BDO Nomura unveils online stock trading platform

BDO Nomura, a stock brokerage partnership between BDO Unibank and Japanese investment banking giant Nomura, was launched on Monday as a purely online trading platform.

The online stock brokerage is 51 percent-owned by BDO and 49 percent-owned by Nomura. The plan is to merge the research capabilities of BDO Securities with BDO Nomura to enable the dissemination of Nomura’s global research to local clients.

“Nomura is excited to work with BDO, the leading commercial bank in the Philippines, to create a strong platform to serve a fast-growing market and bring new investment opportunities to domestic retail investors,” said Koichi Katakawa, president of BDO Nomura. He noted that around 86 percent of new investors who had opened trading accounts in 2015 preferred to trade through an online brokerage.

Asked why the BDO group needed to keep multiple stock brokerage houses under one house, BDO Capital & Investment Corp. president Eduardo Francisco said while the group was not intentionally segmenting the market, he said BDO Nomura would cater to the younger and more tech-savvy investors.

Katakawa said BDO Nomura sought to differentiate itself from other existing online stock trading firms by offering “smooth and simple” services. “Opening an account takes five minutes if you have an online account with BDO,” he said, adding that there was no minimum investment required to open a trading account.

The Japanese executive added that BDO Nomura would provide a comprehensive market research drawn from its global network, thus giving investors more tools to decide on their portfolio.

The partnership seeks to leverage on the strength of both companies, with BDO’s market leadership and wide distribution network seen complementing Nomura’s strength in asset management, equity research and investment banking.

The joint venture with BDO is Nomura’s second retail operation in the region, following a successful one in Thailand. It is also seen in line with Nomura’s strategy to develop local retail brokerage businesses in Southeast Asia.