Trading curbs may force more to leave brokerage industry

[SINGAPORE] Singapore's shrinking brokerage industry is set to get even smaller as trading restrictions planned by regulators dent profits, according to a body that represents individual brokers.

The average daily value of shares traded, which slumped 40 per cent in the first two months of 2014 from a year earlier, will decline further should rules be implemented that include requiring collateral for some trades and shortening the settlement period, said the Society of Remisiers, which represents dealers who work entirely on commission. Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore proposed the changes after a penny-stock rout in October erased US$6.9 billion in market value of three companies over three days.

"More people will leave the industry as they'll get less business," Jimmy Ho, president of the Society of Remisiers, said by phone. "Once they cut the settlement period, there will be less speculative trading and it will drag overall volumes."