Introduction
The Otago Business School BNZ Bloomberg Markets Lab provides students and faculty access to real-time and historical financial market data, news, and analysis.
Students have access to the same Bloomberg trading platform used by the world's leading investment companies, banks, corporations and government agencies.
It is one of the largest academic trading labs in New Zealand with 12 Bloomberg Professional terminals.
The lab offers students valuable experience by allowing them to use real-time data, including stocks, currencies, commodities, derivates, and news – improving data analysis and digital literacy skills. The Bloomberg Lab is used extensively in Investment, Behavioural Finance, Corporate Finance, and Banking courses.
Bloomberg's materials and analyses help students in doing assignments and honours and master's theses. Graduate students are available to assist with first-time log ins and training during semesters.
Bloomberg webinars are available to students to improve their skills on the terminals and participate in the Bloomberg Trading Challenge - a competition for student teams from Universities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Students graduate with a greater ability to compete for employment opportunities in the financial industry in roles such as financial analysts, portfolio managers, investment bankers, corporate finance managers, research analysts, investor relationship managers, corporate treasurers as they have experienced simulations of real-life scenarios in a trading room.
“Bloomberg Lab provides our students and faculty access to real-time and historical financial market data, news, and analysis. We use Bloomberg Lab extensively in various university courses, including Investment, Behavioural Finance, Corporate Finance, and Banking courses. Furthermore, Bloomberg's materials and analyses help students in doing assignments and honours and master's theses. The use of the Bloomberg Terminal is a major asset for students in the job market.”
Dr Muhammad A. Cheema
Director – BNZ Markets Bloomberg Lab
Te Taura Takata
The te reo Māori name for the BNZ Bloomberg Markets Lab – Te Taura Takata (The Ties That Bind) – has been gifted by the University of Otago's Office of Māori Development.
The name refers to ties of exchange between Māori and later between Māori and Pākehā in the resource-rich environment of Otago Harbour, where economic exchange moved hand-in-hand with cultural exchange. Fittingly, the location of the Otago Business School on the edge of the original harbour shoreline invites us to reflect on the significance of the long history of trading in this area.
The sponsorship of the Lab by BNZ and NZX also leads us to consider the ties that bind Māori and Pākehā together in the modern-day Exchange area, just south of the Octagon. This site was originally a tauraka waka (landing place) and rich source of kaimoana, then a site of cultural and financial exchange, and later a site of land alienation for Māori; land that was transformed into a European financial hub and was home to Dunedin's main BNZ branch and the Stock Exchange building.
The design for this trading space was created by local artist Madison Kelly (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe) to reflect these complex layers of exchange. It speaks to a meeting of two fishing lines – one of iron and one of bone – across a dynamic whakapapa of moana, whenua, kaimoana, and people.
The BNZ Bloomberg Markets Lab Te Taura Takata will become a new chapter in these stories of exchange, and is intended to be an inclusive space which welcomes people from all backgrounds.
Key features
Data
The Bloomberg Excel add-in is a powerful tool that provides students with one-click data export features to download real-time and historical Bloomberg data into a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet for analysis and calculations to create the same types of models that investment professionals use to make real-world business decisions.
Analytics
Using Bloomberg's terminals, students can perform the active market analysis using real-time or historical data, compare different trading strategies, and analyse specific firms, industries and markets.
News
The Bloomberg terminals give access to market-moving news and stories as they break. This is the news that financial analysts and money managers rely on to stay informed and make financial decisions.
Bloomberg certification
Bloomberg offers two self-paced e-learning financial markets certification courses, which may be completed free of charge while sitting in front of our Bloomberg Terminals:
- Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC)
The BMC course provides an interactive introduction to the financial markets. - Environmental Social Governance (ESG)
The ESG course teaches learners how to implement ESG strategies and prepare ESG reports for regulators from the perspective of a buy-side asset management firm.
Both programmes are accredited by the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certification service.
Bloomberg courses – Continuing Professional Development
More information about both courses is on the Bloomberg website:
Resources
The following publications by Professor Timothy Crack provide guidance and advice for completing the Bloomberg certification courses:
- Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC): Certification for Students (and Their Professors)
- Bloomberg Environmental Social Governance (ESG): Certification for Students (and Their Professors)
Further information and assistance
Email bloomberg@otago.ac.nz
Sponsors
The University is grateful to the BNZ Markets for sponsoring the BNZ Bloomberg Markets Lab.
Collaborators
