Jobs in Hanoi

[neomikeo]

In deed, hedging (or zero investment) is more like sell-side or long/short fund language where you want to maximize return given small base of capital. For asset managers, especially in Vietnam, you probably (1) do want to be exposed to market risk (systematic) where opportunities are really there, (2) your return depends on the amount of asset you manage. Unless you have perfect insider information, you probably do not want to take so much specific firm risk :=)

[giangle]

Thank Dr.Dzung. Working in Vietnam is one of my options, but I need a little more thoughts on this. Are you the one who founded VNSA-finance a few years ago?

@tata: there are many funds out here which are restricted in taking short positions as well as leveraging with derivatives. The thing is who are your clients and which benchmark you compare your fund's performance with, not which market you are operating in.

[ntzung]

giangle, I was a member of vnsa in its early days, and we used to discuss stocks among other things, though there was no formal VNSA-finance (?) Were you also there ? (sorry I coudn't figure out who you are by your nickname)

[ngtridung]

Originally Posted by ntzung

... actually you can still short if you can borrow shares from other people

I am very interested in knowing the relation between a) "no short-selling rule" and b) "borrowing shares". when the law says: "there is no short-selling allowed in Vietnam", what does it really mean? who make the law here btw? Could Prof. Zung or someone explain to me? also what is the typical borrowing fee in Vietnam?

btw, if you are among a few big players in the market who can borrow shares (I guess base on your company reputation), you have the huge advantage compared to others (e.g. the momentum strategy, if there is momentum, will work even when the market is down. I guess this is the reason why Prof. Zung said he is not unhappy when the market is down).

[giangle]

@ntzung: I was only a VNSA observer, but did join and read VNSA-Finance for a few months back in 98-99, it was a separate mailing list created by some VNSA members. I still remembered and admired a member called Tien Dzung, who articulated his stock analyses very well with his extraordinary technique. Sorry if that's not you.

[ntzung]

Hi giangle, maybe it was me after all, or may be not. There was no other Tien Dzung in vnsa at that time as far as I recall. Since my memory is very bad I don't remember that we had a separate "so+` to'c" mailing list. But I remember some discussions with Mr. Ai Viet (B) and other people about stocks.

[ntzung]

@ngtridung: it's very difficult to short stocks in vn, because the
markets are still primitive. if you want to borrow shares you probably have to make a private deal with someone. I don't know how high are the fees. (if you have good relations maybe you can borrow shares "for free")

i heard that you could short the vnindex & some VNese stocks with an offshore account, though we never tried that

[nguyenxuanson]

the point is: off shore account is by no mean you can dynamically hedge your position...In FX, there is also offshore account for VND, but again, it is there only for people who have exposure to VN eco and we take huge premium to help them out of the mess (and because most of french companies here has current account with us. If you take directional bet, it is another thing. In Vietnam you can take this kind of bet because of information curruption (insider trading).

[whynot]

Hi Mr Dung
I have participated in this forum and read some news that you posted.
I am interested in the job.
Could you arrange a short meeting ?
Could I have your phone number?

[tata]

Several points
- Sorry for not being clear, but when I was saying fund management, I meant about QUANTITATIVE fund or QUANTITATIVE asset management which use quant strategies. In my understanding, most of these funds and proprietary trading desk are market neutral.
- We can always run a fund without being hedged ( that's the way many people in Vietnam are trading using their own money ) but it's good to know if we are making money because of luck or of talent . Let's say one strategy may predict a quite small alpha on one stock (or basket), but also a huge beta (systematic risk). By investing on that basket, we are partly betting on the marco-eco trend ( unless it's what we want to do - have a look at Jérome and Nick ).
- Buffet's not a quant trader. His way of doing business is not quantitative!