Thebe Stockbroking moves up the ladder of top-rated brokers

Thebe Stockbroking is moving up the ladder in the rankings of top-rated stock brokers in South Africa, thanks to its excellent service offering and positive feedback from its private clients.

Last month, Thebe Stockbroking was ranked in the top 10 of both the Overall Rankings and the Online Client Satisfaction categories in the Business Day Investors’ Monthly’s SA’s Top Stockbroker Survey for 2013.

The improvement Thebe Stockbroking ranking comes hot on the heels of a good showing in the Financial Mail Analyst rankings of 2013 where Thebe Stockbroking’s research was recognised for its outstanding quality.

Saleem Symallin, interim CEO of Thebe Stockbroking, is pleased about the firm’s performance considering that it competed against strong peers in the Investors’ Monthly’s categories.

“The significance of us moving up the ranks is an endorsement by our clients that they are finding value in the services that we offer to them. I believe that this will raise the profile of Thebe Stockbroking to potential private clients and is a testament to the hard work of the team at Thebe Stockbroking,” he says.

“The significance of us moving up the ranks is an endorsement by our clients that they are finding value in the services that we offer to them.” – Saleem Symallin, interim CEO of Thebe Stockbroking

In order to attract new clients, Thebe Stockbroking, according to Saleem, will refine its value proposition and possibly consider introducing new services and products.

The Investors’ Monthly’s survey of South Africa’s Top Stockbrokers was undertaken by Intellidex, a specialist financial research firm. The survey is based on clients’ perceptions of leading stock brokers and covers issues ranging from products/services to pricing and market positioning.

More than 3,800 clients completed an online survey on various aspects of the service they receive from brokers. Intellidex also sent mystery shoppers to assess how brokers were transparent when it came to providing pricing details to clients.

“I would like to thank all our clients for taking part in the survey and for their loyal support that enabled this ranking,” Saleem says.

Thebe Stockbroking operates in the market segment that is regarded as catering to affluent private investors and institutional investors like asset managers, who in turn manage funds on behalf of pension funds and other savings vehicles.

Thebe Stockbroking operates in the market segment that is regarded as catering to affluent private investors and institutional investors like asset managers, who in turn manage funds on behalf of pension funds and other savings vehicles.

On average in South Africa, to become a private client of a stockbroker you typically need to have between R100 000 and R1 million of investable assets or debt-free assets. Other stock brokers require clients to have a minimum of R10 million in investable assets before they can do business with.

But Saleem believes that the industry needs to lower the entry requirement to below R100 000 to broaden access to direct stock market participation by South Africans and Thebe Stockbroking is currently working on two products that aim to lower this entry point. Right now, a large number of ordinary investors participate in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) through pension funds and others invest through unit trusts and equity exchange traded funds (ETFs).

The key difference between unit trusts and ETFs is that unit trusts offer a blend of investments or asset classes managed by investment professionals, while ETFs offer a single entry into each investment, which are index-based and computer programme-driven. The best known ETF currently is the Satrix 40, which tracks the JSE Top 40 shares.