Market share statistics for brokers buying and selling shares on the New Zealand Exchange (NZX) show a clear divide between little and large firms.
First NZ Capital handled one in four trades on the NZX last year, while seven of the 17 brokers trading on the exchange hadmarket shares of 1.07 per cent or less.
First NZ, which traces its roots back to the firm of R A Jarden & Co, is by far the largest broker with a 24.89 per cent share of transactions by value in 2006. That was up from 22.49 per cent in 2005.
Goldman Sachs JBWere ranked second with 16.99 per cent, down from 17.13 per cent last year.
UBS was third on 12.33 per cent and ABN Amro fourth on 12.33 per cent. These four handled 64.7 per cent of the transactions by value on NZX in 2006.
Overall, $35.98b of shares and debt were traded by 17 broking houses, up from $31.63b in 2005. However, the number of trades fell from 649,226 in 2005 to 587,581 in 2006.
Macquarie has a market share of 9.09 per cent to rank fifth but its share in 2006 was affected by the split of its business into two -- a retail and institutional brokerage.
Citigroup was sixth in 2006 with 8.45 per cent. Forsyth Barr was the only other broker to crack 5 per cent.
First NZ Capital emerged after Credit Suisse restructured its New Zealand business in 2002, but the two companies still have a strategic alliance.
