Home users targeted by ETrade - Brief Article

Business Asia, Feb 11, 2000

On-line brokerage E*Trade Korea, set to start operations this month, aims at 10 billion won (US$8.81 million) in revenue and 60,000 investor accounts in its first year of operation, its president says.

"We aim to post 10 billion won in revenue in the first year of business and to attract 50,000 to 60,000 accounts by the end of this year," president and CEO Lee Suk Ryong said.

Lee said E*Trade Korea, a joint venture with Japan's Softbank Corp, hoped to acquire 200,000 to 300,000 accounts within the next three years.

He said it aimed to become a major player in South Korea, where e-trade now accounts for 40 per cent of all trading, the largest percentage in the world, industry data has shown.

The Korea Securities Dealers' Association (KSDA) said in a report that on-line broking accounted for 40.2 per cent of total stock trading in December.

That eclipses the 21 to 25 per cent penetration rate in the United States, the country at the forefront of the Internet revolution and dwarfs levels seen in more developed Asian markets such as Japan. The association forecast the rate will exceed 50 per cent this year.

"We expect that online trading will to rise to 50 to 60 per cent this year," said Lee. "That gives us confidence about the Korean market. There's great potential."