PSE Stock Market Accounts Stood at 1.9 Million in 2023

According to The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc.'s (PSE) annual Stock Market Investor Profile report, there were 1,906,019 stock market accounts at the end of 2023, up 11.3% or 193,285 from 1,712,734 in 2022.

The growth was mostly driven by new accounts opened through the GStocksPH platform, which increased the share of online accounts to 80.0% of total stock market accounts. As of the end of 2023, there were 1,525,768 online accounts, an increase of 21.2%, or 266,861.

“Giving e-wallet holders direct access to the stock market is instrumental in our drive to increase retail investor participation in the market,” said PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon.

“PSE’s partnership with the Department of Migrant Workers to conduct learning sessions on financial literacy and stock investing for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their families is another initiative that can potentially boost the number of retail investors in the stock market once this program is fully implemented,” Mr. Monzon added.

The number of accounts, however, was limited by the cleanup of dormant accounts carried out by trading participants (TP) in compliance with Republic Act No. 9160, also known as the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

In terms of classification, retail investors made up 98.5% of total accounts, with institutional investors accounting for the remaining 1.5%. Similarly, domestic investors held 98.5% of total accounts, with international investors accounting for the remaining 1.5%. Retail accounts accounted for 99.9% of all internet accounts. Local investors controlled 98.8% of the online accounts, while foreign online accounts accounted for the remaining 1.2%.

The average value per online trade increased by 1.8% to P47,050.48, compared to P46,236.40 in 2022. Meanwhile, the 2023 average value per deal in terms of total market transactions was P85,385.54, up 9.6% from P77,926.41.​

Retail Investor Profile

In 2023, female investors made up 51.0% of online accounts, similar to 2022, with male investors making up 49.0%. In terms of total accounts, male investors increased slightly to 50.6% in 2023 from 49.8%, while female investors increased to 49.4% from 50.2%.

Investors in the 30 to 44 age range continued to have the biggest share in online and total accounts but their share slightly declined in 2023. They made up 49.0% of online accounts from 55.7% and comprised 45.6% of the total accounts from 49.8%. All other age groups showed an increase in their portion of online accounts, from 20.8% to 21.5% for the 18 to 29 year old investors, 18.4% to 18.6% for the 45 to 59 year olds, and 5.0% to 10.9% for the 60 and above age range. For total accounts, the percentage share of the 18 to 29 group rose to 19.5% from 18.7% while the share of those 60 and above went up to 14.8% from 10.8%. The 45 to 59 age range had a slight dip to 20.2% from 20.7%.

Those earning less than P500,000.00 had the most number of online and total investors at 76.7% and 70.9%, respectively. These figures are higher than their 2022 share of 72.9% for online accounts and 53.5% for total accounts. Investors earning between P500,000.00 and P1 million saw a decrease in their share to 11.9% from 13.6% for online accounts and 14.4% from 25.6% for total accounts. Meantime, the share of the above P1 million earners slipped from 13.6% to 11.4% for online accounts and from 20.9% to 14.7% for total accounts.

The share of Metro Manila-based investors showed a significant reduction to 68.0% from 84.6% for online accounts and 68.2% from 81.5% for total accounts. Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, on the other hand, registered growth in their proportionate share to total investors. For Luzon, online accounts jumped to 18.7% from 8.6% and 18.6% from 10.7% for total accounts. The segment of investors in Visayas rose to 6.5% from 2.9% for online accounts and 6.6% from 3.7% for total accounts. The share of online accounts of retail investors in Mindanao increased to 5.8% from 2.3% while total accounts went up to 5.5% from 2.5%.

“The programs that democratize access to the stock market played a role in the investor location data in 2023. Aside from e-wallets serving as access point to stock investing, the Exchange’s programs such as PSE EASy paved the way for investors based outside Metro Manila to invest in the stock market. I hope this growth in non-Metro Manila investors will be sustained over the years so that the geographical aspect of financial inclusion is addressed,” Mr. Monzon explained.

PSE EASy has registered investors in 80 Philippine provinces.
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Overseas accounts fell to 1.0% of online accounts from 1.7%, and 1.1% of overall accounts from 1.7%. In terms of citizenship, the top three were Japanese, Chinese, and Americans. The share of Japanese investors increased to 31.9% from 12.6%, while the shares of Chinese and American investors decreased to 18.7% from 23.9% and 11.8% from 14.7%, respectively.

“Alongside encouraging retail investors to invest in the stock market, PSE pursues initiatives beneficial to them. For instance, we submitted to our regulator amendments to the board lot to lower the minimum investment requirement. We are also fine tuning the PSE EQUIP platform to provide more comprehensive data access to retail investors,” Mr. Monzon shared. “Investor education also remains to be a priority advocacy of the Exchange with the revamped PSE Academy website as the main touchpoint for investment literacy activities.”

The Stock Market Investor Profile Report is available in the Market Information section of the PSE website, www.pse.com.ph