It’s off to London for CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge 2015 Regional Champion

18 January 2016

Team The Abnormals from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) bags the Grand Prize of US$12,000 and a visit to the London Stock Exchange 

Kuala Lumpur: For Team The Abnormals, it was certainly a day to remember as the team was crowned Regional Champion in the Grand Finale of the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge 2015. Working together closely since the challenge began on 5 October 2015, first-time participants Tan Chong Beng, Yeoh Chun Yen and Ong Wen Jun from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) were all smiles with their victory, beating over 2,400 other teams from 188 universities. Team The Abnormals received not only the prize money of US$12,000, but also an upcoming educational trip to the London Stock Exchange. A total of 2,444 teams participated in this year’s challenge, involving 6,700 students from universities across five ASEAN countries.

Khairy Jamaluddin, Malaysia's Minister of Youth and Sports, gave away the prizes for the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge at a prize-giving ceremony held at Bursa Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. He was joined by Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz, Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group and Hamidah Naziadin, Group Chief People Officer, CIMB Group. Also present were Dato’ Tajuddin Atan, Chief Executive Officer, Bursa Malaysia, Capt Izham Ismail, Head of Operations, Malaysia Airlines Berhad and Johan Mahmood Merican, Chief Executive Officer, TalentCorp Malaysia.

Team Flexie, from Zaman University (Cambodia) was declared the first runner-up with a cash prize of US$8,000. Team Flexie had not had prior experience in actual trading in the market and thus, did their country proud with their win. Team I Love Bandung from Universitas Telkom from Indonesia was second runner-up, taking away US$5,000 while Team Beacon from UCSI University (Malaysia) and Team JJR from Assumption University (Thailand) came in as third and fourth runners-up, receiving cash prizes of US$3,000 and US$1,500, respectively.

Earlier in the day, the five undergraduate finalist teams, who had emerged as the National Champions for five ASEAN countries on 19 November 2015, each took their turn to meet the panel of five judges consisting of senior management from across the CIMB network in ASEAN, including a guest judge from Bursa Malaysia. The teams were assessed on their risk and execution strategies based on market knowledge and research, as well as each team’s Net Realised Percentage*. 

Tengku Dato' Sri Zafrul Aziz, Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group said, "The CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge continues to seek out promising young talent across the region, and provide them a stimulating platform to sharpen their planning, strategy, teamwork and response skills in the fast-moving world of stock trading. Furthermore, in the spirit of bringing the ASEAN countries closer together, this competition truly reflects the Group’s value proposition as an ASEAN-focused banking group. For the winning teams, I trust that the research and practical skills you have acquired through this Challenge will also serve you well in both your professional and personal lives. Meanwhile, CIMB looks forward to an even bigger and better Stock Challenge next year!"

Dato’ Tajuddin Atan, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia, said, "I would like to congratulate CIMB and its partners on this innovative educational initiative. I am pleased to see that the Challenge has continued to receive such a strong response from university students across ASEAN. The high percentage of teams that traded on other Exchanges such as SGX, HKeX, IDX and SET, aside from Bursa Malaysia, shows that participants have deepened their knowledge and understanding of regional bourses, and that they had also adopted more sophisticated trading strategies. Moving forward, I would like to encourage the participants to use this experience to further develop their trading and investment abilities.”

The panel of judges consisted of Alan Inn, Managing Director, Regional Retail Broking, CIMB Investment Bank, Malaysia; Marhaendra Abdullah Wahab, Head Retail Equities, CIMB Securities, Indonesia; Song Seng Wun, Director, Regional Economist, Group Private Banking, Singapore; Kittisak Amornchairojkul, Deputy CEO, CIMB Securities, Thailand and Ong Li Lee, Director Securities Markets, Bursa Malaysia.

The location for the Grand Finale is rotated amongst the participating ASEAN countries, and is held at the hosting country’s stock exchange. This year’s Grand Finale was held in Bursa Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. 

Malaysia Airlines, as the official airline for the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge,sponsored flights for the National Champions, their lecturers, and the judges to Kuala Lumpur for the Grand Finale. Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad is a partner to the Challenge, and has been a strong supporter of CIMB Group’s initiatives on talent development and enhancing graduate employability. Bursa Malaysia has supported CIMB Group since the inception of the CIMB Stock Challenge in 2010.

About the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge 2015

This is the sixth edition of the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge and it is the only cross-border simulation stock trading platform that provides hands-on experience in a competitive trading environment for university students around ASEAN i.e. Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia.

The 2015 Challenge was conducted over three stages. First, each registered team received US$80,000 in virtual start-up capital to invest in securities listed on Bursa Malaysia, the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), Singapore Exchange (SGX), the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) from 5 to 23 October 2015. HKEx was added this year, in the spirit of broadening the Challenge’s reach into one of ASEAN’s most dynamic neighbours and regional commerce hubs.  Next, the top three most profitable teams in terms of Net Realised Percentage* in each country were invited to submit their trading strategies, and the team with best strategy was awarded as National Champion in each country on 19 November 2015. Today, all five National Champions met in Kuala Lumpur to compete for the Grand Prize at the Grand Finale.

*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].