20 January 2015
Bangkok: Calling themselves “StocksElite”, three students from HELP University Malaysia convinced the panel of judges of the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge 2014 Grand Finale that the trading strategies they used at the virtual stock competition were the best. They went home with the Grand Prize of US$12,000, defeating university peers from four other ASEAN countries at the event held at The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) yesterday.
It was also a nice surprise for Cambodia who clinched the first runner up despite being on the Challenge for the first time. The team, Dark Rangers of Zaman University Cambodia took home the cash prize of US$8,000. FATA of Nanyang Technological University Singapore won the third place with a cash prize of US$5,000, while fourth and fifth places went to Aragaki Yui of Prasetya Mulya Business School Indonesia and Seng of Thammasat University Thailand who went home with US$3,000 and US$1,500 respectively.
Previously, the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge champion title was won by Indonesia for two consecutive years, in 2013 and 2014.
The CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge is the only cross-border simulation stock trading platform that provides hands-on learning opportunity for university students in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Cambodia. The 2014 Challenge was conducted over three rounds. First, each registered team received US$80,000 in virtual start-up capital to invest real-time in securities listed on Bursa Malaysia, the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) from 6 to 24 October. Next, the top three most profitable teams in terms of Net Realised Percentage* in each country were invited to submit their trading strategies. The team with the best strategy would represent their country at the Grand Finale. Yesterday, the five National Champions presented their strategies at the SET. SET president Mrs Kesara Manchusree was the guest of honour at the event.
The panel of experts who evaluated the teams’ investment strategies looked at investment knowledge, analytical skills, and judgement. They comprised Alan Inn, Managing Director of Regional Retail Broking, CIMB Investment Bank Bhd Malaysia; Harry Supoyo, President Director of CIMB Securities Indonesia; Song Seng Wun, Director of CIMB Research Singapore, Siripong Sutharoj, Deputy CEO of CIMB Securities Thailand; and Chakkaphan Tirasirichai, Vice President, Marketing Support Department of The Stock Exchange of Thailand.
CIMB Group Chief People Officer and Head of Group Corporate Resources Hamidah Naziadin who gave away the prizes said: “It is no mean feat to become a National Champion, much less a Regional Champion. The soundness of trading strategies is important because our goal is to uncover the brightest investment minds among university students. We want to grow people who can make financial profits through proper research, sound risk-taking strategy, thoughtful and informed decision-making, and timely execution, and not luck or gambling! With 1,395 teams competing this year, being the Champion is indeed a feat.”
“The CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge is all about innovation in learning and growing talent for the ASEAN capital markets. The development of entrepreneurship and technical expertise in the field of capital markets is critical for every country. I would say that every participant of the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge is a winner for having taken up the learning opportunity. With Malaysia taking on the chair for ASEAN in 2015, and with the Asean Economic Community (AEC) becoming a reality soon, I sincerely believe that the ASEAN Stock Challenge is in sync with the AEC, which is basically about having a common market for greater competitiveness,” added Hamidah.
More information about the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge can be found at https://stockchallenge.itradecimb.com/.
*Example: If the team starts with a total virtual capital of US$80,000 and ends the competition with US$200,000, the Net Realised Percentage will be 150% [based on the calculation of (200,000 – 80,000) / 80,000].
