In yet another sign of just how fast financial services on the Internet are expanding, on-line broker Sanford Securities has announced plans to float on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in order to raise capital to fund future growth.
Manager of private client services Ian Aspinall says Sanford has set its sights on becoming Australia’s biggest on-line broker within 12 months.
At present, that position is held by Commonwealth Bank’s securities arm, ComSec, which has about 50,000 on-line traders.
Placed next, according to Aspinall, are Sanford and rival E*Trade which both have about 11,000 customers and do a similar percentage of trades on the ASX.
Aspinall says Australia currently has about 70,000 on-line traders, but he expects the number to jump to about 350,000 by the end of 2003, based on US growth rates.
Among the benefits of trading over the Internet are lower brokerage costs – Sanford’s start at $28.95 a trade – and the flexibility of being able to trade whenever one likes.
Sanford has grown its turnover by 20 per cent a month over the past 18 months and plans an accelerated marketing drive after its float.
“We will actively go out and look for customers, something we have not done before,” says Aspinall.
The company’s prospectus, expected out by the end of April, will be listed on-line only, a move he believes is a first for Australia.
“There is talk that clients will be allocated shares, but that has not been confirmed yet,” Aspinall says.
Sanford’s recent talks with Kerry Packer’s Publishing & Broadcast Limited came to nothing, but he is not ruling out the possibility that they could be re-started some time in the future.
