15.05.2024
On 8 May, the number of LHV Pank clients with investment assets exceeded 100,000. These are bank clients with an investment services agreement and a positive number of securities or crypto-assets on their account.
When LHV started as an investment firm 25 years ago, it was necessary to start teaching financial wisdom to build a client base for itself. According to Sander Pikkel, Head of Investment Services at LHV, the commitment to innovation and client education has been one of the key factors in the development of such a broad investor community. LHV Investment School has provided more than 70,000 people with the skills and knowledge necessary for investing, and the stock game “Stock Shark” has offered practical exchange trading experience with virtual currency to over 55,000 participants.
According to Pikkel, however, the increase in the number of clients investing has been driven by the increase in the overall well-being of Estonians, which has allowed many to think about growing their assets in the long-term, rather than being able to manage their daily lives. ‘LHV offers the opportunity to start investing with very small amounts. Thus, trading in the extent of up to 100 transactions per month on Baltic stock exchanges is completely free, and the LHV Growth Account, which is popular among beginners, allows you to grow your money starting from EUR 1. About half of the clients holding their investments at LHV have opted for a Growth Account,” says Sander Pikkel.
The growth in the number of clients with investment assets has been particularly rapid from spring 2020, as service fees for the client have been on a strong downward trend since then. Investment activity was also affected by the coronavirus crisis and the resulting movements on the stock exchanges, when the S&P 500 index, which first fell by 34 % in the month, ended the year 18 % higher. ‘This gave a positive effect to many who, sitting at home as a result of the pandemic, had to find other entertainment instead of previous evening activities. To explore the possibilities of growing their money was a good way to combine the pleasant with the useful,’ Pikkel recalls. ‘A year later, it seemed like everyone, who could talk, was talking about investing.’
The money from the second funded pension pillar which reached the market in 2021 with the pension reform, was expected by several issuers, who precisely in autumn 2021 organised their initial offering. As a result, a record number of new investors and companies entered the Estonian market.
According to Sander Pikkel, LHV has been a trendsetter in the investment field throughout its history. ‘We can say that we have been present with quite a few products before they became cool. For example, the possibility of buying shares and exchange-traded funds as fractional shares, which has gained worldwide popularity in recent years, already existed in LHV Growth Account in 2001. LHV was also the first of the European banks to launch the possibility to trade crypto-assets directly on the banking platform, which has been warmly welcomed by clients. So today, more than 10,000 clients already hold their crypto-assets in LHV,’ Pikkel adds.
While LHV started out primarily serving active traders, today’s product portfolio allows us to offer asset growth solutions for every taste, from depositing money to the LHV Trader trading platform for active traders.
Read more: https://www.lhv.ee/en/the-abc-of-investing
The LHV Group is the largest domestic financial group and capital provider in Estonia. The LHV Group’s key subsidiaries are LHV Pank, LHV Varahaldus, LHV Kindlustus, and LHV Bank Limited. The Group employs over 1,100 people. As at the end of April, LHV’s banking services are being used by 432,000 clients, the pension funds managed by LHV have 120,000 active clients, and LHV Kindlustus protects a total of 167,000 clients. LHV Bank Limited, a subsidiary of the Group, holds a banking licence in the UK and provides banking services to international financial technology companies, as well as loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.
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