A team of five SMU third-year undergraduate are set to represent Singapore at the Asia-Pacific Championships of the CFA Institute Research Challenge later this month in Bangkok, Thailand, following their recent success at the national round where they beat teams from six other local institutions.

SMU’s Team Greystone Capital, comprising Haruki Chua Una Qiang (BSc(Econ), 2^nd major in Finance), Ian Chua Yong Kwang (BAcc and BBM double degree), John Lim Keng Siang (BBM and BSc(Econs) double degree), Vedant Daga (BSc(Econ), 2^nd major in Finance) and Zhong Yingyi (BSc(Econ), 2^nd major in Finance), had triumphed over teams from the National University of Singapore, National Technological University, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Institute of Technology, SIM University and SIM Global Education.

This year’s competition required the team to analyse and recommend one of two local companies – Sheng Siong or Cordlife – as a potential investment opportunity to a panel of judges comprising of senior professionals from leading global asset management institutions.  Identifying a disconnect between the market's perception and the reality of Cordlife's technology potential, market penetration capability as well as financial strength, the SMU team chose to place a controversial sell call on the home-grown company.

Their proprietary research and unique investment insights on stock with minimal institutional coverage, combined with a strong presentation, eventually helped the team clinch the local championship title.

Dr Mitchell Van der Zahn, member of the CFA Institute University Outreach Committee and former SMU faculty, was impressed by the SMU team’s performance, which he described as being ‘polished’.  “The competition this year was very tight with very high calibre teams across all universities.  To come out on top of such strong competition is a resounding hallmark of the ability of the SMU team and the hard work they put in.”

Recollecting the competition, Team Leader, John Lim, said, “The CFA research challenge has traditionally been one of the toughest and most prestigious competition for undergraduates.  We were able to make it this far because of the combined passion and experience of a well-balanced team; we also have to thank our faculty advisor and industry mentor for their strong backing and support.  We hope to do our country proud in the upcoming Asia-Pacific round, which has conventionally been the toughest round.  The forthcoming regional round also has the highest record of producing the global champion." 

There is no doubt that John and his team, under the mentorship of Mr David Leow and Associate Professor John Sequeira, will be training hard in the coming weeks and aiming for the stars at the Asia-Pacific round, in order to qualify for the International Round which will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, in April 2017.  All the best, Team Greystone Capital!​​​

About the CFA Institute Research Challenge

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that offers students the unique opportunity to learn from leading industry experts and compete with peers ​from the world’s top finance programmes. This annual educational initiative promotes best practices in equity research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills.  The competition gathers students, investment industry professionals, publicly traded companies, and corporate sponsors together locally, regionally, and globally for a real world competition. Additionally, all participants are introduced to and held to the standard of the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct.​

[Featured Photo: (Far left) Assoc Prof David Ding (Director of the CFA Program Partnership at SMU) and faculty mentor, Assoc Prof John Sequeira (far right) with the winning SMU team – (L-R) Zhong Yingyi, Vedant Daga, John Lim Keng Siang and Haruki Chua.]