Gone Frying

Yup. Will be flying off to HK in a few hours time.

London cab to airport sia. dunch play play. heh.

Oh well... Back late night Wed. Don't miss me too much!

And yea I know haven't been updating. What to do.. getting home abit late nowsadays.

Possibicity - HK?

Well folks, looks like I may be heading to HK as early as end August.

Might spend a week there.

Nothing's confirmed though... hmmm...

rb the hedgehog

Strangely enough although I'm not supposed to be handling sensitive stuff... oh well.

In the words of a fellow batchmate,

"You is becoming a hedgehog"

Why? Cos when all the arrows stick out of your back, they look like spines right?
Maybe I shouldn't have had that SPINElli coffee at lunch. Ok sorry. Lame joke.

Even more strangely, the stuff I'm doing now seems more important, more relevant and above all more interesting that the other stuff I've been doing.

Other thoughts are that the higher ups DO know about the problems within their departments, and that sometimes, its just more important to get the freaking job done.

Won't elaborate more, and this is because as a recent case has shown, blogs are not really all that private, AND this might be viewed as... unprofessional.

What to do? Can't fight with some of the porfessionals in there right? Don't want to either. Just leave me alone to do what needs to be done. Don't waste my time with petty politicking.

Don't waste my time with silo mentalities either. If the information is wanted, and such information is with another department, then why the hell am I almost stopped from contacting said department for said information? Am I seriously supposed to comb through the financials of EVERY SINGLE FREAKING BANK IN SINGAPORE to consolidate the data (which even then might not be available in the annual reports)?

Time for a wake up call.

After all, some are so fond of saying

"Don't re-invent the wheel"

But apparently there are wheels and then there are square wheels. If the wheel you're currently using is SQUARE, then its time to invent a different wheel right?

Of D&D

Yup. Yesterday was the company's dinner and dance.

And... got all sorts of people.

From the nice, to the freaking deserve to get slapped kind.

FOR EXAMPLE.

Got this idiot, who last minute want to bring guest, then send separate email. Why can't you finalize the freaking order before creating chaos? Especially when one of the guards is supposed to sit at that table, so CANNOT have 11 people, much less TWELVE.

Then turn up on the night WITHOUT his ticket.

And gave us such a condescending attitude, to boot.

"Why can't I be eligible for the lucky draw?"

Cos obviously its being done by ticket number, and if you don't have your ticket number you can't claim the prize right?
So we offered to let him purchase an additional ticket if he die die also must take part in the lucky draw. I mean, prizes are not bad lah, but seriously.

His response?

"Does it seem reasonable for me to buy an additional ticket?"

Well, depends on whether you want to take part in the lucky draw lor. Fittingly, we IGNORED the b*stard. We is not here to cater to your selfish wants. Where possible, we'll do what we can for you, but we are not OBLIGATED TO FULFIL YOUR EVERY NEED. Bloody arse.

Of Werk

Its a chore dragging myself to work nowadays...

Surrounded by pointless work...

Sigh.

I really feel like quitting now.

But I can't.

Not anymore =(

Travel Plans

Well, looks like I'll be headed to London in September, either going 1st or 2nd week and will be back mid October.

In the interim, looks like I'll be headed to Genting (ya Malaysia again after just having gotten back from a golf game last Sunday) from 21-23 Jun, and possibly KL from 13-15 Jul, assuming my current employers still allow me to represent the organization.

Hurhur.

Wish me luck folks...

Interview Woes

This happened to

This is a hypothetical scenario that did NOT happen to me.

*Phone rings*
Me: "Harro?"
*Silence*
Counterparty (frostily): "Hi, its so-and-so. Just to inform you that we've closed our headcount for your application."
Methinks "Whoops."

=.="

Updates!

Since my last post, the grand total of people who have offered to hire me is...

*Drumroll*

ZERO.

Yes. A big. FAT. ZERO.

What to do... talentless and unwanted =*(

Strangely enough people assume that I already have another job now that I've tendered.

Let me categorically state that I have not signed any contract with any party regarding employment opportunities, FI or non-FI.

Right now, am hoping that the talentless and unwanted me will be able to join a certain FI. Which one? Well.. its like a wholly-owned subsidiary of and at the same time 17 places behind (according to a certain ranking) as compared to Monster's employer. I guess under current circumstances I've got to take whatever I can get...

My possible future work scope? Long Days Late Nights. Long hours spent typing away at excel spreadsheets and cursing the person who set the task for me.

