The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) recorded a 12.7-percent increase in total stock market accounts to 1.228 million in 2019 from 1.089 million in 2018 on the back of the growth of online accounts. Its latest Stock Market Investor Profile (SMIP) report showed that these accounts climbed by 25 percent to 782,118 in 2019 from 625,763 in 2018. Online accounts made up 63.7 percent of total accounts, while 36.3 percent were investor accounts with traditional stock brokerage firms. “Online accounts have been the reason for the steady rise in total stock market accounts in the last 10 years. “With the stock market still trading way below pre-Covid (coronavirus disease 2019) levels, we may see new investors who are looking for good buying opportunities to open trading accounts.

Source: Manila Times July 16, 2020 17:47 UTC