The Students Traders Trophy Worldwide, an initiative of Oxyor- an internationally renowned financial training firm based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, was held in Singapore from 12 October to 16 October. This stimulating competition provides students with real-time experience as a trader in a dealing room environment. It is part of a multi-national event spanning from South Africa, Hong Kong and Europe to the Middle East. More than 550 undergraduates from the three local universities – the National University of Singapore, National Technological University and Singapore Management University – enrolled to participate in qualification rounds which were held on-campus. The NUS qualification round was held on 12 October.

On 16th October, the finals were launched by the Guest of Honour – Mr Seck Wai Kwong, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of SGX at the Singapore Exchange. It was an intense experience for the 30 finalists, which consists of the best student traders selected from their institution’s respective preliminary rounds. Within the stipulated hour, they had to trade on 3 different equity securities, namely Singapore Airlines (SIA), Singtel Cert and Capitaland. The participants were assessed on profitability, market awareness, client service and risk management through a securities trading simulation exercise. Their ability in managing the pressures of the financial markets was also carefully considered. This trading simulation was enabled by the use of 30 laptops that were connected in a network to become a virtual dealing room, where the traders could trade with each other and fictitious market players.

Mr Pieter Ris, Director of Oxyor said: “Singapore students proved themselves to be highly adaptable to stock trading and we had entrants from all disciplines, from history majors to econometrics Masters. But in our simulation, profit is not the only winning criteria, just as in the industry. All contestants need to display a rounded skill set including risk management and good communication skills, exactly the qualities that financial companies look for in a trader of the future.”

Barclays Capital, one of the world’s premier investment banks, was the main sponsor of this year’s Traders Trophy in Singapore. Barclays Capital was able to interact with the best students from the three universities and the Traders Trophy was an excellent forum for the firm to attract and appraise talent for future recruitment purposes.

“Barclays Capital is committed to developing graduate talent in Singapore and we see events such as this as critical in bridging the gap between the academic and commercial worlds. Clearly this competition has real relevance for our firm and in particular our Global Markets Trading business,” said Adrian McGowan, Barclays Capital’s Head of FX Trading in Asia Pacific.

Ning Ning, an undergraduate in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences of the National University of Singapore, and Singapore’s top 10 best student trader said: “The Traders Trophy is an amazing experience. The 1 ½ hours of competition was so intense that I knew I had to make the best out of every minute. I am grateful for such an opportunity and look forward to participating in real trading activities in the near future.

And after days of intense competition, the eventual winners are as follow:

Champion: Mr Alex Goh Wei Yang (SMU)

1st Runner-up: Mr Ritin Malhotra (SMU)

2nd Runner-up: Mr Toh Chin Sheng (NTU) The best student trader was awarded $2,000 cash and a spot in the Barclays Capital Internship programme.

It was definitely not an easy feat and we would like to sincerely congratulate all winners on their victories! The Traders’ Trophy would come around the following year, so for those who’ve missed it, do look out for it in 2010.