The impact of the epidemic on Hong Kong’s securities industry continues.
On February 28, Yitong, a local online brokerage in Hong Kong that focuses on “zero Commission”, announced that it would stop all online investment services on March 31. Mainly because the number of employees infected with covid-19 pneumonia continued to increase, the board of directors of the company decided to close down.
it is worth noting that the securities firm submitted an application for listing to the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange six months ago. Now the company believes that the business environment will not be greatly improved in the medium term, and there is no choice but to close down
Chinese reporters of securities companies learned from previous interviews that the epidemic had a great impact on Hong Kong’s economic activities, and local small and medium-sized securities companies struggled to operate.
Many Chinese funded institutions also have business outlets to suspend on-site services. A person from a Chinese funded securities firm told the securities firm that Chinese reporters are going all out to fight the epidemic.
Hong Kong local online securities firms regret closing
On February 28, Yitong investor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yitong”) announced that it would stop all online investment services on March 31.
The company explained that as the number of employees infected with Xinguan pneumonia increased day by day, resulting in a serious shortage of human resources, the board of directors unanimously decided to close down before the situation continued to deteriorate.
According to the company, Yitong’s finance is completely healthy, mainly because the management believes that the development of covid-19 epidemic has a significant impact on the future operation sustainability of Yitong. Including that even if Hong Kong carries out effective national testing, the risk of importing cases in the future still exists due to the significant spread of the epidemic abroad; A new wave of epidemic situation may occur if there is a fish that has slipped through the net through national testing; Employees infected with the epidemic are difficult to perform their duties, and newly recruited employees will also increase operating costs. When the epidemic in the community is equally serious, it is more difficult to recruit healthy employees; There is a chance for the virus to mutate again.
In Yitong’s view, unless covid-19 epidemic subsides globally or effective treatment methods are developed, the board of directors of the company believes that the business environment will not improve significantly in the medium term, or even deteriorate sharply. Therefore, it is a helpless but reasonable action to decide to close down.
Mi Guanghui, chief executive of Yitong group, said in an interview with local media that the company was profitable last year and this year. At present, there are about 60 employees in the online securities business, and some suitable employees will be transferred to other businesses of the group, including lending and taxi business.
Public information shows that Yitong obtained the securities trading license issued by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission in 2005 and the automatic trading service license in 2011. The company launched “zero Commission” in 2016, covering all trading orders of Hong Kong stock main board, gem, new share board, exchange traded funds, listed bonds, Wolun and bull bear securities, and also applicable to margin. For customers’ speculation in a shares, the company adopts the Commission charging method of “5 yuan per transaction”.
In fact, last year, the company also plans to sprint to the market. On September 1, 2021, Yitong Financial Holdings submitted its listing application to the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange.
It is reported that from 2019 to 2021, the total income of Yitong financial holdings was HK $146 million, HK $129 million and HK $129 million respectively, and the corresponding profits were HK $58.69 million, HK $42.7 million and HK $101 million. Among them, the brokerage business revenue was HK $85.58 million, HK $72.75 million and HK $68.47 million respectively; The revenue from dealer activities and hedging business was HK $60.41 million, HK $56.18 million and HK $160 million respectively.
according to the public information of the Hong Kong stock exchange, the listing application of Yitong Financial Holdings has expired
At present, the life of small and medium-sized securities companies in Hong Kong is not easy. According to previous interviews with Chinese reporters of securities companies, first, the negative impact of the epidemic on the local economy has reduced investors’ risk appetite; Second, the performance of Hong Kong stocks is sluggish and the trading volume is not high. All securities dealers are trying to survive and open up channels to make money. (for details, see the impact of the epidemic! Survey on the survival of Hong Kong’s securities industry: employees working at home has become normal, and small and medium-sized securities companies are having a hard time…)
In mid February, Li Weihong, chairman of the Hong Kong Securities Association, said that the industry had not seen layoffs due to the new wave of epidemic. However, he believes that the difficult business environment in the industry, especially the continuous growth of transaction costs, has affected the trading volume.
Business suspension of Chinese funded institutions
Chinese funded institutions are also affected by the epidemic. The Chinese reporter of securities companies learned that some business outlets of Chinese funded institutions have suspended services, and the home office of employees has become the norm. Some Chinese funded securities companies have enabled the mode of job rotation and minimum on-site office. Many institutions said they were active in epidemic prevention and strive to provide a safe environment for employees and customers
In March 1st, BOC Hongkong announced that, due to the initial diagnosis of New Coronavirus by its branch staff, some branches would be suspended from March 1st until further notice. The branches involved include: Aberdeen branch, Shek Tong Tsui branch, Healthy Village Branch, Tai Kok Tsui branch, Telford Plaza branch, Huangpu Garden Branch, Kui Cheong Road branch, Tuen Mun City Plaza branch, Tai Wai Branch, Ma On Shan Plaza branch and Sheung Shui branch. BOCHK will take corresponding epidemic prevention measures, including thorough cleaning and disinfection of relevant branches, and arrange all employees of relevant branches to be tested and isolated at home. It is understood that as of the 1st, nearly 130 branches of BOC Hong Kong have suspended business.
In addition, some branches of BOC Hong Kong that had previously suspended business resumed business from the 1st, with a total of 22 branches.
Gf Securities Co.Ltd(000776) (Hong Kong) brokerage Co., Ltd. recently announced that in order to cooperate with the epidemic prevention measures of the Hong Kong SAR government and consider the health and safety of the company’s employees and customers, the company suspended all customer door-to-door reception from February 28 until further notice.
Haitong International said that the company responded to the government’s appeal to arrange Hong Kong employees to work at home. Relevant people said that the company solves various types of customer needs through electronic means such as online meeting, e-mail, fax and customer hotline. During the epidemic period, in addition to the two-day vaccination holiday and transportation subsidy for vaccination implemented since, the company also plans to distribute rapid antigen detection kits to employees and their families free of charge to provide more epidemic prevention guarantee.
Everbright Securities Company Limited(601788) some international outlets, including private wealth management centers, also suspended business Everbright Securities Company Limited(601788) said that it always pays attention to the physical and mental health of employees in Hong Kong, strives to provide complete and accurate epidemic prevention materials according to the needs of Hong Kong employees, and supplies a large number of medical masks, isolation masks, eye masks, medical examination gloves, protective clothing and rapid antigen detection reagents, so as to fully ensure the health and safety of employees in Hong Kong.
