DBS sees Internet as gateway to success
Due to the popularity of Internet technology and support from the Thai bourse, DBS Vickers Securities (Thailand) has set a goal to double its online stock-trading customers in one year from its existing 2,000 accounts.
CEO Pattera Dilokrungthi-rapop said the DBSVQuickTrade system, a cooperative Internet system between the company and its parent in Singapore, would provide all necessary investment information, in turn increasing convenience and helping investors make their decisions. "It will create more investment advantage, because the DBSVQuickTrade will provide a real-time quote, portfolio performance and stock-fundamental information, which will help investors check the assessment of the valuation. It can also retrieve the historical trading record back to 60 days." Pattera said it was likely that investors would trade more via the Internet following the infrastructure development, with easy access to high-speed Internet. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has also thrown full support for securities firms to implement Internet trading. Although the company expected growth of 100 per cent in the number of Internet trading accounts, the firm has targeted maintaining its market share of 3 per cent, due to the fluctuation in the stock market and turnover of marketing staff. "With these two factors, it's hard to obtain a larger market share. So, we expected to have around 17,000 customer accounts by the end of this year, from the current 15,000 accounts," said Pattera. DBS Vickers plans to issue Bt1 billion worth of derivatives debentures during this quarter. The debentures will be offered to institutional and retail investors. In the first half of the year, the company issued Bt500 million worth of derivatives debentures, which received an overwhelming response. Pattera forecast that the overall SET daily trading turnover would be Bt13 billion to Bt15 billion, compared with Bt16 billion per day last year. This would affect brokerage firms' revenues, especially the ones depending on retail customers. She said the SET would remain volatile in this half of the year, with the political situation being a driving force. As for the international factor, she expects the situation to improve in about a month and the money inflow from foreign investors to return, because the Thai market remains attractive, given its low price-per-earnings ratio.
Siriporn Chanjindamanee The Nation
|
