Reinvent rules for remisiers

THE Securities Investors Association of Singapore (SIAS) has hit one nail on the head with its call to revamp the way that remisiers, or retail trading representatives (TRs), are paid. This is a fundamental consideration - one that we have raised before in this Hock Lock Siew column such as "Vital to engage retail brokers too" (Aug 3, 2012) and "SGX should seriously meet retail needs" (Feb 19, 2014) - but has not been addressed.

Equally important, however, is that TRs today find themselves caught between a proverbial rock and a hard place - on the one hand, they are told that they have to reinvent themselves to meet the challenges posed by deregulation, the Int…