Thanks to the Ant Boom... China's Robinhood Equivalent Market Cap Surpasses Credit Suisse

Dongfang Caifu Stock Soars... Market Cap Exceeds 34.8 Trillion Won Amid Fund Boom

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Dongfang Caifu, a securities firm and market information provider used by Chinese retail investors, has surpassed the market capitalization of multinational investment bank Credit Suisse (CS) due to a sharp rise in its stock price this year.

On the 15th (local time), the stock price of Dongfang Caifu, known as the "Chinese Robinhood," rose 78% this year, pushing its market capitalization beyond 200 billion yuan (34.8 trillion KRW). The reason Dongfang Caifu's stock price could rise so much was its success in attracting young customers amid the COVID-19 crisis this year.

Shanghai, China

This is reminiscent of Robinhood, which gained popularity in the U.S. stock market for commission-free stock trading. Dongfang Caifu's revenue increased by 67% in the first half of the year, and its net profit more than doubled.

Bloomberg reported that Dongfang Caifu's popularity was also due to its mutual fund sales in addition to securities trading. Dongfang Caifu is the only securities firm authorized to sell mutual funds. It charged a 0.25% fee for securities and a 0.15% fee for mutual funds.

Although Dongfang Caifu did not disclose the exact number of subscribers, according to Daiwa Capital Markets, the securities app is estimated to have 11.4 million users, and the mutual fund app has about 10.9 million subscribers.

Bloomberg also reported that this year in China, there is a boom not only in direct stock investment but also in funds. The reason for the fund's popularity is its high returns. In the first half of this year, equity fund returns were 21 percentage points higher than the CSI 300 Index, which reflects 300 blue-chip stocks listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.