It is an online money management game, developed by Nikko Asset Management with the purpose of enhancing people’s awareness of and familiarity with mutual funds as a means of asset management.

Although global equities are mentioned as investment targets here, the participants will not be trading individual overseas stocks in this competition. The participants will simply be choosing countries and regions to invest in and allocating their respective weightings.

Participants will use their own criteria when deciding countries and regions to invest in. For example, you may use the following reasons to decide on a portfolio:

• - 20% allocated to China, due to its fast-growing economy;
• - 20% to Brazil, where there are abundant natural resources and a large labor force;
• - 20% to South Africa, where the Soccer World Cup tournament will be held in 2010;
• - 20% to the United Kingdom, where the Olympics will be held in 2012; and
• - 20% to Hong Kong, where you would like to go on holiday.

This is just an example, but based on their own perspective, participants will freely decide which countries and regions to invest in, and then decide on the weightings for each of those countries and regions.

No qualifications, academic record or career background are required to participate in this competition and there are no age restrictions. Furthermore, there is no participation fee. We encourage everyone to participate.

Participants who register and complete their portfolios of virtual index funds in advance of each of the Quarterly Competitions will be eligible to participate in those competitions. Participants who register and complete their portfolios by December 29, 2011 are eligible to compete in the Country Pick Yearly Competition and Winter Competition, both starting in January 2012.

Unfortunately, the deadline for entry into the Yearly Competition has already passed, but you can still participate by registering and creating a portfolio ahead of the upcoming Quarterly Competitions.

Participants who finish as the top investment performers for the year and those otherwise deemed by Nikko Asset Management as all-round top performers may in some cases be invited to become Nikko AM Advisors. The advisor role, which includes a salary, may involve actual product development and fund management. Potential candidates will be evaluated on quantitative criteria, such as whether or not excessive risk was taken to achieve the investment result, and qualitative criteria, such as the consistency of their investment philosophy, its durability, and the ability to replicate their investment strategy in practice. While candidates deemed eligible will be invited to an interview, other criteria may apply. However, taking all investment performances and strategies into account, Nikko Asset Management may deem that there are no eligible candidates.

The participants compete with one another based on the percentage the net asset value (NAV) of their invested assets increases. As the value of each participant’s assets is calculated every business day, the competition rankings are also updated every day. So, for example, the rankings for the Country Pick Quarterly Fund Management Competition (Winter Competition, which lasts from January to March), will be determined by what percentage the value of each participant’s assets increase between December 30, 2009 and March 31, 2010. The ranking for the Country Pick Yearly Fund Management Competition will be determined by what percentage the value of each participant’s assets increase between December 30, 2009 and December 30, 2010.

The NAV is calculated in the evening of business days in Japan. The calculation is likely to be completed by around midnight. The NAV will not be calculated on weekends and holidays.

The "World Ranking" is the forum in which all of the participants in the US, China, and Japan versions of "Country Pick" compete against one another based on performance results (% change in portfolio).

As with each individual country's rankings, the "World Ranking" will also include rankings for the annual competition, and each of the quarterly competitions: Winter (January to March), spring (April to June), summer (July to September), and fall (October to December).

(*Due to differening legal restrictions in each country, no prizes can be offered in the international competition.)

The NAVs for virtual index funds denominated in US dollars and China renminbi are calculated by converting the NAV in Japan yen according to a fixed rate (dollar/yen=100, renminbi/yen=10).

As a result, the movement of NAVs will be exactly the same, regardless of denomination. Participants in the US, China, and Japan versions of the game can therefore compete against each other in the World Ranking and can be evaluated according to the same criteria.

The NAVs of the virtual index funds in the investment universe of Country Pick are calculated in order to match the price movement of each country/region’s stock index.

Strictly speaking, the current day’s NAV is calculated by factoring in the one-day percentage change in the underlying index into the previous day’s NAV and subtracting one day’s worth of trust fees.

The method of calculating NAVs for mutual funds in Japan has been simply altered and reproduced for this game.

Please note that it takes two business days to calculate the NAVs in Country Pick (e.g. the NAV for Wednesday is based on Monday’s market movements).

While it is possible to see your current portfolio under "List of holdings" and previous portfolios under "Past trades", it is only possible to view portfolios from transactions which have been completed. Once a transaction is submitted, resulting portfolio changes will not be reflected in "List of holdings" or in "Past trades" until after the NAVs for the transactions have been calculated, which takes two business days. Participants thus cannot view portfolio changes in "real time".

Therefore, please wait until two business days after transactions have been submitted in order to confirm portfolio changes in "List of holdings" and "Past trades". In the meantime, the Country Pick Administration Office is developing a function to allow participants to view portfolios that are awaiting completion. This function will soon be available to participants to confirm portfolio changes in "real time".