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Investor trading accounts fall inactive
The current number of securities trading accounts exceeds 1 million, with the number of active accounts at just 20-35 per cent, even at venerable brokerages, says the State Securities Commission.
A representative of Thang Long Securities Company (TLS), the company with the largest brokerage market share on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange in the first quarter, said the number of investor accounts at the company exceeded 2,000 by the end of the first quarter of this year, but the number of active accounts constituted only 35 per cent of the total.
A number of accounts were opened for purposes of share custody alone, and after the shares were sold, the accounts were left dormant, he explained.
"So, even though the number of accounts at the company has soared, the number of regularly active trading accounts remains modest."
Agribank Securities Company General Director Ha Huy Toan said the firm had over 30,000 accounts, of which around 30 per cent were active.
Currently, even as some other securities companies stopped providing some services, we have tried to improve liquidity by continuing to provide loans to investors," Toan said. "But the fact is, the more investors borrow, the heavier the losses they incur."
In principle, brokers are responsible for "waking up" inactive accounts, but encouraging clients to trade in the context of the current market decline was risky or increased pressures to sell.
Under current regulations, an investor can open a single trading account, but many have also dodged the law to open multiple accounts with different companies under the names of acquaintances in order to enjoy the privileges of different companies.
KimEng Securities Company Deputy Director Nguyen Van Manh said market volumes could only be improved if regulators begin allowing investors to buy and sell shares within a single session, shortening settlement times and allowing investors to open multiple trading accounts.
This was well within the current technological capacities of both brokerages and the Viet Nam Securities Depository Centre, he added.
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