The Joint-University Algo FX Trading Challenge 2021, organized by Algo Challenge Association, aims to identify and nurture the next generation of algo trading talents and advance the development of the FinTech industry in Hong Kong. The Challenge focuses on Hong Kong Equity Market, including stocks, futures, and options. Participating students implement their strategies and ideate the trading algorithms to compete with counterparts from other universities in Hong Kong and overseas on various metrics such as Return, Sharpe ratio and Strategy Design.
The competition consisted of three rounds. Participating teams submitted trading proposals in the 1st Round (Ideate). In the 2nd Round (Test), teams were required to write trading algorithms and test on the organizer’s proprietary platform. Shortlisted teams advanced to the Final Round (Compete) where participants’ strategies were competed based on a two-month live paper trading from February to March 2022, and participants were required to make a 5-minute pitch on their trading plan to judges on the final presentation day on April 3, 2022.
Mr. Lai Tsz Tong, BSc(QFin), Year 3 (photo position: 1stfrom right)
Mr. Tang King Hung, BSc(QFin), Year 3 (photo position: middle)
Students Sharing:
“We were able to apply the knowledge in textbooks to real-world situations to evaluate portfolio performance in the Challenge. We tried to replicate a pair trading strategy described in a book. The book described a brief trading framework and we needed to implement the details and made choices based on backtest results on our own. Besides gaining professional knowledge and practical skills in algo-trading, it was a valuable opportunity to sharpen our problem-solving skills and presentation skills. We were honored to be ranked the 2nd Place in Best Strategy Design and 3rd Place in Best Return in the Challenge. We would like to thank our alumni, Ms. Yoyo Chan (BSc(QFin) Class of 2020), for assisting us throughout the competition and guiding us in different aspects.” (by Lai Tsz Tong and Tang King Hung)
J.P. Morgan Private Bank Challenge 2022 provides an opportunity for students to gain knowledge of how the Global Private Bank business works, get access to senior leaders and gain invaluable skills to prepare them for future opportunities at the firm. Through a hypothetical case study, students are able to find out what it takes to work as an Analyst in Global Private Bank.
During the competition, students in teams of four across different locations in Asia, including Singapore, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were required to submit the decks and recorded presentations in the First Round. Shortlisted teams presented online to the judging panel in the Second Round. Finalists from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and China competed in the Final Round in April 2022 for the APAC Championship.
Miss Sulaiman Aurell, BSc(QFin), Year 2 (3 other team members were students from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
Students Sharing:
“Overall, the competition was so far the most insightful learning I have ever experienced. The on-the-job experience allowed me to gain knowledge about how the Global Private Bank business works. By solving the case study, the team and I gained practical experience in asset allocation, client management, and scenario analysis. More importantly, we developed a stronger bond through all the late-night meetings solving the case study and learned a lot from one another as we came from different academic backgrounds. Another highlight of the competition is the mentorship I received from J.P Morgan professionals, namely Karen Cai (Vice President) and Paulina Chui (Associate), that was arranged by the competition for all the second-round qualifiers. Through these mentorship sessions, we received very helpful feedback from the mentors, along with their support that boosted our confidence during the presentation. Apart from the mentors, the judges also gave constructive feedback to improve our performance in the future and further insights on private banking at the end of the final round presentation.” (by Sulaiman Aurell)
A new course, FINA 3336 – Investment Consulting, Institutional Business and Family Office, was added to the AMPB curriculum in the second semester of 2021-22. The course was led by two experienced industry practitioners, Ms. Janet Li and Mr. Edmond Lau, and aims to provide conceptual and practical approach to the understanding of the institutional investment consulting and family office business. It offers students learning opportunities with practitioners who can share real business challenges and insights of the latest industry developments as well as innovations. To enrich students’ perspective, four guest speakers were invited for interactive lecture sessions with them.
Nurture deep understanding in the investment consulting industry dynamics
Mr. Alvin Tay, Head of Investment Risk of The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Mr. Alvin Tay, Head of Investment Risk of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, was invited to share with students the typical investment roles and channels of an asset owner. He also shared the skills required for students who are interested to be an asset owner.
