Country Group Securities (CGS) is aggressively cashing in on the retail-investor market by offering trading services covering the stock markets of 19 countries.
The move came hand in hand with the Securities and Exchange Commission's policy to let investors trade securities in other stock markets, as part of the government's policy to ease the strengthening of the baht against the US dollar.
Currently, there are around five brokers providing stock-trading services in other markets, though CGS is the first broker covering more countries.
Bee Taechaubol, chief executive officer of CGS, said last week that the new service would debut today.
Initially, the broker will open stock-trading services in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific countries.
In Europe, it will cover the stock markets of the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and Austria. In North America, it will cover the United States and Canada, while in Asia-Pacific it will trade in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Bee said this should widen the window for Thai investors and give them the opportunity to buy up fundamental stocks overseas and get better returns.
He said the firm's strength lay in the fact that investors can trade stocks overseas markets via the Internet or their smart phones 24 hours a day.
"Investing in overseas stock markets can help cut down risks because the trading period of each market is different," Bee said.
He explained that when the Thai stock market is bullish and other markets are bearish, it would be easier to manage risks, thus making returns better and smoother.
Bee said people were more interested in investing overseas because it helps them diversify risks. Given the political unrest in Thailand, investors could have the option of making capital gains in other countries.