CitisecOnline eyes bigger share of stock transactions

MANILA, Philippines - Leading online stockbrokerage house CitisecOnline (COL) is aiming to capture a larger share of stock transactions with plans to tap big institutional investors.

COL chairman Edward K. Lee said the company is targeting big institutions to further build up its customer base and augment its revenues.

 “We’re hoping to tap big institutions like the Social Security System (SSS) and GSIS (Government Service Insurance System), get them registered with us as we continue to build our network. They could be a big source of revenues,” Lee said.

Lee said the company is hoping to grow its customer base by an additional 2,000 to 3,000 by the end of the year.

Benefitting from a robust stock market, COL reported a more than two-fold increase in its net income last year to P269.2 million from only P106.1 milion in 2008. Revenues grew 82.8 percent to P463.4 million on the back of a 107.8 percent jump in commissions from P193 million to P401 million owing to improved trading volumes in both its Philippine and Hong Kong operations.

Trading value of COL’s Philippine  operations more than doubled to P33 billion from P16 billion while its Hong Kong subsidiary registered P158 billion in trading income, nearly twice the P80 billion reported a year earlier.

COL president Conrado Bate said the strong performance of the equities market also led to the expansion of the company’s subscriber base by 38 percent to 8,854 in end-2009 from 6,429 the previous year.

Lee said COL is likely to post the same revenues as last year or even better depending on market conditions, pointing out that the second quarter would be a critical period for them. “If the market continues to perform this way then there’s no doubt that we can sustain our growth,” Lee said.

“Since we launched our online services in 2005, our company has raised the bar in online trading and stock investing in general. Our strong brand equity and our respected reputation in the industry have been the strongest evidence of our resilience, our focus and our commitment to our stakeholders,” Lee said.

Bate said COL continues to account for the lion’s share of total market trades, cornering 26 percent or over half a million transactions. This was an improvement from the 17 percent recorded last year 

He said 60 percent of COL’s customers were first time investors in the stock market, an indication that the company is expanding its investor base as well.

As of end-December 2009, COL’s total assets grew 46 percent to P1.9 billion from P1.3 billion while customers’ equity in the Philippines more than doubled to P5.1 billion.

Stockholders’ equity, on the other hand, rose to P949 million while return on equity doubled from 16 percent to 33 percent, which is among the highest in the online brokerage industry globally. COL’s board of directors has approved the declaration of a P0.20 cash dividend per share, broken down into P0.05 (regular) and P0.15 (special). The dividends are payable on May 12, 2010.

Bate said COL will continue to invest heavily in investor education, research and technology to empower and guide its customers to achieve their investment goals through its web service, regular seminars, and market briefings.