When looking at SEG and CIBT here are a few interesting stats and figures to keep in mind.
SEG
Globally, more than 37% of all retail stock orders are now entered online via the Internet, and this number is expected to increase. By the end of 2003, the number of online brokerage accounts is expected to skyrocket past the 35 million mark(etrade.com, March 16,2000).
In the US, the number of households trading stocks and shares online jumped 30 percent between May 1999 and January 2000, from 2.7 million to 3.5 million (J.D. Power and Associates). It is expected that this number will increase to 20.3 million by 2003 (Jupiter Communications).
In Europe, buying stocks online is set to be the next big craze. Online brokerage accounts are predicted to rise from 1.3 million in 2000 to 14 million in 2004 (Forrester Research).
Although still in its infancy, online finance and securities information makes up over 26% of the most urgent information desired by Internet users (CNNIC, January 2000).
As of February 2000, there were 275.54 million Internet users worldwide (Nua Internet Surveys).
CIBT
Internet use in China is increasing exponentially, with an annual growth rate of 200%. It is estimated that Chinese will become the second most important language, after English, on the Internet by 2005 (South China Morning Post, March 9, 2000).
Virtual China Online estimates that China will have 10 million Internet subscribers by mid-2000, and 15 million Internet subscribers by mid-2001. China Web estimates that China will have 60 million Internet users by the end of 2005.
Even Western business is starting to sit up and take notice of China?s growing Internet presence. According to Merrill Lynch Online, American business must prepare itself to face ?a truly global and Asian-dominated world economy,? adding that ?by 2005, more Chinese will be on the Internet than any other nationality? (March 16, 2000).
Xu Yaoming, an official from the Ministry of Information Industry, recently predicted that, by the year 2005, revenues from Internet services in China will top 200 billion yuan (US $24.1 billion).
Best Regards
KEITH
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