Educating Filipinos on opportunities in the stock market is essential with technology now leveling the playing field for investors outside Metro Manila, a visiting official of an online stock brokerage firm said yesterday.

Conrado Bate, president and chief executive officer of CitisecOnline, said in a press briefing that only a very small portion of the country's population are investing in the stock market because of lack of education.

He said that only about 50,000 Filipinos are investing in stocks.

Through online stock brokerage, Bate said, technology has leveled the playing field thus those who have internet connection can access the market.

He said many people think the stock market is only for the rich and influential, but now investors can open a stock brokerage account for only P25,000. Students can invest for as low as P5,000.

“We want to revolutionize the way people invest in the stock market,” Bate said.

CitisecOnline has more than 50 customers in Bacolod and Iloilo, a number of them met with Bate's group yesterday in a round-table discussion on the current market situation wherein concerns on the worsening US economic condition is resulting to weakness in the Philippines and global markets.

But he said the volatility of the Philippine stock market is creating a lot of opportunities for investors.

Investors can buy shares of companies with good growth at better prices, he said.

Moreover, Bate stressed that they do not just tell people to invest, they also advise them to learn about the stock market first through seminars.*NLG

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