ONLINE BROKERAGE INDUSTRY

Who would ever think that, like online shopping, buying and selling stocks over the web can be possible? And if you have been used to buying your shoes with a few clicks of the mouse, you will find out that investing in the stock market can be as easy.

The growing online brokerage industry has become the most fashionable way to purchase and sell stocks. This fueled the actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allocate more of its time and resources in scrutinizing the investment products that the online brokerage industry provides. The SEC has made some mandatory requirements to the online brokerage industry regarding the contents of the websites, the prices of the products, the information that they disseminate to their clients, and the security of the accounts of the clients. Even with these, SEC has not fully been able to impose regulations that will allow clients to have access to their accounts anytime, and that the account statements generated online would be the accurate representation of the clients’ assets. These are the reasons why some members of the online brokerage industry have been subjects of legal actions or are the main respondents of complaints filed with the SEC. The recommendations and the advices that SEC has extended to the online brokerage industry, through its commissioner, or its compliance inspectors have not been sufficient and have not made any improvements on the online brokerage industry’s system. With all the loopholes in the online brokerage industry today, it should be about time that SEC gives out more than just warnings.

Whether we know what they mean or not, we have to admit that we have been hearing PE ratios and financial terms in the supermarket or even on the streets. Let’s face it. The online brokerage industry is rising and rising every second. It is taking the world by storm. And why not? In this computer age, people have gotten so used to doing business online. And what better way to court potential clients than wooing them online? Forecast has it that the number of households trading online in the U.S. will have tremendous increase from 4.1 million to a whooping 21 million in 5 years.

Even with the large number of hitches that the online brokerage industry has been in focus for, there is still a large growth in the number of people that would rather trade online. This calls for a stronger conviction of imposing stricter policies on the online brokerage industry from SEC. They have been vested with the power to do a lot more than make recommendations. Whether SEC admits it or not, it has the power to implement regulations that will force any member of the online brokerage industry to comply with.