BNP Paribas sells retail broking arm Sharekhan To S Korea's Mirae

French banking major BNP Paribas has sold its domestic retail broking unit Sharekhan to South Korean financial group Mirae for an undisclosed sum.

BNP Paribas spokesperson confirmed the development in an email to Business Standard but refused to divulge any details. A comment from Mirae Asset Financial Group is still awaited.

Paris-headquartered BNP had acquired 100 per cent equity of Sharekhan from a clutch of investors in 2015. The deal size was not disclosed, however, industry players pegged it around Rs 2,000 crore.

BNP’s acquisition was completed in 2016 after receiving approvals from all regulatory authorities.

Sharekhan was founded in 2000 and was one of the first brokerages to offer online trading. The company has 2.8 million customers and provides a range of investment services. The company claims to execute nearly a million trades a day.

Before acquiring Sharekhan, BNP Paribas in 2007 had picked up a 34 per cent stake in Kochi-based Geojit Securities, which has a market cap of Rs 1,650 crore at present.

Post the advent of covid, the investor count in India has more than tripled to over 135 million amid digital onboarding of clients, proliferation of discount brokers and a secular upturn in stock prices.

Retail broking industry’s topline could more than double over the next five years, estimates consultancy firm Bain & Company. The industry—which facilitates stock market trading for investors—has already seen its revenues double from Rs 14,000 crore during the financial year 2018-19 (FY19) to Rs 27,000 crore in FY23, an annualised growth rate of 17 per cent.

“Greater financial literacy, frictionless customer onboarding and proliferating user-friendly digital platforms have led to a substantial jump in the number of young investors, accounting 70–80 per cent of active clientele of digital or discount brokers within the 18-30 years age group. Similarly, 70–75 per cent of newly acquired customers for bank brokers are also below the age of 30, albeit with lower activation rates,” Bain & Co said in a note earlier this month.