Since restrictions on setting up new brokerage companies were lifted last May, the number of companies on the island has jumped from 14 to 104, and that figure still doesn't include 13 commercial banks with brokerage branches and 40 companies that have applied for operating licenses but not yet received them.

Nor are the companies small in size. Most employ a staff of more than 100, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In all, about 10,000 people have entered the industry since it was deregulated.

Where have they all come from?

No official studies on the question have been published. For a clearer picture, Sinorama recently obtained permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Taiwan Stock Exchange to examine the personnel files of the island's brokerage houses and find out what's what.

According to government regulations, each brokerage firm must maintain on its staff at least seven senior-level brokers. Senior-level brokers refer to stock brokers. who have passed a qualifying test or who have at least two years of experience in the business or in related fields.

An initial review revealed that very few indeed of the island's 90 new brokerage houses employ more than seven senior-level brokers. Most can barely manage to maintain the minimum of seven, and some--having lost staff to other firms--have been unable even to do that.

Of the 733 senior-level brokers listed, only 38 passed the qualifying test. The rest gained their experience in the stock market or other fields. Three hundred and sixty-one came from banking, the biggest source; 188 from brokerage houses; and 128 from investment and trust companies and life insurance companies.

Because of time and manpower limitations, the object of our study did not include the 14 original brokerage houses on the island or the brokerage branches of banks, so the numbers we tallied represent only a portion of the whole picture. For example, some 20 management-level officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission itself have been wooed away by brokerage houses in recent years, but only nine of their names appeared on the rolls of the newer companies, showing that older, established companies have proved even more attractive.

Banking has been the chief source of senior-level brokers. The most acutely affected have been local banks like the Medium Business Bank of Taiwan, the Cooperative Bank of Taiwan, and the Land Bank of Taiwan, some of whose branches have suffered mass defections to the new industry. Nor have high-salary foreign banks, such as Citibank, Bankers Trust, and the Banque de Paris, been immune to the epidemic.

Compared with their peers from other fields, the 180-some senior-level brokers who gained their experience directly in the brokerage industry are a rather special group. Most got back in the business during the boom over the past two years, and many have only a high school or vocational school education.

The senior-level brokers newly wooed away from other companies, on the other hand, include such highly trained specialists as university professors and financial analysts. More than half are university graduates, most with degrees in economics and business management and some with masters degrees earned overseas. The caliber of personnel in the brokerage industry has clearly risen a great deal during the past year or two.

From high school graduates to holders of masters and doctoral degrees--what has suddenly made brokerage houses such enticing places to work?

Nine times out of ten the answer is money. One mid-level broker with postgraduate study in economics, for example, earns a monthly salary of NT$40,000, a monthly bonus of NT$40,000, and monthly enter-tainment expenses of NT$20,000 (about US$45,000 a year). That kind of income enables him to wear designer clothes, dine at tourist hotels, and live the life of a typical upwardly mobile urban professional. No wonder the personnel files of brokerage companies reveal that even former child movie stars, airline stewardesses, and shipping captains have given up their careers to join this lucrative new industry.

The salary of an entry-level broker is likely to turn most office workers green with envy, not to mention what those at the senior level make. One top-level broker who was wooed away from the Bank of Communications is said to take in more than NT$1 million a year, not including bonuses and stock options.

The year-end bonuses granted by brokerage houses during the past two years have been nothing short of phenomenal. One company gave its workers a bonus last year of 36 months' pay, and another of 50. Even though the number of companies will approach 100 this year, the pie continues to get bigger and bigger, so brokers can expect another bumper crop of bonuses.

Besides the pay, is there any other satisfaction to the work?

Apparently not much. In today's market, one broker says, the theory prevails that "analysts are useless."

"Manipulating prices to turn a profit is what it's all about now," says another.

So it's not hard to understand why someone who never passed a test or studied in college can hold a high position and pull in a big salary with the right experience.

A number of brokers say too that their work in the business is only temporary. The pace is grueling, and many expect to burn out by their forties. "It's money we earn at the price of our lives," one sighs.

The surge of so many talented people into the brokerage business, many people feel, is a waste of human resources.

That's because the most important function of the stock market for economic development is enabling enterprises to raise capital for new investments. But by far most of the action on the Taiwan stock exchange these days is simply buying and selling the same issues.

"All that does is move A's money over to B," says Tyrone Chen, acting director of the training department at the ROC Banking Institute. "It makes no contribution toward the development of society as a whole."

Not all brokers are indifferent to the social role they play. Brokers who are unhappy about working hand in glove with big investors to manipulate prices look forward to the day when the stock market becomes more normal. They hope more stocks will be listed on the exchange. If it's larger in scale, the market will no longer be subject to manipulation, and investment analysis will take the place of speculation.

That's when being a broker will mean more than just bringing in big bucks.

[Picture Caption]

You have to watch everything, listen for anything, and still answer endlessly ringing phone calls from clients. No wonder "stock market heroes" say, "We're selling our lives for money!"

With the stock market flourishing, so is the "so who needs a stock analyst, anyway?" approach. Investors don't worry about a company's management style; they only care about what the omens are for short-term profits.

High salaries can allow "stock market heroes" to live yuppie lifestyles, but what kind of a social role are they playing?

You have to watch everything, listen for anything, and still answer endlessly ringing phone calls from clients. No wonder "stock market heroes" say, "We're selling our lives for money!".

You have to watch everything, listen for anything, and still answer endlessly ringing phone calls from clients. No wonder "stock market heroes" say, "We're selling our lives for money!".

You have to watch everything, listen for anything, and still answer endlessly ringing phone calls from clients. No wonder "stock market heroes" say, "We're selling our lives for money!".

You have to watch everything, listen for anything, and still answer endlessly ringing phone calls from clients. No wonder "stock market heroes" say, "We're selling our lives for money!".

With the stock market flourishing, so is the "so who needs a stock analyst, anyway?" approach. Investors don't worry about a company's management style; they only care about what the omens are for short-term profits.

High salaries can allow "stock market heroes" to live yuppie lifestyles, but what kind of a social role are they playing?