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...
