Seamico Securities yesterday launched Z Net, an online trading application for high-speed Internet that is aimed at boosting its online customer base 30-40 per cent.

"The company next year plans to have 4.5 per cent of the market in stock trading, up from 4 per cent at present, because we'll have more customers," CEO Reungvit Dusdeesurapot said yesterday during a press briefing to launch Z Net, an online trading application for high-speed Internet.

Z Net and the lower Internet trading commissions to go into effect next year are expected to boost Seamico's market share in online trading to 10 per cent and its customers trading stocks online by 30-40 per cent.

The minimum online stock-trading fee will be cut from 0.2 per cent to 0.15 per cent of transaction value.

Seamico is negotiating with three or four potential foreign investors as part of a strategy to strengthen itself ahead of brokerage liberalisation.

"We are a securities company that isn't part of a financial institution's empire, so we need to prepare ourselves for the future. A foreign alliance would help us a lot in attracting foreign investors as customers," he said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Board of Government Solutions has agreed to liberalise the trading industry over the next five years. It has allowed the current commission floor of 0.25 per cent to continue for three years before moving to sliding-scale rates for two years and then complete deregulation of commissions.

Reungvit said Seamico would still concentrate on investment banking next year and that about 20 clients were planning public floats or mergers.

Its brokering and investment-banking businesses in four years' time are targeted to account for 35-40 per cent each of total revenues.

Today, 75 per cent of Seamico Securities' revenues is generated from brokering and the rest from investment banking.

Also next year, Seamico will set up two firms to engage in trading debt instruments issued by non-listed companies and operating a mutual-fund business.