Big bucks for brokers in Vietnam
A Vietnamese reporter met a securities broker who reportedly has a monthly income of 200 million dong (USD11,764) a month. Mr A, the former officer of a domestic investment fund, is now a senior executive of Kim Eng Securities Company (KEVS). However, Mr A denied the income of 200 million dong, saying that his real income is mere 170 million dong (USD1,000), and that he pays some 50 million dong (USD 2,940) a month in personal income tax (PIT).
However he says he can earn 170 million dong a month because his average brokerage turnover is about 700 billion dong (USD 41.17 million) and he reveals that his current ‘biggest client’ has the investment capital of 90 billion dong.
Mr A has very busy working days, even though he does not have to come in the office. He gets up early to check last night’s information from the western hemisphere which may affect the stock market. After that, he keeps watching over what happens on the stock market and looks to find out the answers immediately to any abnormal changes.
In the afternoon, he discusses work with partners, bosses and others by telephone – often competing with noise in traffic or in cafes. He works even when he is not at the office. Mr A said that in order to give good advice to clients, a broker should manage eight accounts at maximum.
“The job of a broker is helping clients successfully purchase the shares which will see prices increase in the future,” he said. “Sometimes, clients have sources of their own, and we have to help them check information in order to help them make right decision”.
“In Vietnam, brokers always give advice on purchases, while they rarely give advices on sales,” he said, adding that the biggest ever volume of shares he once advised a client to purchase was 1.5 million shares.
Currently, the income of securities brokers come from three sources, the fixed salary they can get from the bosses, commission for brokerage and bonuses from companies. Others also get money from their own business affairs.
A broker can get a fixed salary of 5-7 million dong (USD 410) a month if he works for a big securities company and 4-5 million dong if he works for a smaller company. The broker needs to hit his set targets with more bonuses available if he exceeds them.
At KEVS, there are many brokers who have the official income of 30-40 million dong (USD 1,764 - USD2,352) a month, while the brokers with medium number of clients can also get 20 million dong a month.
The monthly income of securities brokers of other companies is yet to be revealed. However, sources say that a broker in VNDirect gets over 100 million (USD 5,882) dong, and at HSC 60 million dong (USD3,529).
