Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : CheckFree Holdings Corp. (CKFR), the next Dell, Intel? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BeverlyB7 who wrote (9684)	9/6/1999 8:58:00 PM
From: david barr	Respond to of 20297

Schwab's U.K. online trading soars Europe branch takes 83% of first half's online trades By Barbara Kollmeyer, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 4:52 PM ET Sep 6, 1999 Also: NewsWatch LONDON (CBS.MW) -- Charles Schwab Europe took an 83 percent share of all U.K. Internet trades in the first half of 1999, cementing the U.S. discount broker's place -- at least for now -- as Britain's largest Internet stockbroker. According to a survey from the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers and ComPeer, a total of 80,384 online trades were conducted during the period, an average daily volume of 638 trades. Of the half-year total, Charles Schwab Europe claimed 66,400 online trades as its own. In the second quarter, online trade in Britain rose by 29,500 to a total of 51,000 trades. In monetary terms, online trades averaged $7,586 (4,730 pounds) in the second quarter, compared with 6,444 pounds for trades through other execution-only brokers. (One pound equals $1.60470 based on Monday market prices.) Free flow Russ Shaw, senior vice president of marketing at Charles Schwab Europe, said the company's online Internet trading figures should be boosted further by its July free-trading offer, which helped lift the U.K. online brokerage industry in general. San Francisco-based Charles Schwab had a healthy head start over its competitors -- roughly seven months. It was only a few months ago that Barclays Stockbrokers, part of Barclays Bank PLC (BCS: news, msgs), started its own business after a three-month delay. More-recent newcomers include E-Trade (EGRP: news, msgs), DLJdirect (DIR: news, msgs) and Freeserve (FREEV: news, msgs). Figures from J.P. Morgan and Fletcher Research showed that, at the end of June 1999, Charles Schwab had 22,000 online accounts in Britain, while Barclays Stockbrokers had 10,000 and other online stockbrokers shared 13,000 accounts. Christian Ossig, equity analyst with J.P. Morgan, said the U.K. is still fairly underdeveloped in terms of online trading and lags behind even its European counterparts, such as the Scandinavian countries. So the number of online accounts in Britain could grow sharply -- meaning both Schwab and its competitors could start picking up a lot more accounts, he said. "The U.K. market is in the early stages," said Ossig. "There's still a fair bit of the cake to develop." Actively investing Schwab's Shaw said the survey was encouraging because it showed customers not only were attracted to Internet investing but were encouraged to "actively invest." Still, Angela Knight, chief executive of the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers, said investors are still tending to use online services for relatively small trades. When it comes to the bigger trades, they're continuing to seek out expert research and advice. Schwab has announced a series of improvements to its TouchTone Trader service, which allows customers to invest by pressing buttons on a touch-tone telephone. Barbara Kollmeyer writes for CBS MarketWatch in London.