Mr. David Chang, ex CEO & Regional Head, Greater China of Franklin Templeton
Mr. David Chang, ex CEO & Regional Head, Greater China of Franklin Templeton, shared his career path and the volunteer work he endeavoured to over the years with the aim to give back to the community. He also shared the typical organisation arrangements at asset management firms and deep dived into institutional business sales process and characteristics.
Recent trend in Asian family offices
Mr. Angus Chan, COO and CFO of Sunlink Holdings (H.K.) Limited
Mr. Angus Chan, COO and CFO of Sunlink, shared about how the family office he works for is being structured and operated, so as to meet their objectives of community building. Rather than purely focusing on financial returns to business operations, the family office hopes to grow in the education sector alongside with investments in real estate and technology.
Mr. Eddie Lau, CEO of ARTA TechFin Corporation Limited (HKEx: 279 HK)
Mr. Eddie Lau, CEO of ARTA TechFin, shared with us the latest milestone ARTA has achieved in offering blockchain and data services to family offices and hedge funds. Mr. Lau also shared his insights on how virtual asset servicing can be integrated into traditional financial services.
Student Sharing
“Through the course, I got closer to the industry by getting insights into fund strategies, asset allocation, ESG and digital assets. Students were provided with step-by-step guidance in building technical skills and writing investment reports in a structured and professional manner.” Christina Li, AMPB 2022 student enrolled in FINA3336.
The Virtual Business Professional (VBP) Project offered by the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California (USC) is a six-week project that offers students an opportunity to collaborate and work in a virtual setting with students from all over the world to develop virtual and cross-cultural collaboration skills using state-of-the-art collaboration tools.
15 students from HKU Business School joined the VBP Project in March. They were placed among 57 teams of five to six students with over 300 students from 11 different universities worldwide to work on a consulting project for companies including Amazon, Samsung and SpaceX. Throughout the Project, students have learnt essential skills for remote working, intercultural communication and comprehending different business models and marketing strategies, as well as how modern virtual collaboration can be powered by artificial intelligence technology.
Miss Sun Ruohan, BSc(QFin) Year 2 student, who belongs to the winning team, worked on the consulting project for Samsung. She said, “I really enjoyed the VBP project and learnt a lot in this experience. Not only did I make lots of new friends from different countries, I also developed the skills required for better teamwork, communications and problem-solving, as well as strengthening my leadership skills.”
Representatives from Samsung commented in their report that the winning team proposed great suggestions that addressed the company’s pain points, especially the brand marketing strategy for social media.
Two other teams, with our students being team members, were selected by SpaceX as 3rd and 4th place among the top teams.
“My two biggest takeaways are the advancement of my cultural intelligence and effectiveness in virtual collaboration. All in all, participating in VBP is a valuable experience of mine which motivates me to work with people with diversity and explore possibilities that a virtual global team can bring.”
Miss Chan Hoi Ching Ella, BBA, Year 2
“Communication is not that easy because we are in different countries with different time zones, and each member has her own study and work arrangement and some personal issues. Luckily, we did it and completed a relatively perfect final report in the end, and it was chosen as one of the best reports by SpaceX.”
Impact Lab is an experiential learning course offered by HKU Business School, designing to nurture the next generation of socially conscious business leaders.
In its newly released 2021-22 Annual Report, it details how Impact Lab realises its vision – Internationlisation, Innovation, Interdisciplinarity, and hence creates Impact. It also displays achievements Impact Lab has made in the past decade, particularly highlighting how Impact Lab students, who gained valuable real-life experience by joining the course, helped partner companies to adapt and respond quickly to the changes brought by the pandemic.
Click here to learn more about the positive impacts brought by Impact Lab!
Congratulations! Two teams of our students won the Championship and 2nd Runner-up in The Hong Kong Joint University Case Competition (HKJUCC) 2022.
Background:
Organised by the HKU International Case Society (HICS), the HKJUCC is an external competition among 16 student teams from 4 top universities in Hong Kong, including The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and City University of Hong Kong. The competition aims at facilitating mutual learning, networking, and a constant exchange of ideas among like-minded individuals. Students who participated in the competition are expected to strengthen their case competition techniques.
