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Low Liquidity And New Spheres For Brokerage Services In Palestine RUBA MASROUJI UNITED SECURITIES COMPANY PALESTINE. Economic Indicators in 2011:. Population in Palestine: 4.16m GDP in Palestine: $6.3B with 8% growth. Unemployment Rate: 21% Poverty Rate: 25.8%
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Low Liquidity And New Spheres For Brokerage Services In PalestineRUBA MASROUJIUNITED SECURITIES COMPANYPALESTINE
Economic Indicators in 2011: • Population in Palestine: 4.16m • GDP in Palestine: $6.3B with 8% growth. • Unemployment Rate: 21% • Poverty Rate: 25.8% • Palestinian Investments Abroad: $5.2B • Foreign Investments in Palestine:$4.5B • Bank Deposits: $7.2Billion.
Political Situation: • Palestine is now divided into two areas ; West bank and Gaza strip with two different authorities. • For the past couple of years no big changes except for the recognition of Palestine State in the UN in November 2012 - still no changes on ground.
Economic Situation • Government and civil society are relying more on External Funds. • government debts to Private sector are increasing. • private sector and government debts to Banking sector are increasing which makes the economic situation quite complicated. • No cash to run day to day operations in many sectors
Brokerage Business in Palestine • 8 brokerage firms investing around $28m, employing around 200 employees • Commission of brokerage firms is .0047$, brokerage firms are making losses although commission is high relative to regional markets. • Services offered right now are considered limited.
What is Liquidity? • Liquidity in general refers to how quickly and cheaply an asset can be converted into cash. • Liquidity in financial markets is the Turnover on the stock or the ability of investor to trade on specific stock or specific stock exchange with relative ease with minimum price disturbance.
Low Liquidity in PEX • Situation Analysis. • Look at Market Capitalization, Market Turnover, Free float in PEX to study the case. • Comparison with other neighboring Stock exchanges.
Palestine Stock Exchange Facts: • Our listed companies are the pillars of the Economy, employing more than 10000 Employees, contributing to around 20% of GDP, with long history of sustainable business and annual returns. • Around 65% of listed companies are Profitable • Average Return on Investment in 2011 was 6.09%. • 70% of the listed companies are traded below Book Value • However, limited sectors. • All the region is facing the same symptoms.
Market Cap., Trading Volumes and Free Float in PEX: 2011 • Market Capitalization in 2011 was $2.7B • Trading Volume was $3.5M. • Free float is around 40% of the total market capitalization • Around $1.08b of share value is available for trading. • Trading is around 30% of this value. • That means we still have an opportunity to make more trading in the stock exchange. • If we see the below recommendations
Trading Vs. Bank Deposits: Stock Exchange Banks • Market Capitalization $2.7Billion. • Turnover in PEX till 11/2012 is around $220million. • Trading volume is Decreasing for the past years • Return on Investment in PEX was 6.97% in 2011. • Bank Deposits till date is $7.2 Billion. • Bank deposits are increasing for the past couple of years. • Return on Investment for depositors in Banks was around 3% in 2011.
Also………… • Palestinian Cash and Assets invested abroad at the end of 2011 is around $5.2B, so there is a potential to attract more Palestinian wealth to Palestine. • Palestinian money in Diaspora too might be invested in PEX if they see real opportunity or value. • THAT MEANS: People trust banking system in Palestine and keep their money un-invested although lower return. • So, Banks must play a vital role in the stock trading process.
1. Introducing new products in the market • 2. Introducing new services in the market which needs an effort from all stakeholders and not from brokerage firms alone. • 3.Integrating Banking services to Brokerage services. • 4. Work on mergers and acquisitions between brokerage houses in order to benefit from synergies and work more powerfully.
5. To have all kinds of certificates available for financial business in Palestine such as portfolio manager, financial analyst etc.. • 6. Work on the Pension plans and funds in the country as a whole and that is considered a main key economic motivator. • 7. Better governance and transparency which better attract Palestinian Diaspora as well as regional and international investors and funds to trade in Palestine.