This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 22, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd said it saw an uptick in its clients’ trading activities in the equities market following the May 9 general election.

“Based on our local retail investor clients, the reaction after the election has been very positive so far. [During the week after the election], we saw an increase of 40% in account opening, increase of 25% in brokerage revenue basis, and in terms of trading value basis there was an increase of 15% compared with last month’s average,”  said Rakuten Trade managing director Kaoru Arai.

He was speaking at a media  briefing to mark Rakuten Trade’s first anniversary since its introduction as the country’s first completely digital equities broker, achieving over 12,500 users registered with the platform so far. Rakuten Trade is a joint venture between Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd and Japan’s Rakuten Securities, which is part of Rakuten Group.

Arai added that almost 80% of Rakuten Trade’s clients are below the age of 40, showing that the platform managed to attract more Internet- and digital-savvy users. Interestingly, he noted that about 40% of the clients are beginner investors who have never traded before.

“Through our digital platform, we successfully acquire a new breed of investors. But the challenge is to educate these beginner investors who have never traded before and make sure that they become active traders,” Arai said.

Also during the media briefing, Rakuten Securities president Yuji Kusunoki announced that it would soon be launching the second innovative product within the platform — a contra trading facility that will complement Rakuten Trade’s existing cash upfront facility.

With the contra trading facility, clients can trade shares with up to five times leverage. Share purchase agreement needs to be settled within three days. The facility is expected to be introduced this year.