SIAS and SRS should work together to serve retail investors better

RECENTLY, the Securities Investors Association Singapore (SIAS) came up with some suggestions to grow the Singapore stock market as well as remisiers' income ("Call to review income model for remisiers", The Straits Times, Nov 17). This call was promptly turned down by The Society of Remisiers (Singapore) or SRS in "Unfair to tie remisiers' income to clients' portfolio performance", The Straits Times, Nov 25)

SIAS is an investor lobby group looking after retail investors' interests. SRS is a remisiers group looking after remisiers' interests. However, both have retail investors as their main stakeholder. While remisiers are agents of broking houses, they act as intermediaries between mainly retail investors and broking houses, and derive their income from part of the commissions paid by retail investors. Thus, it makes sense for both SRS and SIAS to work together for the sake of the retail investors who are their members. In fact, some remisiers are also members of SIAS as well as of SRS.

Only by doing so can remisiers hope to grow the market and grow their business. Besides looking after remisiers' interests, SRS has to learn to understand retail clients' motivations and aspirations and what better way than to collaborate with SIAS?