China’s online brokerage Futu eyes Malaysian market following its Singapore foray in overseas expansion drive

Futu Holdings, an online Chinese brokerage backed by Tencent, is accelerating its overseas expansion by entering the Malaysia market as part of its continuing international growth strategy.

Futu, which began expanding overseas in 2018, has been actively pursuing markets outside China. After its Singapore debut in 2021, it entered the Japanese market in 2022, followed by the launch of its Canadian operations in September 2023. This was timely, as China implemented stricter regulations in that year on mainland investors’ overseas securities trading, in an effort to control capital outflows.

Moomoo Malaysia, fully owned by Futu and launched on February 27, offers local investors a platform to trade more than 1,000 Malaysia stocks and over 9,000 US stocks and ETFs, arming them with support facilities like analytical tools, investment content and news.

“There’s a gap between investor demand, especially among the younger generation, and what traditional brokers can offer,” said Robin Xu, senior vice-president and head of Southeast Asia and Oceania at Futu Holdings, in an interview with the Post. “We are looking to bridge that gap in Malaysia.”

Account opening and securities trading processes at Futu, which can all be done online, are already among the most streamlined in Malaysia, Xu said. Meanwhile, features like big data-powered analysis and market insights that have traditionally been made available only to institutional investors, will also help bridge the information gap and empower retail investors, he added.

“There’s a huge potential for increasing investment penetration rates and trading activity, thereby enhancing financial participation within the country,” he said. “Our goal is to make the cake bigger, not just compete with traditional brokerage firms.”