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Three UAE University Students Win 'Abu Dhabi Investment Competition 2015' After Building Impressive Mock Portfolios in Real-Time Online Trading Platform
Three UAE-based university students have won the top three prizes in the Abu Dhabi University Investment Competition 2015 - a strategic collaboration between Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, and Abu Dhabi University (ADU), one of the UAE capital's leading tertiary education institutions.
Conceived to spread regional awareness on the importance of financial literacy, the Abu Dhabi University Investment Competition 2015 attracted more than 210 undergraduate and postgraduate entries from university students across the GCC, Lebanon and Egypt. With every participant handed USD100,000 of virtual credit to invest across Saxo Bank's award-winning trading platforms, students were given free rein to build mock portfolios via bespoke trading strategies.
"Our main goal was to give students the opportunity to learn online trading and test their techniques in evaluating the market," said Fadi Mehdi, Head of Saxo Bank Abu Dhabi. "The high volume of participation underlined our view that today's youth are much more aware and interested in online trading than is widely acknowledged. The competition was a unique learning prospect for students and represented a one-off opportunity to apply their financial knowledge and trading skills in real life trading situation."
An initial shortlist of 36 participants was culled from studentswho demonstrated the most creative and innovative investment techniques. The shortlisted participants were invited to present to a panel of eight expert judges - from various academia and industry fields - whichconfirmed six finalists.
Commenting on the competition, Dr. Jacob Chacko, Dean of Abu Dhabi University's College of Business Administration, reiterated how the unique investment challenge had succeeded in attracting participants from numerous business administration schools across the GCC.
"For the last six months our regional participants have tested their investment prowess across varying virtual trades including forex and equities on innovative Saxo Banks platforms," said Dr. Chacko. "We're extremely impressed with the level of financial literacy exhibited by the participants, as well as the innovative investment techniques and creative risk management decisions they've made in their personal investment strategies. Our participants represent some of the region's brightest young business minds."
The eventual winner was Waleed Ihsan, a student from Abu Dhabi University, who receivedthe top prize of USD10,000credit in a personalisedSaxo Bank online trading account.
"I'm very humbled to be named the top trader in this pioneering online trading initiative," said Ihsan. "The competition generated a lot of buzz on the Abu Dhabi University campus and other universities across the region - I'm thrilled that my options and portfolio came out on top. While our mock credit was purely virtual, I've learnt that trading in the real world involves constant balancing of risk and reward. Thankfully, much if this risk is mediated by Saxo Bank's online trading platforms - they are very accessible and the in-built tools and performance analytics are key assets in decision-making."
The second-place prize of a trip to Saxo Bank headquarters in Denmark went to Vivek Kumar Sharma, a student from Dubai's Institute of Management Technology, while the third-place prize of an iPhone 6 went to Zakir Ali,a student at Sharjah's Skyline University College.
Exclusive interview opportunities with Fadi Mehdi, Head of Saxo Bank Abu Dhabi, and all of the Abu Dhabi University Investment Competition 2015 winners are available upon request.
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About Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is an online multi-asset trading and investment specialist, offering private investors and institutional clients a complete set of tools for their trading and investment strategies. Its financial community portal, TradingFloor.com, is the first multi-asset social trading platform. A fully licensed and regulated European bank, Saxo Bank enables clients to trade FX, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives on our award-winning SaxoTrader platform, accessible on PCs, tablets or smartphones through a single account and available in more than 20 languages. The platform is white-labelled by more than 100 major financial institutions worldwide. Saxo Bank also offers professional portfolio and fund management as well as traditional banking services through SaxoPrivatbank. Founded in 1992, Saxo Bank is headquartered in Copenhagen and has offices in 26 countries throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Australia.
Media enquiries
Mohammad Akkawi , Account Manager , MCS Action
+971 55 394 1044
mohammad.a@actionprgroup.com
Kasper Elbjørn, Head of International Communications, Saxo Bank
+45 3065 4300
press@saxobank.com
© Press Release 2015
