By Romsanne R. Ortiguero

At the onset of e-commerce in the country before the turn of the millennium, stock trading became more accessible to people with Internet connection. Riding the wave of this innovation is 2TradeAsia, with the vision to provide efficient online investment solution to as many Filipinos who wish to grow their funds through equities investing.

“We were formed during the emergence of e-commerce back in 1999 all the way up until 2000 — making us the first online stock broker in the industry. The main thrust was to really reach out to as many people as possible in the most convenient manner,” Grace Cerdenia, 2TradeAsia president, told BusinessWorld in an interview.

It is also the licensed online arm of F. Yap Securities Inc. F. Yap Securities Inc. which has been engaged in stock market-related transactions for the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) since its establishment in the 1970’s up until the present.

Part of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since 2000 as a licensed online stockbroker, 2TradeAsia pioneered in providing integration of services including trading, financial planning, and portfolio management in one online trading site.

Anchored on innovation and understanding the need for real-time information, the company boasts of a seamless platform for online trading. Moreover, the company regularly delivers relevant and up-to-date research about the overall stock market condition.

To further enhance its portfolio of services geared towards the principle of making investing and trading easy, 2TradeAsia launched its mobile app in 2017, enabling investors to trade whenever and wherever they want.

“The overall theme is really simplification. Investing in stocks demands responsibility because you’re trying to grow your money, but it shouldn’t have to be difficult,” 2TradeAsia said.

“We want to reach out to as many as possible, and we want people
to know that anyone can do stocks trading even if they have
no business or finance background or degrees.”

Now on its 18th year, 2TradeAsia plans to move forward with the vision to encourage more Filipinos to invest in the stock market. Ms. Cerdenia shared that the overall penetration rate within the equities industry is not as significant yet.

“There’s still a lot of untapped potential. Currently, less than 1% of the population are investing in stocks so what we want is to consumerize 2TradeAsia by aiming for the remaining 99%. We want to reach out to as many as possible, and we want people to know that anyone can do stocks trading even if they have no business or finance background or degrees,” Ms. Cerdenia said.

Noting that one way to achieve this vision is by making investing accessible even for those with a limited time to spare, 2TradeAsia is poised to operate on the concept of “investing made easy for the busy,” where the company is coming up with different formats to educate individuals interested in investing and teaching them how to conveniently integrate it in their busy lifestyle. These include simplified investor education series and providing useful online content, among others.

“We want to make stock trading trendy and digestible for people. We’re providing catalysts to simplify the overall learning approach to something that is quick, fun, adaptable, and something that people can actually execute or munch on,” Chase Yap, 2TradeAsia executive vice-president, said.

“The meat of our seminars focus more on teaching people how to confidently make the decisions on which companies to invest in themselves,” he continued, and added that their materials are made in an easy to understand language, keeping in mind that a lot of people tend to be intimidated by the stock market’s sophistication and highfalutin jargons.

Meanwhile, as part of the company’s vision to encourage more Filipinos to invest, 2TradeAsia is positioning itself to take advantage of President Duterte administration’s ambitious infrastructure program, which is expected to open various opportunities including that of online stock trading.

“Especially with the ‘Build, Build, Build’ plan of the government, the infrastructure network would definitely be in place all the way up until the provincial areas. It’s going to be a lot faster to reach out to these people in terms of communication network because as roads or bridges are built, the telecommunication facilities also follow. The medium will definitely be there, and 2TradeAsia is prepared to ride that wave,” Mr. Yap shared.

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