Online stock broker drums up technology

Manila Bulletin
BUSINESS
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Online stock broker drums up technology
Fri Jan 27,2006

Online stock brokerage firm CitisecOnline, Inc. is eyeing to capture a bigger share of the investing public as it goes full blast in educating the public about trading online.

Currently with 500 clients, CitisecOnline eyes to double this by the end of the year as they convince current investors who trade through traditional brokerages to convert to online trading.

CitisecOnline’s client base are mostly males from 26 to 45 years old but a housewife and investors from the Visayas are among its top traders. It also counts females below 30 years old as clients and recognizes the segment as a market wit vast potential.

The company estimates that the retail investor base of the market could grow as much as 250,000 which is half of the initial subscriber base of Petron Corp.’s IPO in 1004, one of the most widely placed stock offerings in the history of the Philippine Stock Exchange.

CitisecOnline hopes to convert majority of current investors, who now trade through the traditional brokerages, to online trading offering commissions as low as 0.25 percent, offhours trade placements, fundamental and technical analysis and other features as come-ons. It also has incorporated a customer service hotline to provide customer support and technical assistance.

The company is set to launch next week a multimillion advertising campaign to encourage retail investors via the Internet.

"We believe that the growth of Internet usage has made online trading a lot easier and more attractive to many," company president Conrado Bate said. He relates that the company’s online facility has been warmly received with the top clients accounting for a monthly average turnover of P5 million each.

According to Bate, Internet trading in general have leveled the playing field for stock market investors. Online trading – which offers speed, convenience and efficiency – has allowed investors to place their orders at the price they desire and to be less dependent on a personal broker who can only process so many orders via telephone during peak trading hours.

CitisecOnline also provides the online investors enough information previously filtered by the traditional broker. These include the most active stocks, top 20 gainers and lowers, heavily traded stocks, all the way to broker information. The availability of such data pushes the first-time stock investor to learn more and be less reliant on a broker’s advise, observes Juanis Barredo, CitisecOn-line vice-president.