Lockdown alters stock traders’ schedule

nMUMBAI: The pandemic has upended a 100-year-old order for stock market trading and broking. As trading terminals have moved from dealing rooms to homes, brokers are completing transactions from their homes for the first time in over a century. This has forced traders to rework entire protocols, starting from working hours to workspaces, security protocols to investor outreach, and storing information to meeting compliance requirements.

“My entire work schedule has gone through a sea change,” a trader working for a leading brokerage house said on condition of anonymity.

According to ICICI Securities, over 95% of its transactions on the Icicidirect platform is initiated by customers themselves and are digitally concluded. The entire on-boarding process has become digital.

The lockdown forced brokers to shed their hesitancy and look for new-age, tech-based solutions. For instance, investor call tapes have now been replaced by reserving space and recording them in the cloud. Almost all conferencing software packages— such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams—come with added feature of call recording. Compliances for about 40% of brokerage firms are being remotely monitored.