I REFER to last Friday's article ("One more old stockbroking
family bows out"), which said that Ms Gloria Lee, along with the
late Mrs Nancy Lim, made history by becoming one of the first
female stockbrokers.
It may be pertinent to recall some earlier background from the
stockbroking scene.
In 1968, The Straits Times carried a report that the late Madam
Annie Yeo held the distinction of being the first woman broker in
the country. She had been a remisier with the stockbroking firm of
Sena & Goh from as far back as 1957. She was also a champion
swimmer who represented Singapore in the 1930s.
Mrs Lim, too, was a remisier with Ong & Co prior to setting
up Lim & Tan Securities.
The article also mentioned that Ms Lee had "scraped together
$700,000 in savings and bank loans and bought a seat at the stock
exchange" in 1972
EG Tan and OngCo both paid a cool $1 million each to the stock
exchange for their seats when they commenced operations in November
1968.
Did the value of a seat really drop by as much as 30 per cent in
those few intervening years?
Narayana Narayana
