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Online trading: "A good sign for the equity culture in Germany"
Photo: Rolex Dela Pena / dpa
There are again more shareholders in Germany: In 2020, their number rose to the highest level in 20 years.
According to the Deutsches Aktieninstitut, 12.35 million people owned shares or equity funds in Germany last year, around 2.7 million more than in 2019.
The boom is "a good sign for the stock culture in Germany," says the institute's head Christine Bortenlänger.
Younger people in particular are responsible for the growth in the number of shareholders: They used the time during the corona pandemic to deal with their finances.
The low interest rate savers still make it difficult to simply increase their wealth through overnight money accounts.
Low interest rates, ETFs and neobrokers make stock trading attractive
So-called index funds (ETF) are particularly popular with beginners, as they hardly have to be actively managed.
So-called neo brokers such as Trade Republic make share trading inexpensive and easy for users to carry out using an app.
According to the institute, many of the new shareholders want to stay with them in the long term.
In early 2021, this new cohort of investors came into focus when they organized themselves into internet forums to boost the shares of American video game company GameStop.
The share then rose by over 1700 percent.
German investors were also involved in the stock market event.
Germany still not a shareholder country
Despite the growth, the share of shareholders in Germany is low at 17.5 percent, especially in comparison with other industrialized countries.
Bortenlänger therefore appeals to German politicians: "Employee shares should be promoted even more, share income should be tax-free after a holding period of five or ten years, and shares must become an integral part of retirement provision."
Another innovation in the survey contributes to the high numbers: for the first time, foreign shareholders residing in Germany were also recorded.
That alone increased the number by 500,000.
But even without them, the number of shareholders would have risen by 2.2 million.
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jlk / dpa