MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine stock market may have struggled to deliver meaningful gains in the first half of 2026, but Filipino investors were clearly not sitting on their hands.
Online brokerage COL Financial Group Inc. saw its commission income climb 21 percent to ₱234.5 million in the first six months of the year as investors continued buying and selling shares despite the Philippine Stock Exchange index giving up much of its early momentum.
The surge highlights an interesting shift in investor behavior: a flat market did not mean a quiet market.
COL, one of the country’s largest online retail stockbrokers, ended the period with more than 574,000 customer accounts, up 2 percent from a year earlier. Its latest financial disclosures show that increased trading activity helped offset pressure on its interest income as the rate environment changed.
The company’s commission income benefited from stronger market turnover, with COL citing higher trading activity during the period.
More Trading, Even Without a Bull Market
Data from the Philippine Stock Exchange separately confirmed that market activity accelerated during the first half of 2026.
Average daily value turnover increased by about 13.5 percent to ₱7.72 billion, compared with ₱6.80 billion in the same period last year, according to the PSE. The exchange said stronger liquidity helped lift its trading and clearing revenues and contributed to a 19.8 percent increase in its first-half net income to ₱608.38 million.
For COL, the numbers translated directly into higher commission earnings.
The company’s first-half financial report showed gross revenue of approximately ₱592.7 million, while net income reached about ₱261.6 million, up roughly 3 percent from a year earlier. The figures were also reflected in COL’s quarterly financial disclosures filed through the Philippine Stock Exchange.
PSEi Rally Faded After Strong Start
The year initially appeared promising for Philippine equities.
The PSEi gained 9.2 percent through February, supported by strong foreign buying and investor interest in emerging markets. Foreign investors posted net purchases of ₱21.27 billion during the first two months of the year.
But the momentum weakened as global geopolitical tensions, higher oil prices, inflation concerns, slower Philippine economic growth and peso weakness weighed on sentiment.
By the end of June, the PSEi had surrendered its earlier gains and was roughly flat for the year, while foreign investors had reversed course and ended the first half as net sellers of ₱15.43 billion, according to the market data cited in the original report.
Yet trading activity continued to rise.
That distinction became a major advantage for brokerages like COL: investors do not necessarily need a roaring bull market to trade. Volatility, sector rotation and changing expectations can all keep money moving through the exchange.
COL’s Revenue Mix Is Starting to Change
The stronger commissions were particularly important because COL’s largest revenue source—interest income—came under pressure.
Interest income fell 4 percent to ₱324.4 million from ₱338.8 million a year earlier. Income from bank placements dropped sharply, while interest income from customers using margin financing also declined as investors remained cautious about borrowing money to buy stocks.
COL partially offset the weakness by placing more funds in fixed-income securities, where interest income more than tripled to around ₱110 million from ₱36.1 million.
As a result, stock trading is becoming a more important piece of COL’s business.
Commission income accounted for nearly 40 percent of first-half revenue, compared with around 34 percent a year earlier, signaling that the company’s earnings mix is becoming increasingly dependent on investor participation in the stock market.
But the higher trading activity also came with higher costs. COL’s service expenses rose 31 percent, including personnel-related expenses and stock exchange dues.
Still, the company remained profitable.
Cheaper Trading May Be Helping Market Liquidity
The PSE has also pointed to lower trading costs as one factor supporting increased market activity.
PSE President and CEO Ramon Monzon said the increase in market turnover was helped by the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act, which reduced the stock transaction tax from 0.6 percent to 0.1 percent effective July 1, 2025.
The change brought Philippine stock trading costs closer to those of regional markets and has helped encourage greater market participation, according to the exchange.
That could be good news for online brokers such as COL.
More affordable transactions may encourage investors to trade more frequently, particularly as retail investors gain easier access to digital platforms and investment products.
The Bigger Question for Investors
COL’s first-half performance shows that the Philippine stock market does not have to be soaring for brokerages to make money.
A stagnant index can still generate significant business when investors remain active, chasing opportunities, rotating between sectors or reacting to changing economic and global developments.
The bigger question now is whether that trading activity can eventually translate into a sustained market rally.
For now, one thing is clear: the PSEi may have gone sideways, but Filipino investors kept clicking buy and sell—and COL Financial was one of the companies benefiting from every move.
As market turnover continues to rise, investors will be watching whether the next surge in activity finally pushes the PSEi out of its long sideways grind—or whether brokers like COL will keep winning even without a full-blown bull market.
WWC ONE MEDIA J.M.S
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