ExclusiveLast brokers left standing on the floor set to turn out the lights on 126 years of Hong Kong trading
With three staff and just 10 clients, the Shu sisters run one of Hong Kong’s smallest brokerage firms, and are among only a handful of ‘red jackets’ left on the exchange’s famous trading floor
After 30 years of tireless dealmaking on Hong Kong’s famous stock trading floor, the Shu sisters – who run one the city’s smallest brokerage houses – will be packing up their belongings on Thursday and heading out the door for the last time.
Tammy Shu Yee-nar, chief executive of Wader Securities, and her sister Shu Yee-har, are among just 30 traders left in the vast trading floor, once abuzz daily with hundreds of red-jacketed dealers.
Wader is very much a family affair. Their elder sister works from an office nearby handling the back-office function.
The all-sister outfit is among the smallest of around 500 stockbrokers in Hong Kong, but they have a wealth of memories of the glory days, when the world’s largest banks and brokers packed the hall’s floor with more than 1,000 staff, all hungry for the biggest deals.
“We three run the firm, which has just 10 clients. The commission from the clients trading are not high, of course. But that’s not a problem as most of our income comes from our own stock trading,” says Tammy, still resplendent to the end, in her crimson sleeveless jacket.
“We have always taken a long-term view and have held many blue chips, such as HSBC or Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, for many years. We also invest in property,” she adds.
“We are not the smallest broker in town. There is a firm owned by a couple – the husband trades on the floor and his wife handles the admin from an office.”