KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Investment Bank Bhd is seeing an increase of 20 per cent or 16,000 new clients on its retail trading platform on the back of its "Trade & Win" campaign.
"We have seen about 20 per cent new account openings on the back of this campaign, which translates to some 16,000 new customers. Therefore we now have some 80,000 retail trading clients," said its chief executive officer Robert Huray.
"We also expect the retail participation on Bursa Malaysia to also be better this year, going by the data we have seen so far."
Huray explained that the retail participation on the local bourse averages at between 13 to 15 per cent per month in 2016, but have been averaging at 18 per cent per month so far in 2017.
When asked on an explanation on the increase, Huray said that confidence is slowly trickling back into the market.
"Last year was incredibly volatile given the United States Presidential Election and Brexit, so there were a lot of uncertainties," said Huray.
"Now, we already know what is happening and with the price of crude oil on the rebound, investors are becoming more confident. Also, most retail investors look at this as a long term investment rather than a short one so that helps too."
The "Trade & Win" campaign, which ran for six months from August 1, last year to January 31, this year was launched to help drive the participation of retail customers in the capital market.
Tan Chuan Choon, 75, of Muar, Johor was the lucky customer announced earlier today.
Tan, who has been trading with RHB Investment for the last 15 years drove away with a brand new Honda Civic 1.8S, worth RM103,800.
There are collectively 232 prizes which include 30 Apple Watch Sport piece for first prize winners; 20 Apple iPad Mini 2 for second prizs winners; and 181 third prize winners
will receive 10,000 Smart Points each.
The next "Trade & Win" will run for 12 months from 1st March 2017.
"We're expecting to gain about 20,000 new customers to push our retail trading clients to 100,000 by the end of the campaign." said Huray.