STOCK MARKET INVESTORS: Online firm eyes Davao, Cebu

AN ONLINE investment company, COL Financial Group, Inc. is targeting areas outside Manila particularly in Cebu and Davao for investors in the stock market.

The penetration level in the country for investors in the stock market remains low and they want to do something about it, said Conrado F. Bate, COL Financial Group, Inc. chief executive officer and president, in an interview last week.

The group held a Financial Summit last Tuesday in partnership with SM group’s investment arm SM Investment Corp. at the Radisson Blu Hotel.

The penetration level in Manila is likewise low despite the fact that people there are already aware of the benefits of investing in the market, Bate said.

He said, as of date, there are only 500,000 people in Manila with investments in the stock market and even lower in other areas of the country.

“That is why we feel that we need to conduct more literacy programs and make people aware that they can tap into the robust economic growth of the country and achieve financial freedom by investing in the stock market,” he said.

As of now COL Financial Group, Inc. has 85,000 accounts with total assets of P48 billion.

Most of their investors are 25 to 42 years old, or those who are more computer and Internet savvy.

“Only 800 to a thousand are from Cebu. Cebu, however, is a fast-growing economy and people here have more money to invest, the challenge is to get the money into the right channels of investment,” said SMIC senior vice president for investor relations Cora Guidote.

Bate said he was happy with the 700 participants in the forum.

“There is that thirst to learn how to invest in the market already and we want to be able to help them start investing into the market,” he said.

Bate and Guidote both said that now is the best time for Filipinos to invest in the stock market because we are only starting to come out and they expect the market to grow further in the coming years.