DSE mobile app users on the decline, dragging remote transactions

Farhad Alam, who trades in shares on the Dhaka Stock Exchange through a renowned brokerage firm, subscribed to the DSE mobile application in 2018, when the app was free of cost.

After using the app for more than five years, he discontinued the subscription in January this year as the prime bourse imposed a yearly service charge of Tk 1,500.

The bourse began charging the fee in July last year for new users of the app that allowed execution of trades remotely. At the time most stocks were stuck on the floor. Investors were hardly making any capital gains from investments.

Since January, the fee is applicable to old users as well. Though floor prices were withdrawn in January this year, the market seems not ready to attract investments. Rather, it has been on a downward spiral with the bar to decline gone.

This is the backdrop, against which some 14,447 DSE mobile app users, including Mr Alam, gradually stopped using the DSE app since July last year.

"Stocks no longer yield [any profit] due to the prolonged bear run. So, the service charge to use the app prompted me to unsubscribe," said Mr Alam.

Mr Alam lamented that he was required to pay Tk 450 a year for maintaining a beneficiary owner's (BO) account, while enduring losses.

"I haven't got any return in more than a year. So, why would I spend extra Tk 125 a month to keep the mobile app running?" asked a frustrated Alam.

The prolonged bear run and service charge led to a 30 per cent decline to 33,035 active app users over the 11 months through May this year.

Fewer users also reduced transactions through the app by more than 21 per cent to Tk 18.94 billion during the period to May this year.

The prime index of the DSE has lost almost 18 per cent since the lifting of the floor prices on January 18 this year. At the same time, the market lost Tk 1.4 trillion in assets' value.

"It is logical that investors will not want to spend extra money to keep their app account functional when they have no return from the market," said Md Sajedul Islam, managing director of Shyamol Equity Management.

However, he said, the number of mobile app users will rise when the market will rebound and when investors will see good return on investments.

The premier bourse launched the mobile app in March 2016, developed by FlexTrade Systems, for tech savvy investors. The app was free of cost until July last year.

The DSE, before the pandemic, had allocated almost all of its 100,000 connections to brokerage houses based on their needs and usages.

Brokers then allocated the connections to their cli ents. Investors registered with the app under their brokerage houses.

After the pandemic, the new brokers that secured brokerage licences without a membership or shares of the premier bourse got no connection at all to let their clients use the trading app.

These brokerage houses agreed to get the service in exchange for payment, so the prime bourse allowed them to get connections for a fee, said a DSE official, requesting not to be named.

Meanwhile, the DSE upgraded the DSE mobile app, increasing the maximum capacity to 300,000 users from 100,000.

The app is available on Google Play Store and offers features to help users track the indices and get market and company related information.

Investors first need to be registered with a broker and then install the app on their mobile phones.

The app's features include market and trading statistics in real time, company information, portfolio information and company news.

Apart from executing buy and sale orders, the app provides some exclusive information, including buy or sell alerts, notifications and portfolio status to subscribers, which are not easily available on the website or via brokers' services.

Meanwhile, some of the top tier brokerage houses built their own trading apps and system platforms, spending huge sums out of their pockets for client hunting.

For example, LankaBangla Securities, City Brokerage, and BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage invested a lot to bring out apps to suit their preferences. Their clients from any corner of the world are using the app for trading in stocks.

In some cases, apps are accessible free of cost.

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