Who could have dreamt that Korean online trading, almost non-existent two years ago, could be almost as large as that of the US?" So asked Andrew Sheng, chairman of Hong Kong's Securities&Futures Commission (SFC) in an address to the local Securities Institute delivered earlier this spring. Although online trading is gathering momentum across Asia, the speed with which it has been embraced by Korean investors has been staggering. As a report published on Korea's "internet laboratory" by Lehman Brothers early in March commented: "Over just a one-year period, online trading has grown from 4% of market turnover to 45%. Twenty-nine out of 31 domestic brokers now offer online broking services, and two million Korean investors have gone online."
The potential of online broking in the region has not gone unnoticed by US e-brokers. Charles Schwab opened its Hong Kong operation in April 1997, and last year extended its regional network to include Japan and Australia. Christina Hui, Schwab's Hong Kong-based regional general manager for Asia, says that over 90% of the company's clients now deal online, compared with 60% when operations began three years ago. She adds that the growth posted in 1999 is ample evidence of the enthusiasm with which investors in Hong Kong have responded to online brokerage opportunities.