About TIC · Est. October 2021
It started with a
Reddit post
Someone asked if IST had a finance club. It didn't. Four students created TIC, Portugal's first student finance club run entirely by engineers.
01 · Mission
Bring engineering into finance
TIC gives IST students practical experience through live virtual strategies, quantitative models, and financial research. The work is hands-on, rigorous, and collaborative, helping members learn finance through projects outside their degree.
02 · Members
44 engineers, five departments
Asset Management, Investment Banking, Quantitative Trading, Human Capital, and Marketing, led by an elected Board that sets the club's direction and manages relationships with companies like Iberis Capital, Oxy Capital, and BNP Paribas. Recruitment opens each semester to students from every IST degree.
03 · Backgrounds
Engineers from across Técnico
Our members come from across IST: Computer Science, Electrical, Aerospace, Civil, Mechanical, Chemical, Industrial Engineering & Management, Mathematics, Data Science, and Bioengineering. They learn finance by applying familiar engineering habits: building, testing, and working from data.
The 2025/2026 team across 5 departments
Beyond the club
Financial literacy is part of the mission
It's written into TIC's founding proposal: fight Portugal's financial-literacy gap, starting with young people. That's why we run free, practical literacy sessions at IST and bring companies like BPI Gestão de Ativos to campus to talk about why, and how, to start investing.
These events are open to every IST student, member or not.
The numbers that motivated TIC's founders in 2021
Since 2021
Our History
TIC is Founded
It started with a Reddit post. One of the founders asked if IST had a finance club: it didn't. In October 2021, Rafaela Palácio, Tomás Van Loock, Francisco Lopes, and Ricardo Longhini submitted a proposal, and TIC was approved.
First Full Year
TIC's first complete academic year. The team grew, the departments took shape and visits to Bain & Company and Oxy Capital began the club's professional network.
First Elected Board
On October 20, 2023, TIC held its inaugural elections and formalised its governance. The relationships with BNP Paribas and Iberis Capital began, both of which still run today.
Second Elections, First Wins
TIC won the BNP Paribas 5² Challenge (November 2024) against ISEG, Nova SBE, Faculdade de Economia do Porto and ISCTE, the only engineers in the room. Months later, TIC became the first engineering school invited to the CFA Research Challenge, reached the national final, and presented at Euronext Lisbon. Live strategy tracking launched on the website.
Expanding Horizons
Four live strategies running in real time. CFA Society Portugal held its first-ever workshop at IST through TIC, the club's Investment Banking department presented its analysis at Iberis Capital, and TIC was invited to present Machine Learning in Finance at the first Portuguese Finance Clubs Gathering.