Online stock market accounts grew by 28.5 percent in 2017 over year-ago level, according to the Stock Market Investor Profile Report.
The report showed that online stock market accounts hit 388,864 last year, up from 302,516 in 2016.
Increased trading activity was also seen in online accounts as they made up for 11 percent of total trading value in 2017, from 9.3 percent the year before. Value turnover from online accounts rose by 12.9 percent to P372.06 billion from P329.64 billion in 2016.
“More and more investors now prefer to trade and invest in the stock market through online trading systems. We hope to further grow the number of stockbrokerage firms that offer online trading services so that the stock market becomes even more accessible to everyone,” said PSE president and CEO Ramon S. Monzon.
In terms of total stock market accounts, the count for 2017 rose by 12.4 percent to 868,810 from 773,187 in 2016. Retail accounts grew 12.7 percent to 841,532 while the number of institutional investors grew 2.6 percent to 27,278. Percentage-wise, retail and institutional accounts covered 96.9 percent and 3.1 percent of total accounts, respectively. Local investors accounted for 98.3 percent of the total accounts while the remaining 1.7 percent consisted of foreign investors.
The report also provided insights on the demographics of the Philippine stock market’s retail investors.
The report showed there were more male investors in the stock market at 54.6 percent of total retail investors. Female investors accounted for 45.4 percent, a tad higher than the 44.9 percent in 2016.
In the previous year, the majority of retail investors were aged 30 to 44. This age group accounted for 42.2 percent of retail investors, followed by those aged 45 to 59 at 26.1 percent, 18 to 29 at 16.2 percent, and the 60 and above age range at 15.5 percent.
The profile report also showed that Metro Manila still has the most number of retail investors but its percentage share went down to 64.2 percent from 70.6 percent. This as all three of the country’s major islands showed double-digit growth in terms of their share in the retail investor count. Luzon recorded an increase to 20.8 percent from 16.4 percent, while Visayas registered a growth to 8.2 percent from 6.2 percent and finally, Mindanao posted a 4.5 percent rise from 2.9 percent. The share of overseas retail investors, meanwhile, declined to 2.3 percent from 3.9 percent.
“I attribute the growth in retail investors outside Metro Manila to the streamlined account opening processes of online stockbrokerage firms. I also think that the broker expo feature of our very successful road shows in Davao and Iloilo last year helped bump up the numbers because road show attendees were able to open stock market accounts with stockbrokerage firms at the event venue,” Monzon explained.