World Win For Thai Finance Students

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EDUCATION

World win for Thai finance students

Wannapa Khaopa

The Nation

Undergrads' study of CP All takes global honour

BANGKOK: -- With well-prepared teamwork and sheer effort, a group of Thai undergraduate students has astounded their supporters to emerge as winners in one of the world's top finance competitions.

"We worked more than 300 hours to prepare ourselves," Panus Hongprapipat, head of the winning team from Thammasat University's Business School said, when they met the press last week.

The team of Jackrit Bumrungtrakul, Sorawit Patumraj, Wimolnat Tanganurakpongsa and Kittikiat Tantivuttikiti won the sixth CFA Institute Research Challenge global final, held in New York on April 11.

"The competition is the most famous and acceptable among students studying finance," Wimolnat, the only female in the Thai team, said.

The Thammasat undergraduate team represented the Asia Pacific region. It beat three other finalists who were postgraduates with more work experience. They came from Stockholm School of Economics, representing Europe, the Middle East and Africa; from Rutgers University, which represented the New York region; and Illinois Institute of Technology, which represented the Americas.

Kittikiat said they were afraid Rutgers University would win the contest. Its team included a lawyer to answer judges' questions, and a member on an Bt800,000 salary who is studying an executive MBA programme.

However, with an easy-to-understand presentation, it was not too difficult for the Thai undergraduates to win the judges' hearts.

Competitors were required to act as securities analysts. The Thai team analysed stock of CP All Plc that operates 7-Eleven convenience stores. They had to write a research report, do presentations and answer judges' questions.

They worked very hard to achieve their success. An example, said Sorawit, was during the flood disaster last year when they retained links on the Internet via the Skype programme. Before and after the floods they met in person, working together at the university after class from 10pm to 2am almost everyday.

"We made the presentation easy to understand," Panus said. "We recommended buying the company's stock. We gave important information about CP All to help them know the company and why its stock should be bought and what factors they should beware of.

"We focused on crucial information and highlighting only crucial numbers and figures. So, the judges understood the consequences… showing the numbers and figures is important (in stock analysis), but too much [of such information] can confuse listeners."

In the presentation, they pointed out that with a 21-per-cent upside potential, defensive stock with liquidity, a sustainable business model and a confirmed valuation, they recommended buying the stock.

Panus, who formed the group, said another key to success was that they were a good team. "We're not the most excellent people, but each of us has a different proficiency and skill and we combined our differences. The combination made us the best team."

Kittikiat was responsible for the numbers and figures. Jackrit, Wimolnat and Sorawit worked on macro-economic analysis and world market analysis, as well as studying the industry. Panus looked at overall jobs and coordinated with the team's members.

"The judges (in the global round) told us we really understood the model of this business and we were able to answer questions to the point," Jackrit said.

The group won a competition at Thammasat Business School in August last year. In October, they started a search for information to analyse CP All's stock and handed in the research report in late December, before competing in the national competition.

After becoming a national winning team, the group competed and won the regional competition in March held in Hong Kong - representing the Asia Pacific - to show its ability in the global final held in New York.

About 3,000 students from 650 universities in more than 50 countries joined the competition, said Pisit Jeungpraditphan, president of the CFA Society of Thailand. The society sponsored the Thai team in joining the competition.

The Thai winners were presented with US$10,000, a trophy, and given an opportunity to ring the Nasdaq Stock Market closing bell.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand last week presented them with certificates to honour them as young role models aiming to become quality personnel for the stock market in Thailand in the future.

Studying and working in this field is not easy, so they urged youngsters to be patient and hardworking. They also offered a tip for success: young people should set a target and go toward it with determination. They should not just like their work, but have fun while doing it. Then they would be successful.

-- The Nation 2012-04-30

[Pseudolus]

Good for them - hard work, solid education, and shows that if these types of young people can be kept straight and true the future might be be bright.

[AZBill]

Congratulations to them on a job well done!

