COL Financial beats prepandemic earnings
Veteran stock broker Edward Lee’s COL Financial Group Inc. ended 2021 with nearly 500,000 accounts while commissions hit an all-time high of P1 billion as companies rushed to list in the Philippine Stock Exchange during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COL Financial said in a statement that its own net income last year surged 38 percent to P582 million—above its prepandemic peak of P513 million.
Revenues also reached P1.3 billion after commissions rose by about 26 percent.
COL Financial president and CEO Conrado “Dino” Bate said their financial performance affirmed their strategy that focused on the smaller “retail” investor segment.
“By giving our self-directed investors the tools and knowledge that they need to invest wisely, this group of investors continues to become a bigger and more influential part of the country’s investing landscape,” he said in a statement.
Retail investors
Stock market investors continue to comprise a tiny fraction of the Philippine population. Nevertheless, COL Financial’s 2021 numbers showed growth in investor participation after its client base expanded to “almost” half a million accounts versus 438,000 the previous year.
Client assets also grew by P6.7 billion to end the year with P112 billion, COL Financial said.
Article continues after this advertisementStock market activity ramped up last year amid a record number of initial public offerings (IPOs) and share sales, which included the listings of Monde Nissin Corp., RL Commercial REIT, Filinvest REIT, AllDay Marts Inc. and Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp.
Article continues after this advertisementCOL Financial said it also started offering access global funds last year.
“For the first time, COL clients were able to invest in a global multi-asset fund, resulting in a strong take-up from customers looking for investments outside of the local stock market,” the company said.
“Working with its fund partners, COL intends to continue its expansion of global products by adding over 20 global, theme-based equity funds in the first half of 2022,” it added.
COL Financial ended 2021 with a market share of 8.6 percent, making it the country’s No. 1 stockbroker for its second consecutive year.