Two rounds of the competition were conducted online on April 10, 2022 due to the pandemic. Participating teams were given 48-hour to prepare for the presentation at the Division Round in the morning. Eventually, four finalist teams (one best team from each division) were selected to compete for the Championship in the afternoon.
Meet our talented students
Champion
Team Name: Meraki Consulting
Miss Hiu Lam HO (Team Leader)
BBA(IBGM), Year 1
Mr. Ho Ming CHEUNG
BBA(IBGM), Year 1
Mr. Hok Ching FUNG, Harold
BFin(AMPB), Year 1
Miss Hiu Yee LEE
BBA(IBGM), Year 1
2nd Runner-up
Team Name: Lighthouse Consulting
Mr. Hyunwook KIM (Team Leader)
BBA(IS), Year 1
Mr. Muk Yan CHUNG
BSc(QFin), Year 1
Miss Mina MOK
BBA(IBGM), Year 1
Mr. Jeonghwan PARK
BBA(Acc&Fin), Year 1
Students Sharing:
I am honoured to represent HKU Business School to compete in the HKJUCC 2022. Not only had HKJUCC sharpened my analytical skills, but more importantly, it had also polished my ability to work as a team. Solving a case within 48 hours was a new and challenging experience for me. I would like to express my gratitude to my teammates who have contributed according to our diverse talents. Together, we complemented each other and created a synergy that empowered us to crack the case in time. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Winnie Leung, Mr. Kenny Lam and HICS for their continuous support throughout the preparation process. HKJUCC was a valuable experience that I will never forget.
(by Hiu Lam HO)
I never thought about getting into the final round, let alone being the champion team. Thinking back, I really appreciate the training organized by HICS, which was well-structured and had transformed us from knowing nothing about case competition to acing it. My heartfelt thanks to our trainer Mr. Kenny Lam for his constructive feedback that allowed us to improve our slides making and presentation skills. I would also like to thank the judges in the preliminary round for their questions and comments, which guided us to think more deeply about our strategies and prepare us for the final presentation.
HKJUCC is the first case competition I have joined with a 48-hour time limit to work on the case. It was a challenging yet memorable experience. Although our team finalized the strategies pretty late, we were able to finish the presentation slides on time with the hard work of my teammates. I felt privileged to represent HKU in HKJUCC 2022! With my honed case cracking skills, I definitely look forward to joining more case competitions in the future!
(by Ho Ming CHEUNG)
HKJUCC is the fifth case our team has worked on together. As long-time teammates in HICS and the HKU-UMP Business Case Challenge 2021, we already had a rough consensus on each member’s role and responsibility before this competition, which definitely made our case cracking process more efficient. Still, this year’s case was a big challenge to all of us, considering the sheer volume of information provided and the technological nature of the case. We did work as hard as we could, and I could not be more grateful that our hard work paid off.
I gained a lot of insight into the tech industry’s operations and business model from the case. While the complicated and interconnected businesses of Xiaomi added an extra layer of difficulty to the case, it certainly enriched my knowledge in the tech and smartphone industry.
(by Hok Ching FUNG, Harold)
Competing in the HKJUCC was a challenging yet rewarding experience. From analysing the company’s complex business model to devising innovative and sensible solutions for it, this competition challenged us in various ways. We were able to develop more robust business knowledge as we approached the case from fresh perspectives. We have gained much valuable insight, not to mention the incisive feedback given by the panel of expert judges. Winning first place in this competition was more than just a recognition of our hard work, it was an encouragement for me to challenge myself further. Kudos to my teammates for all the amazing dedication and efforts, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without them. Last but not least, I would like to extend my gratitude to HICS, especially our trainer, Mr. Kenny Lam, for the continued support.
(by Hiu Yee LEE)
Our team has been working together since the beginning of the academic year 2021-22 and it has been a long journey thus far. The HKJUCC was a good finale to our experiences at HICS. We were initially very worried because, unlike the other case competitions we’ve done so far, we only got 48 hours to work on the JUCC case. We faced a bit of communication problem on the first day because one of our members was not in Hong Kong. However, we managed to pull through in the end and came up with a presentation that we were satisfied with. Throughout this competition, we were able to reinforce how important teamwork is, especially when we got more tired as we progressed through our work. One of our biggest takeaways was how to divide work more efficiently. Before HKJUCC, we all assigned our roles to play during case cracking. However, such system didn’t work due to the limited time we had during this competition. To mitigate this, each of us adopted rotational positions. While we still focused on our main/primary role, we sometimes shifted roles to help other members with their work. This was especially helpful in the first few hours of the competition where the situation analysis and general research played a big part in creating a segway into our strategy.
