I’m a Chartered Accountant by training & joined the Stocbroking industry in 1994 and have accumulated 30 years of experience in the capital markets. Gone through many major market cycles from the Asian Financial Crisis (1997 & 1998), Dot Com Bust (2000), SARS Crisis (2003), Global Financial Crisis (2008 & 2009), Penny Stock Crash (2013) & Covid Crisis (2020 to 2022). I’m now the President of The Society of Remisiers (Singapore).

History of The Society of Remisiers (Singapore)

Who is a ‘Remisier’?

The word ‘remisier” is not found in any English dictionary. It is a French word meaning “intermediary”. Although remisiers are still a feature of Paris Bourse, the term has been commonly used in the context of Bursa Malaysia and the Singapore Exchange. A remisier is an agent of a stockbroking company and receives a share of the commission for each transaction he handled. In the Singapore context, a remisier is licensed trading representative who is attached to a SGX member securities firms and who receives about 40% of the commission. Until the mid-1970, the sharing was 50%.

First Remisiers in Singapore

Remisiers first appeared in this region during the colonial period in Malaya (comprising of the Crown Colonies of Malacca, Penang, Singapore, Federated Malay States and Unfederated Malay States), where they dealt primarily in rubber and tin-related companies that were listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE), on behalf of Malaya-based clients. They worked with pioneer stockbroking firms such as Fraser & Company, Lyall &Evatt and J.M. Sassoon.

Relationship between Remisiers and Stockbroking Companies

The relationship between remisiers and their stockbroking companies were originally based on very loose arrangements which varied substantially both within the industry at large and within each company.

Formal Agency Agreements

As the industry progressed, more people joined as remisiers, and the regulatory body implemented standard remisier agreements. Under these standard agreements, the remisier is regarded as agent of the stockbroking company. This relationship was not made explicit in the previous arrangements between remisiers and stockbrokers. Now, each remisier had to put up a deposit to cover his clients’ losses in the event of default. The deposits vary from $30,000 upwards depending on the remisier’s volume of business.

Birth of the Society

A pro-tem committee, chaired by Mr Lee Wee Seng was later formed during a meeting at the Metropolitan YMCA at Palmer Road. This led to the formation of The Society of Remisiers (Singapore). The pro-tem committee held a meeting with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and discussed, among other issues, the main unhappiness the remisiers had over the Lifeboat Fund. Soon after, the requirement for remisier’s contribution to this fund ceased.

In the beginning, the Society held regular bi-monthly meetings with the then Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES). Various grievances were brought for discussions and some actions were taken. One notable example was the reduction of hefty transfer fee to $2,000 per transfer which was $4,000 for the 1st instance and doubling up for each and subsequent transfer to a maximum of $32,000.

Read more on: Who We Are | Remisiers.org