There is a growing interest among Mindanawons to invest in the stock market as Mindanao enjoys a stellar economic performance in recent years, a top executive of First Metro Securities Brokerage Corp. said.
Firstmetrosec President Gonzalo G. Ordoñez said in an interview during the opening of its branch in Abreeza Mall on Wednesday that the company saw a growing number of investors from the younger segment of Mindanao’s population going into the stock market and noted their high level of willingness to learn.
“It’s because of the growing economy. The vibrancy now… everyone says the center of the Philippines is Mindanao. It might be that vibrancy, and so many young people,” he said.
He said what Firstmetrosec has been doing recently is to cast a wide net to educate more Mindanawons and eventually get them to invest in the stock market. Firstmetrosec operates under the First Metro Investment Corp., the investment banking arm of the Metrobank Group.
Ordoñez said there were financial literacy workshops conducted in schools here such as the University of Mindanao and Ateneo de Davao University and in other cities like Tagum, Digos, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, and Cotabato.
He added they also teach fundamental and technical analysis.
Ordoñez estimated that only one percent of the country’s population invest in the stock market but said they hope to eventually raise it as they reach out to more potential investors.
He said investors own a “small piece” of the company when they buy stocks and their investments can grow when the company performs well.
“The only thing they should know about the stock market is you are buying management, you are buying the company. When management does well, I make money,” he said.
Ordoñez said they project the growth of the stock market to go sideways through the end of the year, providing investors the opportunity to buy stocks.
Roberto Marco N. Samson, the business development section head of First Metro Davao Investment Hub, said clients are advised to buy more stocks when prices are low.
“Our advice is to sell on run, every time it goes up you can probably sell – buy low, then sell high. We expect next year to move the markets higher,” he said.
Samson said Firstmetrosec sends out daily research reports to clients to stay updated about the stock market because they condense all “relevant news in the stock market” in a one or two-page report.
Ordoñez said the company wants to intensify its financial literacy campaign in places around Mindanao amid issues on the Ponzi-like investment companies that attracted “investors” by promising them high returns for their investments.
In June, President Rodrigo R. Duterte ordered the closures of Kapa Community Ministry International, Inc. and other similar investment firms offering huge returns similar to Ponzi schemes and threatened to slap the people behind these companies with syndicated estafa.
During seminars, Ordoñez said they taught the people how to protect themselves from illegitimate investment companies and what they should look for when companies claim to have registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“If they give you guarantee, then you have to see what are they going to do with the money. Also, how are they going to make that money? There must be some logic behind it. Risk versus reward. If it’s guaranteed and not a savings account, why? How can they do it?” he pointed out.
Samson added that many of those who invested took the bait as “they’ve never heard of other investment opportunities” available for them.
“They invested in Kapa and Rigen because that’s the first time they heard of investing. We can blame it on the lack of knowledge or exposure. That’s why we are really aggressive in reaching out to as many people as possible,” he added.
In the recent seminars in Tagum, Samson recalled receiving feedbacks from the people, hoping “we got to them first before them,” referring to those engaged in Ponzi schemes. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
