Stockbrokers play a critical role because all trades in the Philippine Stock Exchange have to be done through a broker. That’s why getting a good broker is as essential as making the correct investment choices.
There are dozens of companies offering stock brokerage services in the Philippines. We summarize below 12 of the most popular online stock brokerage firms in the country.
What a bumpy 6-month ride it has been.
The first half of 2013 ended a week ago, closing a turbulent chapter on stock market investing that saw investors in exuberance and euphoria during the first months of the year and in panic and distress in the closing months of the first half of 2013.
Let us reminisce what happened in the last 6 months.
Philippine stocks experienced a sharp one-day drop yesterday, recording the worst stock market performance since 2008, during the collapse of investment banking giant Lehman Brothers.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) registered a huge 6.75% loss yesterday (June 13, 2013), closing at 6,114.08 — a steep decline not seen since October 27, 2008 when local stocks dropped a whopping 12.27% as an aftermath of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.
We bring you another set of broker recommendations for the month of March 2013.
Last time, we wrote about the January 2013 buy-or-sell recommendations of Maybank ATR Kim Eng and CitisecOnline. This time, Maybank ATR Kim Eng, a Malaysian bank that partnered with a Philippine brokerage firm, has more stock updates as of March 11, 2013.
I’ve always had this love-hate relationship with the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI).
In the past, I’ve ranted about their customer service, the ATMs that do not dispense cash, BPI’s smartphone iOS app which proved too tedious to download and my missing stocks in BPI Trade’s online trading platform.
I’ve been severely disappointed by them so many times, but they also provide me conveniences and perks that make me stay. Ours is indeed a whirlwind of a relationship but to this date, I can say I’m still generally satisfied with BPI.
Here’s another one of those stories that makes me like them.
Back in 2009, we listed down Philippine stock brokers offering then an online trading platform. Times have changed and, four years later, more brokers have started offering online trading, with some attempting to differentiate their service.
Want to learn more about stock trading and investing? Need guidance on initial public offering (IPO) concerns, technical and fundamental analysis, or stock price entry … Read More
The good thing is that more and more Filipinos are now looking at stocks as a viable investment instrument. The goal is, of course, to have more Filipino citizens who are financially literate, because that is key to developing the financial markets that could help drive the country’s economic growth.
Of course, there is still much work to be done since only less than 1% of the Philippine population are currently invested in stocks (as seen in the Infographic on the Profile of the Filipino Stock Market Investor).
The bad thing, though, with this current trend of Filipinos joining the stocks bandwagon is that a lot do so without understanding how exactly the stock market works.
