German online broker ConSors has announced a further decline in trading volumes.
Over the last quarter trading, volumes at Germany’s leading broker ConSors fell by 28% compared to Q1 2001. This is no surprise since stockbrokers, offline or online, across Europe and the US are suffering at the hands of the depressed stockmarket conditions. Customer numbers continued to increase, although clearly this is little comfort without these customers trading.
However, the news is not all bleak. eQ Online, an online broker servicing heavy traders, has recently announced it is to close its German business and has reached an agreement with ConSors to transfer the 2,600 customer accounts to its online service. While the number of customers is small in comparison to the company’s existing customer base, it does help ConSors to expand further into the heavy trader market segment.
ConSors has not stood still in the face of a bear market. It has increased its focus on its investment fund center, which offers one of the largest ranges of funds in Germany. While the fund market has also slowed considerably over the last six months, it offers more protection than execution-only stock trading. In addition, the company has launched a new range of funds for long-term retirement saving. The funds will invest in a wide range of the best performing freely tradable funds in Germany.
The broker is also focusing on cutting costs. It has cut marketing spend by approximately 50%, and rolled out a new cost-cutting program called Fit for Future. This program has saved considerable sums, albeit at the cost of 100 jobs in Germany, resulted in ConSors beating its 15% cost savings target. The program is due to be rolled out into the rest of its European operations.
ConSors’ results do not make great reading, but are to be expected. More important is that the company continues to try to innovate and ensure that its organization is streamlined and dynamic enough to exploit future opportunities when the economic situation changes.
