The Bank of Slovenia prizes

To mark the 26th anniversary of the introduction of the Slovenian tolar, the Bank of Slovenia held its now traditional presentation of prizes to students from Slovenian universities for the best master's and doctoral theses in the area of finance. Prizes were awarded for five theses.

To mark the 26th anniversary of the introduction of the Slovenian tolar, the Bank of Slovenia held, for the 25th year, its traditional presentation of prizes for the best master's and doctoral theses in the area of finance to students from Slovenian universities. Including this year's winners, 272 students have now won prizes.

Twelve theses were submitted for consideration this year. The Bank of Slovenia's Research Committee, headed by Vice-Governor Dr Primož Dolenc, selected the following five theses for prizes:

• A master's thesis prize was received by Primož Knavs. His thesis, "Changing the business models of Slovenian banks", was supervised by Professor Marko Košak of the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana.
• A master's thesis prize was received by Aljoša Ortl. His thesis, "Practical aspects of developing and validating a corporate probability of default model and the use of machine learning", was supervised by Professor Igor Masten of the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana.
• A master's thesis prize was received by Živa Petkovšek. Her thesis, "Piterbarg's model for evaluating OTC derivatives in the presence of a CSA agreement", was supervised by Associate Professor Janez Bernik of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana.
• A master's thesis prize was received by Nika Sosič. Her thesis, "The impact of exchange rate on domestic prices in the case of Slovenia: a VAR model analysis with changeable parameters" was supervised by Professor Igor Masten of the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana.
• A doctoral thesis prize was received by Matej Jovan. His thesis, "Estimation of the probability of corporate default using the Merton (1974) model and a discrete-time hazard model", was supervised by Associate Professor Aleš Ahčan of the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana.

The prizes were presented to the winners at a ceremony on 17 October by the Governor of the Bank of Slovenia, Dr Boštjan Jazbec, whose address included the following words: "How the winners of the Bank of Slovenia prizes use the knowledge and experience they have gained from their studies and their theses in their everyday work depends above all on themselves, but also a little on the environment in which they work. At least as far as the Bank of Slovenia is concerned, I am able to say that we welcome people with knowledge and try to help them put their knowledge to good use. The recognition that this prize brings is undoubtedly a good incentive that will encourage them to cooperate actively in building a better future for all of us."

In the photograph: Governor Dr Boštjan Jazbec (left) and Vice-Governor Dr Primož Dolenc (right) with the prizewinners.