SO we finally say farewell to the lifeboat levy, launched in 1987 following one of the darkest storms ever to rock the Hong Kong stock market.
Its dissolution on Monday will mark the end of a chapter, just as its establishment marked the beginning of one.
When the stock market opened on October 26, after four days of eloquent silence, the need for a major overhaul of systems was all too apparent.
The report produced by Ian Hay Davison was the start of reforms which are still in progress, and which will be a permanent feature as the capital markets develop further.
An important part of that process will be to make Hong Kong competitive with other developing regional markets, as well as the major exchanges of the world, which are hunting for more listings to boost their business.
The lifting of the levy will go some small way to achieving that necessary edge by reducing dealing costs in the territory.
All transactions since 1987 have carried a 0.03 per cent fee to cover the levy, while transactions on the Hang Seng Index futures have incurred a $5 cost on both sides.