Malaysian team wins cash, study trip

Raymond and Stanley (third and fourth from left) holding their trophies and mock cheque with Tengku Zafrul (second from right), Hamidah (right), Dr Arham (left) and Arved at the event.

TEAM Raymond Stanley Investment Fund has won cash and a study trip to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The team is the grand prize winner of the seventh edition of the CIMB Asean Stock Challenge 2016. They also won US$12,000 (RM54,000) cash.

For team members and twin brothers Raymond and Stanley Sim from Taylor’s University, the win at the grand finale capped off a gruelling four months of pure focus and determination in the race to the top.

The Regional Champion, Team Raymond Stanley Investment Fund, topped the list of 3,489 undergraduate teams from 222 universities.

The competition was open to undergraduates in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia, where trading used virtual cash in real-time on the five major stock exchanges of the region: Bursa Malaysia, Indonesia Stock Exchange, Singapore Exchange, Stock Exchange of Thailand and Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

At the grand finale, the five finalist teams presented their respective trading strategies to a panel of judges, underscoring the competition’s emphasis on strategic planning and investing based on fundamentals, and a long-term view.

Team GNL from Assumption University (Thailand) was announced as first runner-up with a cash prize of of US$8,000 (RM36,000) followed by Team Fujok from the National University of Singapore as second runner-up with US$5,000 (RM22,500) while Team Visionary from the American University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Team Baktiinvesta from the Islamic University of Indonesia were third and fourth runners-up with US$3,000 (RM13,500) and US$1,500 (RM6,750) respectively.

CIMB Group Group Chief People Officer Datuk Hamidah Naziadin said: “The CIMB Asean Stock Challenge is part of CIMB Group’s commitment to human resource development within Asean.”

“Apart from encouraging the competitors to “invest” in equities based on fundamentals and properly thought-out strategies, we also raise the youths’ awareness on Asean’s excellent potential as an economic bloc.

“Research on the stocks they pick and virtual trading in the stock exchanges of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong give them a good picture of the economic vibrancy and growth potential of Asean, with its young and digitally-connected population, rising middle class, and its ability to attract investments from within and outside the region,” she added.

The challenge’s dynamics continue to evolve: this time the bar was raised even higher by having each National Champion’s portfolio reviewed prior to the grand finale.

Additionally, the teams had to make an ‘on-the-spot’ investment decision from five stocks based on historical data.

This stretched their analytical skills based on technical and fundamental parameters, which cultivates a long-term mindset in investing as opposed to trading for short-term gain.

In November 2016, five National Champions were announced in the five respective Asean countries where the challenge was held.

The winners were selected following a three-week contest period where three top teams were chosen based on the highest percentage gains.

These top three teams (national winners) then submitted strategy papers and the team with the best strategy was selected as the National Champion.

This judging strategy highlights the challenge’s focus on picking stocks for long-term wins versus short-term gains.

CIMB Group Group Chief Executive Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz gave away the prizes for the challenge at a prize-giving ceremony held at the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Also present were Higher Education Ministry director of Industry Relations Assoc Prof Dr Arham Abdullah,

Singapore Exchange Ltd senior vice president, Client Development & Relationship, Equities & Fixed Income Lynn Gaspar and Malaysia Airlines Berhad chief commercial officer Arved Von Zur Muehlen.