But with entry barriers very low, just about everyone these days seems to be launching an Internet financial site. There are already several dozen of them in Southeast Asia. Every other day, it seems I hear of some fund manager, stock market analyst or financial journalist quitting his job to start a new portal. Last week, Singapore hosted a Financial Portals Summit. The conference attracted a horde of venture capitalists, investment bankers and website developers.
Many Asian sites appear to be interested mainly in capital gains.
Two second-tier financial houses make stock recommendations. Four staff analysts supply a steady stream of advice on the prospects of industries and companies, as well as their take on macroeconomic fundamentals. But if you want to trade, forget it. The site cannot even help you open a brokerage account. Right now we are totally dependent on advertising, although there is not much of that going around.