(by Hyunwook KIM, Muk Yan CHUNG, Mina MOK and Jeonghwan PARK)
Facing off against 12 competitive teams across the globe, our students have come out on top and become the winner of the 32nd Annual Scotiabank International Case Competition! Let’s give them a round of applause!
Background:
The Scotiabank International Case Competition (SICC) 2022 was organised and hosted entirely by the Ivey Business School students. This year marks the 32nd edition of SICC which has attracted teams from the top business schools around the globe. As one of the most respected international case competitions, SICC has given students an unparalleled opportunity to be exposed to different cultures and gain real experience with international business.
The competition aims to provide a forum where undergraduate business students can experience real-world business problems through case preparations and learn from the diverse perspectives of the international competitors; to foster meaningful relationships among students and the business schools around the world; to provide an opportunity for industry and media to witness the future leaders of the business world, and to arouse public awareness of the growing importance of undergraduate business education.
Award: Winner
Team List:
Miss Jade Joyce NG, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 4
Mr. Chun Wai TSANG, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 3
Miss Sharon WONG, BBA(IBGM), Year 2
Mr. Yui Pong YEUNG, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 3
Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Winnie S.C. LEUNG, Assistant Dean (Undergraduate)
Students Sharing:
“The SICC 2022 was an unforgettable experience. Although I participated in various case competitions before, SICC is my first attempt at an international case competition. We had to come up with strategic solutions for the future of work of a company within 24 hours and it was not easy. Within the limited time frame, we conducted thorough research and analysed the impacts of hybrid working.
It was a tough, yet fruitful experience. Due to the pandemic, everything moved online and our team worked on a wholly virtual basis from preparations, discussions to presentations. Despite the physical limitations, our team was able to collaborate seamlessly. Working with James, Donald, and Sharon was a wonderful teamwork experience. We divided the work according to our strengths, and everyone was able to shine. Last but not least, I would like to send my heartfelt gratitude to our case coach Mr. Kenny Lam who equipped our team with the essential skills to ace a case competition. The achievement would not be possible without his guidance and support.”
– Jade Joyce NG, BBA(Law)&LLB
“First and foremost, I would like to thank HKU Business School for the splendid opportunity to participate in this prestigious competition. I would also like to express my gratitude to my teammates for their hard work and contribution. This was my first time joining an international case competition. Witnessing the caliber of other top business schools all over the world was exciting and rewarding. The judges asked thoughtful questions, which pushed us to analyse the case more comprehensively. Solving a case in 24 hours was also a new experience. It was challenging: research had to be completed and summarised swiftly to curate a coherent storyline, especially since the case — concerning the future of work — contained a lot of nuances that we have to consider.”
– TSANG Chun Wai, BBA(Law)&LLB
“I am glad and honoured to represent HKU in participating in the Scotiabank International Case Competition. As a Year 2 business student, I did not expect to have such an opportunity to join an international case competition due to my limited case competition experiences. Through this opportunity, I was able to meet some of the top professional business leaders and talented students all around the world and further developed my case cracking skills and analytical skills when solving real-life business cases with my teammates. At first, I lacked confidence and worried that I could not meet the high expectation. However, I was lucky enough to have my teammates and this year’s case coach, Mr. Kenny Lam, to support me and point out the areas that I should further improve on, which I value a lot. I am proud to be part of the team and achieved such success!”
– Sharon WONG, BBA(IBGM)
“The experience is eye-opening. It is fantastic to observe the variety of perspectives and approaches to resolving complicated business problems. I am especially inspired by the detailedness of strategies developed by other good-performing participating students. Besides, the judges have provided us with valuable comments which were constructive and helpful in further improving our business consulting skillsets. The virtual engagement and social events also allowed us to experience cultural diversity.”
