Industry project examples – Master of Applied Finance

Bizzy operates an online lending marketplace connecting small and medium New Zealand businesses with lenders. Bizzy's digital platform allows businesses to receive and compare multiple offers from different lenders based on their specific borrowing needs. Bizzy was interested in exploring different methods for efficiently matching borrowers with suitable lenders.

A team of MAppFin students assisted Bizzy by using various technologies to develop a borrower–lender matching model. The team integrated structured information, such as borrower characteristics and lender requirements, with a variety of modelling techniques to produce an efficient, user-friendly matching model.

Open Country Dairy is a New Zealand-owned dairy processing and exporting company, and New Zealand's second-largest milk processor. As part of an industry project, a MAppFin student team worked with Open Country Dairy to examine the relationships between whole milk powder (WMP) prices, overseas demand, and other relevant economic factors.

The project involved collecting and analysing data on dairy prices, export and import volumes, and related economic variables. Students applied econometric and regression techniques to explore price and quantity dynamics in global dairy markets.

The team presented their analysis to an Open Country audience, including several of the company's senior executives. Another highlight of the project was a visit to Open Country's Waharoa processing facility, which provided students with valuable insight into the operational context of the industry.

Money Sweet Spot Limited (MSS) is a New Zealand-based fintech that offers financial reset debt-consolidation loans to individuals, with a focus on improving borrowers' financial literacy and outcomes. MSS was interested in examining how borrowers' characteristics and their willingness to improve their financial literacy impact loan repayment behaviour.

A MAppFin student team used a variety of techniques to analyse these relationships. Methods included applying natural language processing (NLP) to explore the characteristics of MSS applicants by analysing the language used in free-text application inputs. The team analysed how borrower sentiment expressed in these texts, as well as willingness to undertake financial education, may impact loan repayment behaviour.

Te Taiwhenua o Te Whanganui ā Orotu supports its marae and hapū in areas including health, education, employment, housing and the environment, working in partnership with central and local government. As it continues to grow, Te Taiwhenua was interested in reviewing its financial situation and exploring opportunities to expand and diversify its revenue streams. A MAppFin student team assisted Te Taiwhenua with this work. 

The student team analysed various aspects of Te Taiwhenua's financial information and carried out a peer organisation comparison. Students also conducted research into alternative revenue opportunities and produced a template for presenting financial and other information related to the organisation.    

Auckland Council is responsible for operating one of New Zealand’s largest portfolios of infrastructure and other public assets. The council has in place a Sustainable Finance Framework to support it in raising sustainable debt.

The council was interested in comparing its own Sustainable Finance Framework with other international sustainable finance criteria and principles. A student team carried out research to perform this comparison, identify areas of difference and make recommendations based on their findings. Students also evaluated the suitability of potential projects for funding according to sustainable finance criteria and conducted research comparing sustainable debt instruments with other debt instruments.

New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF) invests to facilitate New Zealand’s decarbonisation. NZGIF was interested in analysing the commercial emissions landscape in New Zealand to identify key emitters, solution providers and investment opportunities to reduce emissions.

A MAppFin student team assisted NZGIF with this project by carrying out a survey of New Zealand's emissions landscape, summarising emissions by sector and subsector, identifying recent changes and future trends, and reporting the economic materiality of each sector. The team also analysed key entities within important sectors and identified potential offshore solution providers where gaps exist in New Zealand.

The NZ Super Fund is New Zealand’s sovereign wealth fund and invests in a global portfolio of assets to contribute to the cost of paying for future New Zealand superannuation. The NZ Super Fund was interested in creating a network model to explore relationships between New Zealand entities and directors and their implications for a range of business problems and questions.

A MAppFin student team developed a python-based model to support the NZ Super Fund with this project. The model functionality included automatic collection of director and entity data from publicly available sources as well as construction of the network. Students performed analysis on the collected data, exploring implications for market outcomes.

ThatDay is a registered charity that has developed a free-to-use web app designed to encourage positive saving behaviour among New Zealanders. The app simulates different financial outcomes under a range of inputs and assumptions. ThatDay was interested in assessing the assumptions used by the app and evaluating outcomes under a range of scenarios.

A MAppFin student team assisted ThatDay with this work. The team created an Excel-based model which emulated the code-based model used by the app. The model allowed the impact of different inputs, assumptions and scenarios on financial outcomes to be easily compared. The team further evaluated the assumptions used by the app by comparing them with those applied by other financial practitioners, as well as historical observed values.