a pretty good deal in eliminating my enemies. However, after observing my rather low position on the

on the score card.

All in all, lasertag turned out to be great fun for me. And I think I can also speak for most of the other participants.

Jelle Huisman ×

“You have to be aware of the possibility that someone hides behind some orner, and shoots you as you run by.” supposed to be an epic battle between the red and the green team, turned out to be a game where you constantly have to be aware of the possibility that someone hides behind some corner, and shoots you as you run by.

After I ran half a marathon down

score card, I figured that this was the amount of times I had been shot. Luckily, I still had the chance to set it right during the next round. After a change of tactics in the second round, I was somewhat relieved that my name appeared at a much higher spot

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34 interview

Interview Triple A Risk Finance > For this interview we travelled to the Triple A Risk Finance Amsterdam office. We were received by Tom Veerman and Ester Lamerikx with whom we had the pleasure of interviewing.

Next to my work at Triple A, I also teach at several institutes.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Ester: After I completed my studies in econometrics at Maastricht University, I did Actuarial Studies in Amsterdam.

I started my career at Towers Watson, where I have worked for ten years. After Towers Watson I started working at Triple A. It’s been over a year since I started here. In the mean time I also completed a postdoctoral study in Financial Risk Management.

Tom: I also did Actuarial Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

After I completed my studies, I did a double postdoc in Actuarial Sciences & Investment Management. I started working at Tillinghast, and then I had a job at Mercer for some time. Shortly after, I joined Eureko (which is now known as Achmea). This is where my colleague and I decided to start Triple A Risk Finance.

Could you tell us something about triple A? Tom: So, one of the other cofounders and I worked together at Tillinghast. We were specialized in rating insurance companies.

After that, we both took a job at the Eureko Holding as risk managers, where we were responsible for implementing a central risk management system. To get this done properly we needed the cooperation of a lot of divisions in Eureko. This didn’t work out very well, since the divisions didn’t have the capacity to help us out or it didn’t seem important to them.

So we had to improve the communication between the strategic level and the operational level.

Because no one knew how to solve this problem we decided to write our own plan. Shortly after this, the Solvency II Directive was introduced. This directive stated how insurance companies have to

implement risk management on a European level. Due to these new regulations several institutions were forced to introduce risk management. In 2006, as a result of the Solvency II Directive, Triple A Risk Finance was founded as a bureau specialized in quantitative risk management. Triple A’s distinctive quality lies in its two lines of business. Because of the way insurance companies and pension funds are interconnected, it makes it possible for us to gain insightful solutions that optimally complement each other.

How does your typical day look like?

Ester: It depends on the projects I’m working on. For bigger projects, I prefer to work at home once in a while. On other days, I have several meetings at the office. I work in the pensions business line, which means that I don’t have to meet with the same client on a daily basis . Usually, I meet with the client to discuss

the problem that they are dealing with. Once I have a clear understanding of the problem at hand, I can get to go work. This process can take up to a few weeks, so you have to be self sufficient and be able to work on your own. At the end of the process, I meet with the client to present the solution and discuss how it can implemented effectively.

Tom: I’ll try to shed some light on my average week. I meet with clients usually two days a week and I spend the rest of time doing work at the office & teaching. At the moment I’m focusing on a big project that is going on right now.

Do you often work in different teams?

Tom: Yes, we try to vary the teams as much as possible.

Ester: At pensions, we have projects that recur annually. These are best done with the same team, since it’s more efficient.

But you don’t have to play the same role every year, once you

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interview consultant.

Another aspect that differs us from other consultants is our strive to excel. When we worked for other consultants we wanted to do things differently and believed it would create more value for the clients. So in that sense, we want to keep improving and deliver a better job.

get more experienced, you will get a different role in that team.

>>

What do you consider as the best part of working at Triple A? Tom: The annual skiing trip.

Ester: Everyone has this enormous drive and is full of energy.

Tom: I really enjoy the freedom that you get at Triple A. Every year we get a bit more formal, but a lot of things are still possible. We don’t have international shareholders who give regulations or put pressure on performance. On the other hand it’s tricky to get a direction in a fully free environment. So we are trying to balance things out and the freedom provides us a huge advantage to us since we don’t have any limitations.