Life is suddenly looking bleak.

On a brighter note, go watch Next. Its good. I know you will. hurhurhur.

By the way, someone (I can't remember who) asked me what's "hurhurhur"

=.="""

Response: "Its fishy laughter"

New Experiences

I've never had the experience of resigning before, so it was with much apprehension that this week passed.

So yea... am officially jobless. Still waiting for my cooling period to pass though.

And am on leave the next 2 weeks for CFA studies. Anyone wants to hire me? ha.

What NOT to say at interviews

"When I told my friends I was coming for this interview they were like 'No way!' and I was like 'Yes way!' and they were like 'Way cool"...

Analyzing FIs

This is going to be a short but extremely crappy post.

You have been warned.

What exactly is risk? Other than the board game, those who take finance theory will understand that risk is the possibility of an event occurring. It might be gain (upside risk) or loss (downside risk).

So there. Next, we move on to analyze a company...

Hypothetical Scenario:

Boss: "How risky is this FI? Can we allow it to operate here?"
Kah kia: "Its not risky at all..."
Boss: "Ok, we can approve its operations here."
Kah kia mumbles to himself: "There's no risk what. The FI confirm plus chop will collapse one. No uncertainty about that whatsoever..."

Perfect.

Structured Products 101

After coming across some weird people in the course of my work, let me just do the world a favour and give everyone a mini-lesson in structured products.

Today's lesson: Structured Deposits (Interest Rates)

Background: SIBOR refers to Singapore InterBank Offer Rate, which is the rate at which banks lend to each other in Singapore.

Some might know of the products that pay better interest of (x-SIBOR)% if SIBOR is smaller than a certain rate x, but zero interest if SIBOR is greater than x. These products include a clause that stipulates that

"the bank may, at any time repay the entire amount of the principal."

Sounds good right? If SIBOR is greater, you don't lose, and the bank can pay you your deposit back. If SIBOR is smaller, you get a much higher return on your money than you would in a conventional savings account or fixed deposit.

WRONG.

Here's the thing, if SIBOR is greater than x, PLEASE DON'T EXPECT THAT...

"The investments are not performing, so the bank will pay you your full principal back"

Bullshit. You wait longlong lor. You can say that to the face of any sales staff who tries to tell you that.

Here's why.

Would the bank actually refund you your deposit if SIBOR is greater than x? If SIBOR is greater than x, what happens? Congratulations! You've effectively locked yourself into a (insert number of years here) year INTEREST FREE DEPOSIT. In other words, loser^(max).

And the bank? Winner^(max), as by taking your money and loaning it to other banks they earn the SIBOR rate instantly. They don't even have to take the trouble and absorb the credit risk by loaning it out to a company or individual. Good deal.

However, if SIBOR is much smaller than x, what happens? Good for you right? Sit back, relax and collect the much larger interest on your deposit with whatever bank you've purchased that product from.

WRONG (Again. I just love telling you that you're wrong. So sue me).

Whenever it becomes cheaper to pay off your principal rather than loaning out the money (at SIBOR or otherwise), the bank will just pay you in full, and you lose the anticipated higher interest rate. You'll probably place the funds in a fixed deposit or savings account, and since SIBOR is lower now, the corresponding floating rate you get will be lower too. Alternatively, you could get yourself into another structured deposit. In other words, loser^(max) again.

And why can the bank do this?
Well, by signing on the dotted line, what have you effectively done?
You've sold the bank an Interest Rate Option.
And instead of getting cash for selling this option, you're actually delivering your money to them too. Well done. Of course, you could get the potentially higher returns, BUT... what happens when your returns get too high?

That's right. The bank repays the principal. loser^(max) situation again.

Please note that while this post focuses on interest rate structured products, the same logic applies to forex deposits and the like too...

A final line?

"Caveat Emptor."

Good luck for your investing.
Heh.

Sandcastling

So there was the department retreat...
And we stayed at Siloso Beach Resort:

Nice Right...

We spent the second morning building the sandcastle...



Damn tiring can.

But it was fun.


Ya disjointed post I know... but oh well...

Had a weird thought just now, but forgot what it was about.

*Shrugz*

On Leave

Dear Blog,

I hereby serve notice of my intention to take leave from 25th February - 31st March as I will be away in KL for official duties. As I seem to have managed to procure myshelf a private serviced apartment at the Ascott, I suppose anyone who wishes to visit KL during that period could probably finagle free accomodation.

I'll miss certain persons.