[kevjohn]

Congratulatios to the young lady and the 4 young gentlemen.

I hope they go to the top of their chosen profession and help

make Thailand a better country.

[rkidlad]

Well done. Now time to produce more people like this in the other sectors.

Edited April 30, 2012 by rkidlad

[Pib]

Good to hear Thai students making their mark in international competitions.

[noitom]

Congratulations to the student team. It's would be a step in the right direction for the newspaper to be covering this type of achievement more often.

[lexilis]

Well done! Young Thai people demonstrating intelligence, creativity, teamwork, and dedication and performing at the highest standards. Such a welcome change to what is normally commented on here. Best of luck to these students. They deserve it and Thailand needs a few thousand more like them.

[planemad]

Well done guys, keep up the excellent work and you will inspire more to follow in your footsteps. Positive stories like this on TV are rare and as soon as they arise, the cynics will try to knock it!

Oh dear, one has already beaten me to it, sad minds at work!

Edited April 30, 2012 by planemad

[animatic]

Nice to see there is more than the 'perceived total educational wasteland' here.

Congratulations for the hard work bringing a win.

Lets hope this effort can one day translate in the future into better education for all Thais.

[metisdead]

One post has been removed as the post quoted had been altered:

30) Do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes, added emoticons, or altered wording.

[chooka]

Well done. Those harvard boys/girls may have thier noses out of place and been proven that they are not that good. Might just see these Thai kids taking over the major finacial corporations worldwide.

[ronz28]

Congratulations, to the best new investment professionals in the world. Here is the Bloomberg interview of these Thammasat University students.

[UbonOz]

Wow, so good to see them beat the world.

[scorecard]

Good for them - hard work, solid education, and shows that if these types of young people can be kept straight and true the future might be be bright.

On TV and in other publications there is often comment saying that a degree from a Thai uni is worthless.

Many times I've defended Thai uni's and shown rational why the 'worthless ' comments are untrue. (However like many other countries, including so called fully developed countries, Thailand does have excellent unis and some poor quality unis.)

What more proof do you want than this, bright kids spurred to be analytical and creative by good courses and interactive teaching, plus case study work which builds their confidence and their presentation skills.

WELL DONE!

[sparebox2]

And farang still say Thai education is bad, and most Thai students are not very intelligent due to it.

This prove farang wrong. Well done Thai student.

[artvarkk]

Good work! Go Thailand!

[geriatrickid]

Well done. Those harvard boys/girls may have thier noses out of place and been proven that they are not that good. Might just see these Thai kids taking over the major finacial corporations worldwide.

LOL. Keep it in perspective. This was a stock analysis, not M&A or entrepreneurial. The likelihood of some Thai kid pushing aside the big hitters from the EU, Russia, Hong Kong or even India is very unlikely. Demographics and opportunities have a role in that.

I'm not going to take away anything from this excellent achievement and the students deserve all the praise they will get, but I also know this sort of case study/presentation is not reflective of the actual talent in business schools. Still, I am impressed by the humility, fluency and coherency of these students. These guys will go far if they are connected.

[culicine]

And farang still say Thai education is bad, and most Thai students are not very intelligent due to it.

This prove farang wrong. Well done Thai student.

Congratulations to the students in the story...but..

This just proves that there are a number of excellent students exist in this country. It says nothing about the education standard across the board which needs lots of improvement. Those students succeeded through hard work and inspite of the education system here, not because of it, though there are certainly many good faculties in many universities here that are of international standard. If you know anything about the PISA results, where Thailand is quite a way below average, you will see Thailand has quite some catching up to do. The problem is the brain drain - I'd expect many of the top professionals in their field find greener pastures overseas.

[LuckyLew]

And farang still say Thai education is bad, and most Thai students are not very intelligent due to it.

This prove farang wrong. Well done Thai student.

Is does not prove Thai education as a whole is good great or bad

This proves that these 5 students put in the time and effort to achieve

a great result. Nor does this prove farang wrong.