Are there new employees promoted to partner?

Tom: Yes, there was one in 2006 from the insurance department.

But the question is whether everyone wants to become a partner,

even though the opportunities are certainly there. We want to grow and with every new partner the company grows too.

Do you have any advice for students who are interested in Triple A Risk Finance?

Ester: Come talk to us! Also make sure you participate in plenty of activities that will differentiate you from the rest. We are looking for students that also really want to meet with clients, so social skills are highly regarded. We have a clear view of our applicants, because we prefer candidates who have done committees or were part of a board rather than someone who has done none and only has 9’s.

Tom: We’re also looking for people with great research capabilities. We want to create the perfect team and thus strive to perfection as a team. Another huge difference with other consultants is that we have to do our

“Everyone has this enormous drive and is full of energy.”

Is there a standard way of a career in Triple A? Eg. That you start with a certain title and that the next title is fixed?

Tom: Yes, we do work with levels and especially the start of your career path is fixed, but if you are really ambitious, you can advance faster than the average person.

Last year we had several people who skipped an entire level. But we don’t want you to go too fast.

It’s important to develop your personality and gain experience in all aspects of the work. You need well developed knowledge and strong commercial skills. That is the key aspect of a great

35

Is this part of the Triple A Risk Finance business strategy?

Tom: We can expand very fast if we want to. In that case would delegate one of our partners to do it, but it has to be in Europe. There are too many cultural differences outside of Europe, anything further away would be too large of a distance. Most companies grow by takeovers, we want to grow organically and eventually cross the Dutch border. This strategy would only apply to our Insurance business line, since pensions funds are a typical Dutch thing.

Last question: What about internships?

Tom: We are always looking for students who are qualified and have knowledge of programming in Excel, VBA and R. Knowing how to program is essential to adding value during projects. We prefer the internship to be at least 2 days a week and it’s also possible to write your Masters’ thesis here. If you have a strong motivation and are qualified, we will try to find you a suitable project. It doesn’t really matter on what days you work, as long as you are committed and work hard. For more information: http://www.riskfinance.nl/NL/ werken-bij/ Jelle Huisman & Ruud van Luijk x

own R&D. We don’t have a headquarters abroad that develops the most beautiful tools or reports and sends it our way. We develop everything on our own.

Is the Amsterdam office the only office?

Tom: Yes and we are very ambitious. We are actually looking to expand in Rotterdam. Whenever you expand abroad you will always face cultural differences, especially in consulting. That’s why we need a partner in that specific country and we are certainly thinking about it.

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36 adventures

Adventures of the 47th board drinks. It was a great evening to forget about the exams of the past few days.

As I’m writing this report on our extravagant boardroom lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock & roll, our Berlin city trip is just about to start. Our mission is to continue in the above mentioned fashion, while seeing the sights and consuming the joyous wonders that this great city has to offer.

> Since our last report we have seen parties, Inhouse-days and social events. I will not expand on these as it is my task to report on our own nightly activities. And you can read upon these events in their own specific articles, if you really want to. Please do so.

On Friday the first of February we ventured to the quiet countryside of Etten-Leur. We had a bit of trouble finding the right campsite and even lost track of our president who was driving a different vehicle.

Luckily our GPSnavigator brought us to a dead end that seemed like the right place and by chance (pretty high probability right?) we stumbled upon our president.

Once arrived, it did not take long for us to find our family home-cabin combi and so our refrigerators quickly were filled with beer and other hard liquor. The plan for this masterly long weekend was to play drinking games, drink

beer over playing games and get drunk while doing so. Our homely peace was quickly disturbed when two of our fellow gentleman had gone on a search and capture mission. Their quest was not without fruits as they brought us the

with a board game of Axis & Allies. Apparently I’m told that I’m a poor loser. Bugger that.

Fast forward 4 weeks and we find ourselves inside the Hollywood Music Hall Rotterdam, also

“We find ourselves inside the Hollywood Music Hall Rotterdam, also known as, children’s playground.” bounty of trashy low–educated women. It became an insurmountable task to explain them who we were, where we’re from and what we’re studying. So we tried the famous “Explain me like I’m five” approach and quickly gained their understanding and so communication was established. I will not elaborate any further on this alien encounter, because 20 minutes into the conversation they simply left the premises. Good riddance!

