KUALA LUMPUR: Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd, Malaysia’s first fully digital equity broker, has lowered its minimum brokerage rates to RM1 from RM7 with the maximum remaining at RM100 effective April 17.

In a statement, Rakuten Trade said the new rates would apply to all markets Rakuten Trade offers access into – Bursa Malaysia, NYSE/NASDAQ, and Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX).

“The new pricing structure aims to stimulate retail participation and to further democratize digital equity broking in Malaysia. In May 2017, Rakuten Trade successfully lowered the barriers to entry and soon, will be crossing another industry milestone of further lowering the barriers to trade.

“By making investing more affordable and providing opportunity to many more, digital investing will now be more accessible to investors keen to grow their wealth,” chief executive officer Kazumasa Mise said.

He added that Rakuten Trade would be introducing fractional share trading for US stocks by the end of the month.

As of March 31, Rakuten Trade had activated more than 260,000 accounts and handled almost RM115bil in total trading value since business day one (May 2017). Its clients’ assets under administration were over RM3.7bil.