Retail investing is ‘here to stay’: Suzanne Shank

Suzanne Shank, President and CEO of Siebert Williams Shank & Co., joins 'Influencers with Andy Serwer' to discuss the significance of retail investors in the stock market.

Video transcript

ANDY SERWER: I want to ask you about retail investors, maybe slightly out of your primary wheelhouse. But you're moving that direction, you're doing IPOs. We've seen this rise in retail investing amid the pandemic. Things are changing with SPACs and meme stocks. What do you make of all of these phenomena? Are there positives, or do we need to protect investors from themselves? What's your thinking there?

SUZANNE SHANK: It's really changed. Now, we serve only retail investors through separate managed accounts. As a firm, we don't sell directly to retail. But obviously as a market participant, we see the impact of retail, which has been quite significant.

I think the advent of the average investor, individual gaining access to CNBC and Yahoo and other mediums gives retail investors more information. There used to be a time that institutional investors were the only ones who had hot breaking news. And now I think everyone gets hot breaking news.

The question is whether all of them-- they seem to run in packs and move together and pile on, as opposed to making the same measured investment decisions that institutions do. But there's no doubt that the retail factor is here. It's here to stay. And it's going to play a significant role in how stocks move around on a daily basis.