We closed this dastardly weekend

known as: children’s playground.

This nightclub attracts the attention of many youngsters and holistic research shows that the average age during a Friday and Saturday night tends to converge to around 14. Anyway, I digress, since we were honorary guests and did not have to wait for the horrible queue in the chilling cold. The VIP treatment was not as great as we had expected, but luckily we could get a discounted beer price and other alcoholic

The next month, our president had decided to leave us, and grow a beard Down Under. Luckily, if there is one board position that is replaceable, it is the one of president, as there is always a vicepresident, yours truly, to take over. We had quite some events during these weeks, like an inhouse day at Optiver, our active member dinner, and our lasertag adventure, which all went in an orderly fashion. Speeches are not always my strongest point, but eventually the speech during the active members dinner went well (did any of the active member notice some strange words in my speech?). Lasertag was also a great way to get let go of the stress of a busy schedule and go wild by shooting down your fellow board and ED members, who is the poor loser now?

Only a few hours left before the bus leaves to Berlin, and I am positive it is going to be a great weekend. Or how they said it in East-Berlin: Jetzt geht’s los!

Roman Gorlov x

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puzzel

37

Puzzle > Five farmers have their lands next to one another in a small village, where they grow three kinds of crops: fruits (melon, pear, nut, cherry), vegetables (carrot, parsley, gourd, onion) and flowers (aster, rose, tulip, lily).

1. They grow 12 different varieties.

2. Everybody grows exactly 4 different varieties 3. Each variety is at least in one garden.

4. Only one variety is in 4 gardens.

5. Only in one garden are all 3 kinds of crops.

6. Only in one garden are all 4 varieties of one kind of crops.

7. Pear is only in the two border gardens.

8. Bob’s garden is in the middle with no lily.

9. Aster grower doesn’t grow vegetables.

10. Rose growers don’t grow parsley.

11. Nuts grower has also gourd and parsley.

12. In the first garden are mellons and cherries.

13. Only in two gardens are cherries.

14. Sam has onions and cherries.

15. Luke grows exactly two kinds of fruit.

16. Tulip is only in two gardens.

17. Mellon is in a single garden.

18. Only in one garden next to Zick’s is parsley.

19. Sam’s garden is not on the border.

20. Hank grows neither vegetables nor asters.

21. Bob has exactly three kinds of vegetable.

Who has which garden and what is grown where?

The winner of the last puzzle is: Rick den Ridder Congrulations! You can collect your prize in the board room.

VOLUME 15 ISSUE 3 // ESTIMATOR EC ONOMETRISCH DISPUUT

38 studysection

educationboard Dear all, As most of you might have heard already, we’re having another econometric program starting next academic year: BSc2 [Bachelor squared]. The Econometric Institute is expanding with a double program combining Econometrics and IBEB; it takes four years and you’ll be having two diplomas. The BSc2-curriculum basically consists of all Econometrics courses with some extra Economics courses on the side in such a way that the amount of ECTS over the years will be: 64, 68, 64 and 68, so it’s a bit tougher. For every first year Econometrics or Econometrie (!) student thinking ‘I would’ve gone for BSc2 if I had the chance’, we’ve got the solution! Would you happen to consider switching, you can, and this is how: apply! The course you would miss right now is Philosophy of Economics offered in the fifth block, this course (only the English version) is one of the requirements for switching to BSc2 and you will need to follow it, make sure you do. Of course you still need to have your BSA at the end of your first year, and even then there is no guarantee of being accepted; we are working on the last requirements! For more information, take a look at eur.nl/ese or drop by on the sixth floor or at our study advisers. The econometric community is expanding!

Another change is happening with our meal supplier Albron. Because of criticism of both customers and employees the contract will be prematurely terminated, and this means alternatives. The restaurants in the H-building and T-building will stay posted but the one in the L-building (the Carrousel) will be replaced by a brand new food court. This food court will be opening next academic year and will consist of different suppliers of food and drinks, so there is more to choose and more competition.

