SJ Securities Sdn Bhd managing director and CEO Azman Manaf said younger investors are now more inclined to trade in international markets, cryptocurrencies and gold, rather than the local capital markets.
This is because the other asset classes provide greater freedom and flexibility compared to local capital markets, he added.
As a result, the capital markets are competing with these other asset classes, he told the press after the commencement of the InvestED leadership programme at the Asia School of Business (ASB) today.
Securities Commission (SC) chairman Awang Adek Hussin had said earlier that young people are needed to make the capital markets vibrant again.
Currently, most remisiers are aged 50 or older, and only 7% of investors in the stock market are aged below 45. The proportion of those aged 20 to 30 is even lower.
“We need young executives to attract young investors. They are more technology savvy and they understand each other better,” Awang concluded.
Meanwhile, Azman said it is essential to get young people interested in investing in the equities, bonds and capital markets and one way to do that is through marketing.
For instance, Azman said, there are many roles that young people could play in the capital markets apart from that of a remisier.
He singled out roles such as asset manager and investment analyst that young people could play as well. Apart from that, there are roles in corporate finance or mergers and acquisitions, he added.
“There are many opportunities. There is room even for the tech savvy in the technology space,” he said.
“These things are often overlooked. The capital markets sector is not just about selling or buying shares,” he added.
Azman, who is also chairman of the Association of Stockbroking Companies Malaysia said another obstacle to bringing talent into the industry is the competition with other sectors such as oil and gas and technology.
“A lot of talent is being channelled to other sectors and (as a result) we have been struggling for years to bring in new blood,” he said.
He said the industry needs young people with whom younger investors can relate to. “After all, they speak the same ‘lingo’,” he said.
InvestED is an SC-led capital market graduate programme launched by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim recently.
It is a month-long comprehensive and interactive learning module followed by a six-month on-the-job training with InvestED partners from the capital market industry.
The learning module has been designed in collaboration with ASB.