E*TRADE, the international online investing service, reported
that only nine months after launching an Australian branch it has
captured one per cent of the entire domestic securities market.
“E*TRADE Australia’s all-electronic business model
and market knowledge have leveraged the high Internet penetration in
Australia and the desire of many Australian investors to take a greater
role in their investment decisions,” said Judy Balint, president and chief operating officer of E*TRADE
International. “We look forward to seeing our other
international E*TRADE affiliates achieve market success in 1999.”
E*TRADE has signed licensing and joint venture agreements that cover
32 countries, including the UK, and which account for 95
per cent of the world’s retail financial assets. It was recently named as the
top online investing site in a global survey of 20 Internet brokerage
firms by Lafferty Information and Research Group.
“In 1999, we expect to take advantage of our
advance work by implementing several of the country agreements we
announced in 1998,” said Balint. “Our goal is to establish an E*TRADE branded
presence in the top 20 financial markets around the world over the next
two to three years.”
E*TRADE has plans to introduce cross-border U.S. equity trading,
seeing it as a first step toward establishing a real-time international
investment and trading network.
“E*TRADE’s ultimate vision is that investors worldwide will
be able to use our technology and services to access every major
financial market open to international trading in the world,” Balint said.
E*TRADE Australia has already expanded its business by launching an
online service in New Zealand. Meanwhile, E*TRADE’s first
international partner, E*TRADE Canada, has notched up some notable
“firsts” by becoming the first service to offer a broad mutual fund service–and the first to win the CPA WebTrust Seal of Approval.
