Hong Kong online brokerage banks on US parent as it targets younger traders with app-based services
- SoFi Hong Kong is banking on new San Francisco-based parent to grow customer base, especially among traders in their 20s and 30
- Hong Kong millennials underserved by city’s brokerage services, executive says
Online brokerage start-up SoFi Hong Kong is banking on its new San Francisco-based parent to grow its customer base, especially among traders in their 20s and 30s, at a time when bricks-and-mortar retail brokerages are closing at their fastest rate.
The company, previously known as 8 Securities, will look to introduce some of the mobile app-based services offered by its parent company, also called SoFi, in Hong Kong. These include the fractional trading of US stocks.
“To compete with Chinese technology giants, which are also active in offering online wealth management and brokerage services, we believe that the solid branding of our US parent helps,” said Mathias Helleu, the company’s executive chairman.
He said millennials were underserved by the city’s brokerage services, and that SoFi’s priority was increasing its customer base among younger traders. With active users currently in the “tens of thousands”, he said customer acquisition would form the foundation on which the company sought to break-even by rolling out revenue-generating businesses, such as margin trading.
“Our competitive landscape is dominated by traditional Hong Kong and Chinese firms, which are not focused on millennials with a mobile-first strategy. Complexity, high minimums and expensive transaction fees continue to be the standard in Hong Kong,” he said. SoFi, on the other hand, currently charges zero commission for trading US and Hong Kong stocks.