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The inaugural InvestHack hackathon, hosted by Bursa Malaysia Berhad (“Bursa Malaysia” or the “Exchange”) in partnership with CGS-CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd (“CGS-CIMB”), saw a total of 75 teams comprising 250 individuals create and present potential innovative solutions to enhance retail participation in the marketplace.
Retail investors have played a pivotal role in contributing to the resilience of the local stock market this year. “InvestHack: Reimagine Investing”, the first retail investment hackathon is an initiative aimed at sustaining the strong growth in retail investor participation on Bursa Malaysia
The competition came to a close on 5 December 2020, which saw ten teams shortlisted to present their ideas virtually at the grand finals. The panel of judges comprised representatives from the organisers and experts from the tech field, which included Microsoft (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (“Microsoft Malaysia”) and Malaysian Global Innovation & Creative Centre (MaGIC).
In his opening speech, Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia said, “InvestHack was curated to bring together the talent and best minds from the community to apply their expertise in a creative way that can help us in our efforts to deliver better value to the retail marketplace. This inaugural event has surpassed our targets in terms of the number of participating teams. At the end of the hackathon, a total of 50 innovative ideas were submitted, which is truly impressive.”
Throughout the competition, each team were required to develop innovative solutions to various challenges in the retail investing space. Every team received guidance and mentorship from industry professionals.
At the end of the grand finals, team ‘Ted Optimus’ was crowned champion of this inaugural event, winning the RM20,000 cash prize for their proposed solution that focused on combining multiple sources of data and tailoring the information into a simple, trusted and accessible format to help retail investors make informed decisions. The first and second runners-up were teams ‘Everyone Can Invest’ and ‘Green Phoenix’, taking home RM10,000 and RM5,000 respectively.
Ruzi Ajith, Chief Executive Officer of CGS-CIMB Securities said, “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. With this as our first-time being part of a hackathon, we certainly had no prior expectations. We were thrilled with the level of participation, enthusiasm and passion demonstrated during the idea presentation. Congratulations to all winners of the Invest Hack 2020 and we look forward to future collaborations with Bursa Malaysia to encourage more robust retail participation in the capital market.”
Microsoft Malaysia, InvestHack’s technical partner, provided its Microsoft Azure Cloud services for participants to utilise. Its Managing Director, K. Raman added, “Cloud technology is a critical enabler to unlock the disruptive potential of the capital market and spur increased investor participation. We’re highly encouraged by the innovative ideas by all participating teams.” Additionally, Trading View Inc also acted as the technical partner for the event.
Bursa Malaysia’s multi-pronged approach includes leveraging on technology to broaden accessibility to the marketplace. Throughout the year, the Exchange has continuously introduced new features and enhancements to its digital touchpoints such as Bursa Anywhere, Bursa Marketplace and Mirror, Learn & Trade platforms, providing improved convenience and access for investors. The results have been positive, with the Average Daily Value (ADV) traded by retail investors increasing by 250% as of November 2020 compared to the previous year.
“Hackathons are not only used to create new technology, but also to tackle social issues which supports the development of the economy,” concluded Datuk Umar.
For more information, please visit https://www.bursamarketplace.com/investhack-2020/.