We’re now at the end of the fourth block, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Get ready for the last block, especially the potential BSc2-switchers who will be handling four courses, and make sure you deserve your holidays. Good luck!

Kind regards, Philo Meerman First ambassadors Econometrics Room: H6-01 E-mail: meerman@ese.eur.nl

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studysection

39

Educationcommittee Dear fellow students, We are almost at the end of the year. The exams of block 4 have been written and the results will come soon. Queen Beatrix has abdicated her position to her son King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima during an enormous national party. But besides celebrating this, we also have to start working hard on our new courses and/or our (master) theses. Even though the summer holidays are already looming ahead, we hope you keep your focus strong to avoid (extra) resits in July.

After a successful start of the international bachelor this year, the faculty will introduce another new prestigious study program: the double bachelor Econometrics/Economics. It is a 4-year program after which you will obtain two BSc-titles. With on average 66 ECTS per year it’s a great challenge for excellent students! The faculty is very proud of this program and hopes to welcome a lot of enthusiastic and motivated students in September.

By that time we will also have a clear view of the results of the 60 ECTS BSA requirement (“nominal is normal”). We will study these intensively and hope that we can conclude that it has had a good influence on the results of first year students and does not call for any dramatic changes.

We would like to wish everyone good luck with the last few weeks of the academic year. Finish strong, because there are two months of holidays awaiting you! If you encounter any systematic problems, please do not hesitate to contact us.

John Brouwer Mechteld Ferment Luuk Maassen Jan Radermacher Student members of the Education Committee Econometrics & Operational research Dr. D. Fok Dr. C. Heij Dr. W. van den Heuvel Dr. M. van der Wel Staff members of the Education Committee Econometrics & Operational research Contact: oceconometrie@gmail.com

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40 studysection WE Congratulate all graduates!

6-2-2013

7-3-2013

B. Buis

N.A.J. Dupre

An explorative analysis of parsimo-

Pricing guarantee pension products:

niously constructed funding liqui-

The effect of changing the underly-

dity factors

ing interest rate scenario

Tham, W.W.

Diris, B.F.

7-2-2013

7-3-2013

S. Levie

N.A. van Zeijl

Efficient Algorithms for Robust Pro-

Including Practical Information in

curements

Route Planning Applications

Gabor, A.F.

Huisman, D.

17-1-2013

21-3-2013

A.C Bakker A

B. van Rooijen

cost-efficient

Deployment

Spares

Package for an endurance period

Hedging Longevity Risk Wel, M. van der

and uncertain demand 21-3-2013

Dekker, R.

V. Hisken 6-2-2013

A strategic global network optimi-

S. Chen

zation tool for HEINEKEN Internatio-

Educational tracking an inequality

nal

Webbink, D.

Dekker, R.

21-2-2003

6-3-2013

K. Bojc Distinction

B. van Riessen between

Intra-day

and

Planning of hinterland transporta-

Overnight Stock Return Distribution

tion in the EGS network

and its Influence on Option Pricing

Dekker, R.

Dijk, D.J.C. van 27-3-2013 7-3-2013

D.S. Lee

C.A. Luteyn The

UAV-Mission

Country Quality Indicator for Equity Planning

Problem

with Time Windows and Stochastic

Markets Diris, B.F.

Fuel Consumption Huisman, D.

21-3-2013 T. Nemchenko

7-3-2013

BREAK-EVEN

D. nvan de Werken

TION’

Post-crisis valuation of collaterali-

Dijk, D.J.C. van

INFLATION

RATE

PREDIC-

zed interest rate derivatives Wel, M. van der

VOLUME 15 ISSUE 3 // ESTIMATOR ECONOMETRISCH DISPUUT

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WAT BIEDEN WIJ JOU? Een uitdagende functie binnen een hecht team professionals als onderdeel van een ambitieuze, gedreven organisatie. Uiteraard bieden wij je een goed basissalaris aangevuld met een uitstekende bonusregeling en goede secundaire arbeidsvoorwaarden. Bezoek onze website www.aaa-riskfinance.nl voor meer informatie.

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