Press Release
The Final-8 is born
English version:
On 2 Dec, 2022, the first round of the ESG Challenge has come to an end. We are delighted to announce that eight top performing teams have been selected to enter the second round of the Challenge. The members of these eight teams come from UST, CUHK, HKU, CityU, and HSU.
All 47 teams have gone through a series of activities and training organized by the HSU Research Centre for ESG (CESG) in round 1.
Activity 1: Communication workshop
The ESG Challenge held its first physical event on 22 Oct, which is a workshop on "Effective communication through social media and online platform”. We invited 3 dynamic speakers including Mr. Vivek Mahbubani, a famous standup comedian and YouTuber, to share their wisdom and expertise to student representatives from 47 teams. They talked about the use of color scheme in presentations, building a personal brand, and ways to conduct an eye-catching presentation, which is greatly beneficial to students as they can learn and improve their presentation skills.
Activity 2: Launch Forum and coffee chat with executives
A Launch Forum was held on 29 Oct to mark the official start of the ESG Challenge. We were honored to invite Mr. Joseph Chan, the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Ms. Rosita Lee, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hang Seng Investment Management Limited, and Ms. June Wong, Chief Executive Officer of Value Partners Group Limited to give speeches to motivate the Challenge participants. The speeches were followed by a coffee chat session, where 10 senior executives from Big 4, investment banks, commercial banks, asset management, and CFAI gave students advice and opinion on various topics.
Activity 3: Online ESG training
From early to mid-November, students started their online ESG training journey. Through accessing the online platform provided by IFPHK, students enrolled in the ESG training courses prepared by CESG. A total of 104 students from 41 teams completed the online ESG training. Two learning modules are provided, namely M1: From CSR to ESG: The journey to sustainability and M3: ESG integration. Each module is separated into a learning video and an MCQ assessment. Students first watched the M1 video, which contains 3 sections. Then, they attempt 3 M1 MCQs. Afterwards, students continued to M3 module, where they watched the M3 learning video, and answered 3 MCQ also. Students can attempt the MCQ 3 times. Watching all learning videos and answering all questions means the students have completed the online ESG training.
Activity 4: Stock trading simulation competition
Lastly, students from 37 teams participated in the trading simulation competition on 19 Nov as a final test for their performance. This ESG trading simulation helped candidates gain insights into different roles in the finance industry and understanding of how ESG news impacts asset prices. Unlike most investment games which depend on total profit generation as the single measure to determine winners, the simulation evaluation mechanism captured trading and behavioral statistics during the simulation competition. Students were evaluated by many aspects including Commission, Fat Finger Count, No. of Client Trades, Risk Management, Exchange impact, Profit & Loss (sell-side), and Return on Investment, Risk Appetite, Buy-side risk management, Execution Score (buy-side).
Then, a weighted evaluation scheme to combine all 4 activities was employed to generate the final ranking. The evaluation committee comprises of representative from CESG, VP, and HSB to confirm the Final 8 teams for the second round. In early next year, we will announce the launch of the second round of the Challenge and brief the Final 8 teams. Afterwards, the teams will start to prepare for their final evaluation and they will receive coaching from Big4 executives on ESG report analysis. Lastly, between late March to early April, teams will do a presentation to showcase what they have learnt.
We hope our activities helped students become ESG Elites. Please stay tuned to the second round of the competition.
中文版：
恒生x惠理學界精英ESG挑戰2023的第一輪在二零二二年十二月二日正式完結。我們很高興宣佈選出了八隊隊伍進入比賽的終極挑戰。這些隊伍的隊員分別來自香港科技大學、香港中文大學、香港大學、香港城市大學和香港恒生大學。
在挑戰的第一輪，四十七隊隊伍參加了一系列由恒大ESG研究中心舉辦的活動和培訓。
活動一：溝通技巧工作坊
ESG挑戰的首個活動是十月二十二日舉行的社交媒體營銷工作坊。我們邀請了三位講者向四十七隊隊伍代表分享他們的經驗之談，其中包括著名楝篤笑表演者及YouTube網紅Vivek Mahbubani先生（阿V）。三位講者分享了如何使用色彩提升報告的可讀性、如何建立個人品牌、和如何在報告時吸引觀眾的注意。這些技巧對學生在進行挑戰的最終報告或平日上課時都非常有用。
活動二：啟動典禮和互動座談會
我們在十月二十九日舉行了啟動典禮，這標誌著ESG挑戰正式開始。我們有幸邀得香港特別行政區政府財經事務及庫務局副局長陳浩濂先生太平紳士、恒生投資管理有限公司董事兼行政總裁李珮珊女士、和惠理集團有限公司行政總裁黃慧敏女士致辭，鼓勵參加挑戰的學生。在隨後的互動座談會，十位來自四大會計師事務所、投資銀行、商業銀行、資產管理公司和CFA協會的企業高管向參賽者分享他們的見解和經驗。
活動三：網上ESG培訓
在十一月中上旬，透過香港財務策劃師學會提供的平台，同學參加了由ESG研究中心準備的網上ESG課程，共有一百零四名來自四十一隊的學生完成了培訓。我們為學生提供兩個學習單元，分別是單元一：由企業社會責任到環境社會和企業管治：一趟達至可持續性的旅程，和單元三：ESG整合。每個單元可分為一條培訓短片和選擇題測驗。同學首先觀看單元一短片，然後回答三條有關單元一的選擇題。之後同學觀看單元三短片，回答三條有關單元三的選擇題。同學可作答每單元的測驗三次。觀看所有培訓短片和回答所有測驗意味著同學完成了網上ESG培訓。
活動四：模擬股票交易比賽
最後，在十一月十九日，三十七隊參與了模擬交易比賽。這是選出八強隊伍前的最後一個測驗。這個模擬交易幫助學生了解金融行業裡的不同角色，和ESG新聞如何影響資產定價。相比起其他以總利潤決定輸贏的投資遊戲，我們的模擬交易比賽記錄了學生在玩遊戲時的交易數據和行爲數據。我們從十方面評估學生的表現，包括佣金、胖手指失誤、客戶交易數量、風險管理、匯率差價及損益數據（賣方指標），和投資回報率、風險偏好、買方風險管理及執行效率（買方指標）。
在所有活動完結後，我們按每個活動佔的比重計算出最後各隊的分數。來自ESG研究中心、惠理集團和恒生銀行的代表組成評審委員會決定八強名單。
終極挑戰：
進入終極挑戰後，我們會在明年初啓動第二輪比賽，向八強隊伍講解比賽的終極挑戰。學生隨後會接受四大會計師事務所的指導，學習如何分析ESG報告。最後，八強隊伍會在三月末至四月初進行匯報，展示他們的學習成果。
我們希望這些活動能幫助同學成爲ESG精英。比賽的終極挑戰即將開始，請大家密切留意。