HONG Kong Securities Clearing Co has unveiled discounts of about $28 million on certain charges yesterday as it introduced a new charge for settling stock exchange cross trades. The stock settlement fee will be reduced by 20 per cent to 0.008 per cent from 0.01 per cent. The minimum fee will be cut by one-third to $2 from $3 while the maximum fee will be unchanged at $300 per transaction. Chief executive Richard Heckinger said the discounts were introduced because stock exchange turnover during the past year had been higher than expected, boosting the company's financial position. He said the fee for use of the cash pre-payment service would be slashed by 50 per cent to $100. At the same time, a stock settlement fee of 0.002 per cent on both sides of stock exchange cross trades would be imposed with a minimum fee of $1 per side and a maximum of $100 a side.
