The headhunting war within the securities brokerage industry intensified in the first half, with new houses aggressively recruiting staff.
Three new securities companies showed the biggest boost to employee numbers in the January-June period, according to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) website.
Apple Securities recruited 202 new staff for a total of 210, Asia Wealth Securities hired 163 for a present total of 184, and AEC Securities added 137 for a total of 209.
Conversely, the top three seeing their headcounts decrease were the older established firms of Country Group Securities, Finansia Syrus Securities and Bualuang Securities, with 148, 70 and 53 staff, respectively, leaving during the same period.
The increased employee levels helped AEC to rank among the top three brokerage houses in terms of trading volume with a 1.45% market share, up from 24th with a 0.03% share previously. Apple climbed to fifth place with a 1.29% market share from 26th place.
The headhunting war also narrowed the average commission fee to 0.13% in the first half from 0.14% last year, another blow to several brokerage firms already reeling from a 40% decline in trading value during the first half.
In the meantime, ML Thongmakut Thongyai, chief executive of SCB Securities (SCBS), said his company had managed to stay immune to the fracas, as evidenced by the fact that its market share rose to 3.94% in the first half from 3.51% last year.
It charged an average fee of 0.15%, above the industry standard, thanks to support from its parent Siam Commercial Bank and a series of new financial products introduced including derivatives warrants and principal-protected notes to serve the bank's wealthy customers.
SCBS posted a first-half net profit of 248 million baht.
But it believes its full-year net profit will come in at 589 million baht, lower than last year, on expectations that stock trading volume will decline by 20%.
SCBS targets the SET index will end this year at 1,600 points and forecasts earnings per share growth of SET-listed companies next year at 15%.