CIMB Stock Challenge Returns For 7th Year

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- The CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge is returning for its seventh year, this time giving participating teams a chance to win an educational trip to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on top of cash prizes worth US$38,000. Undergraduates from five ASEAN countries -- Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia -- will vie for honours in the competition which is open for registration until Sept 30. Armed with an initial US$80,000 in virtual startup capital, teams will take on each other in a fully simulated online trading environment as they invest in real time across the five main stock exchanges with the objective of attaining the highest returns on investments. "The team with the best strategy paper will be crowned National Champion for their country. "The Regional Champion will walk away with USD$12,000, as well as a trip to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. "The first runner-up will receive US$8,000, the second runner-up - US$5,000, the third runner-up - US$3,000 and the fourth runner-up - US$1,500," the bank said in a statement here Monday. The National Champions from the five countries will then vie for the overall Regional Champion title in Singapore in January 2017. This year's Challenge has added twists -- the returns on investment of the National Champions' portfolios will be re-assessed to determine how well the investments have withstood the test of time. Group Chief People Officer of CIMB Group Hamidah Naziadin said this enhancement to the judging criteria is to inculcate the mindset of researching and selecting stocks with sound fundamentals amongst the participants. "This will really test their ability to distinguish stocks that have medium-to long-term value-creation prospects, instead of picking stocks for short-term gains. "We are also pleased to announce that the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education is officially supporting the competition for the first time this year, which is a valuable recognition of the educational value of our Stock Challenge," she added. Registration for the CIMB ASEAN Stock Challenge 2016 can be done at https://stockchallenge.itradecimb.com/. --BERNAMA