I once went for dinner with a girl from Ramkam Uni who was majoring

in English. She brought along her assignment. She was tasked with

deciding whether it is "a apple" or "an apple" ... "a banana" or "an banana"

... an so

so I guess it the quality of the education depends on many factors, it is

like comparing an apple to a banana

[chainarong]

Congratulations, well done, a great team effort, Beautifull.

[sms747]

And farang still say Thai education is bad, and most Thai students are not very intelligent due to it.

This prove farang wrong. Well done Thai student.

Hardly, Thai education is desperately poor in turning out people who can think and reason. You have to be able to question things to be intelligent, Thai education does not encourage questioning. Well done this group who succeeded in spite of, rather than because of the Thai education system. I thought it was an official opinion that the Thai system is poor and in need of much improvement?

If the Thai system turned out anything other than box ticking sheep then why do rich Thai's send their kids to international Schools and then Universities abroad?

Edited April 30, 2012 by sms747

[padeakin]

Well done! I would like to think that these students will do well and reach the top  in their chosen professions, but unfortunalty in Thailand the top posts are usually filled by people with money and connections not people with ability

[xthAi76s]

And farang still say Thai education is bad, and most Thai students are not very intelligent due to it.

This prove farang wrong. Well done Thai student.

Hardly, Thai education is desperately poor in turning out people who can think and reason. You have to be able to question things to be intelligent, Thai education does not encourage questioning. Well done this group who succeeded in spite of, rather than because of the Thai education system. I thought it was an official opinion that the Thai system is poor and in need of much improvement?

If the Thai system turned out anything other than box ticking sheep then why do rich Thai's send their kids to international Schools and then Universities abroad?

Agree! And, judging from the way the young lady in their group speak English (natively?), she is likely one of those typically well-to-do Thais who was born or spent significant time in an English speaking country. Quite frankly, she sounds American. I would put down money that she moved here more recently and that she speaks Thai with an accent.

Anyway, these students are obviously exceptional. They are likely the type who would tell you how poor they think they Thai education system is overall. Having said that, Thammasat is a pretty decent school (undergrad and grad). Probably better than Chula (which is supposed to be the best). It's certainly the most progressive university in Thailand.

"Great job!" to these Chinese students.

[bigbamboo]

Congratulations indeed, a great achievement.

Now come home quickly, your country needs you.

[MEL1]

Obviously! TOEFL 98% scorers. Educated not in Thailand, or if they were then from rich families who afforded 'private' tutoring in both English and Business Studies. I agree that Thammasat is becoming a target for Thai Business Studies students, but what about elsewhere; and what other Unis?

It's a great result. I take nothing away from it, but next year?? The year after?? Will we see a repetition? I seriously doubt it.

-mel.

[hyperdimension]

I wonder whether they were sponsored by CP.

Was the task really just some stock analysis? I would have thought a global competition would be for something bigger and novel, like an analysis of the current mess in the global financial and monetary system, including in particular the Eurozone, and to develop unique and detailed solutions to fix it.

Edited April 30, 2012 by hyperdimension

[hyperdimension]

Was the task really just some stock analysis? I would have thought a global competition would be for something bigger and novel

Another idea that I think would be good for a Finance competition task would be to write a speech that is to be heard by the top people at the Federal Reserve. One of the prizes can be a real invitation to the Federal Reserve bank in New York and to actually deliver it to the intended audience. I'd expect some amazing speeches like this one by Robert Wenzel that he delivered last week: My Speech Delivered at the New York Federal Reserve Bank Edited April 30, 2012 by hyperdimension

[jonclark]

And farang still say Thai education is bad, and most Thai students are not very intelligent due to it.

This prove farang wrong. Well done Thai student.

Sure they didn't copy their presentation from the internet!!! I still stand by the fact that the vast majority to Thai students are thick as two short planks!!

[sirchai]

Congratulations!!!!