NUS students from Arts and Social Sciences and Business clinch top prize at 2025 UBS Finance Challenge in Shanghai
July 29, 2025
Driven by a shared passion for finance and investing, second-year students Fong Zhi Heng from NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Brandon Lim from NUS Business School teamed up for the 2025 UBS Finance Challenge. The pair beat 300 other teams to clinch the first prize at the competition.
The UBS Finance Challenge is a high-profile stock pitch competition that brings together some of the brightest and most innovative university students in finance from around the world to showcase their market research and equity analysis skills. Now in its fifth year, the competition has expanded to a dual-region format, allowing participants to compete in either Hong Kong or Mainland China, with top teams from both tracks advancing to the finals in Shanghai to vie for the coveted Greater China Championship title.
United by a shared passion for finance
Zhi Heng and Brandon first connected through the NUS Asset & Wealth Management Club and the Next Gen Investors Endowment Ltd, a Singapore-based non-profit organisation that promotes investor education to local and international students. They quickly became friends over a shared passion for applying their classroom learnings to solve real-world challenges through competitions.
In April, the pair had already made waves by winning the Singapore & Southeast Asia rounds of the 2025 CFA Institute Research Challenge at NUS. Following this success, they were eager to take on a bigger stage.
“For us, the UBS Finance Challenge presented yet another valuable learning opportunity,” said Brandon. “We wanted to put our finance skills into practice again and push ourselves, especially since it was our first time doing a long/short equity research pitch.”
Pitching with precision and perseverance
Teams in the UBS Finance Challenge were required to analyse stocks from one of six sectors – industrials, consumer, technology, internet, healthcare and energy – and to develop a long-short pairs trade strategy. This involved evaluating trade logic, industry outlook, company financials, stock valuations and presenting actionable trade recommendations.
Zhi Heng and Brandon centred their investment pitch on China’s restaurant sector, comparing two major players – Yum China, the country’s largest quick-service operator, and Jiumaojiu International Holdings, a full-service restaurant specialising in Chinese cuisine. They argued that Yum China would outperform Jiumaojiu; driven by the long-term growth trend toward takeaway and fast food convenience in China. Conversely, dine-in models, such as Jiumaojiu would suffer as they face headwinds from declining foot traffic. On this basis, they proposed a pair trade strategy of buying Yum China stock and shorting Jiumaojiu stock.
Having just wrapped up the CFA Research Institute Challenge in April, the pair had only two weeks to prepare for the UBS Finance Challenge. Balancing competing priorities made it even more intense.
Zhi Heng recalled, “It was a tough balancing act – I was interning, and Brandon was studying for his finals during the day, so we had to work on our presentation late into the night. Some nights we barely slept. But with sheer determination and a genuine passion for understanding the company we were pitching, we pushed through and made it work.”
The duo also made the strategic decision to personally fund their travel to Hong Kong for an in-person semi-final presentation – a move they believed gave them a competitive edge. “We felt that presenting in person gave us a better opportunity to connect with the judges and communicate our ideas more effectively,” shared Brandon.
Both students credited their earlier experience in the 2025 CFA Institute Research Challenge as instrumental to their success in the UBS challenge, noting how they benefitted immensely from the mentorship received, as the experience shaped their thought processes and helped refine their research and pitching abilities.
Zhi Heng also acknowledged the role of the NUS Investment Society, a student-led club promoting financial literacy, in sharpening his analytical capabilities. “Regular stock pitch sessions and feedback from seniors and alumni really honed my research skills,” he said. “Courses like Accounting and Economics gave me the technical foundation to understand financial statements and market dynamics, but it was the student groups and competitions that brought those concepts to life.”
More than a win: Valuable skills and future careers in finance
For their win, the pair received prizes worth 14,000 yuan (S$2,500) and secured the opportunity for fast-tracked interviews with UBS.
“We’re definitely elated,” Brandon said. “But more than the win, it was the invaluable skills gained and the personalised feedback from the judges that mattered most. They were able to provide meaningful and actionable insights that we could use in our future internships and careers in finance."