Korea’s online stock trading is expected to soar as online gaming arcades will be allowed to offer stock trading through the Internet starting from late this month.
Korea Internet Multi-Culture Association, an interest group for online gaming
arcade owners, announced recently that it concluded an agreement with
the nation’s 12 major securities companies to allow its 3,000 member arcades
as online stock trading places for the local securities firms.
The 12 major securities firms participating in the scheme include
Hyundai Securities, Daewoo Securities, LG Securities, Hanwha Securities and
Kyobo
Securities.
Officials of the association said that it will provide member arcades
with a
CD that contains lots of browsers and other security related software
required to access the online stock trading services of the 12
participating
securities firms.
The cooperative arrangement would enable local securities firms to
attract
more clients for their online trading services without additional
expenditure
for marketing activities, according to industry sources. On the other
hand,
owners of online gaming arcades would also benefit from it by filling
empty
space of their game rooms with online stock investors, especially during
the
slow hours between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
“Cyber stock trading is rapidly gaining popularity among the general
public
and online stock trading of the top five securities firms hit 10
trillion won
(US$8.2 billion) last month,” said an official of Daishin Securities,
the
leader in online stock brokerage service.
“It is believed that the tie-up between online gaming arcades and
securities
firms will bring us a opportunity to promote online stock trading.” he
added.
During the first four months of this year, online trading of stocks by
Korea’s
5 major securities firms, including Daewoo Securities, Hyundai
Securities, LG
Securities, totaled 24.73 trillion won (US$20.28 billion), showing a
whopping
10-fold increase over the same period of last year, according to
Daishin
Securities.
Last month, the 5 major securities firms’ online stock trading totaled
10.42 trillion won (US$8.54 billion).
By companies, Daishin Securities posted
3.94 trillion won (US$3.23 billion) of trading during the same period, LG
Securities posted 2.91 trillion won (US$2.38 billion), and three other
securities firms — Samsung Securities, Hyundai Securities and Daewoo
Securities — posted 1.79 trillion won (US$1.46 billion), 1.36 trillion
won
(US$1.11 billion) and 1.23 trillion won (US$1 billion), respectively.
Analysts predict that cyber trading of stocks will increase continuously
thanks to the recent cut in commission charges, coupled with promotion
by domestic online gaming arcades.
