券商巧用AI盘活存量，数字化转型三大难点待解

Core Viewpoint - The retail securities business is at a crossroads of digital transformation, facing challenges such as declining net income from agency trading and high customer acquisition costs, leading to a strategic shift towards intensive and refined operations using AI to activate existing customers [1][10]. Group 1: Customer Segmentation and Demand Transformation - The retail brokerage business is moving away from a broad development model to a digital intensive operation era, emphasizing the need for customer segmentation based on effective demand [3][4]. - Initially, customer segmentation was based on asset size, but now it includes factors like age, trading behavior, and preferences, focusing on capturing and converting customer needs [3][4]. - Asset size remains a significant boundary for segmentation, with many brokers providing advisory services primarily to clients with assets over 500,000, while some are lowering this threshold to 100,000 [3][4]. Group 2: Expanding Service Radius - The challenge for brokers is to serve a broader base of investors, particularly those with lower asset levels, using internet finance and AI for solutions [6][8]. - Brokers are increasingly using online channels for customer acquisition, which is more efficient and cost-effective compared to traditional methods [6][8]. - Some brokers have set their intensive operation thresholds for customer assets as low as 30,000, previously underserved by traditional advisory services [7][8]. Group 3: Organizational Structure and Assessment Challenges - Brokers utilizing digital and intensive management have seen positive results, but widespread adoption is hindered by challenges in evaluating the effectiveness of these operations [10][11]. - Traditional organizational structures in the securities industry are not well-suited for digital and intensive operations, necessitating more flexible collaboration between headquarters and branches [11][12]. - There are concerns regarding performance assessment and profit distribution, as direct competition between headquarters and branches could undermine efforts to activate existing customers [12].