The cashed-up securities regulator is proposing accepting a forecast HK$332.4 million in lost income and investment gains by waiving licence fees for the investment community for the next two years starting from April.
The estimate for the waiver was included in a revised budget that the Securities and Futures Commission yesterday submitted to the Legislative Council.
'The SFC is mindful that market participants have been operating in a stressed environment amid high levels of volatility, uncertainty in the global economy and sluggish turnover over the past few months,' the commission said about its decision to institute the waiver.
Last month, lawmakers rejected the SFC's first budget submission, criticising it for refusing to cut the 0.003 per cent levy on stock trades despite its massive cash reserves of HK$7.4 billion.
The HK$7.4 billion cash pile is sufficient to fund the SFC's operations for seven years.
Legally, the regulator is required to consider a levy cut when reserves can support two years of operation. The SFC is, however, standing firm against cutting the trading levy as it is planning to buy its own office in the redeveloped west wing of the government offices in Central, say people with knowledge of the matter.
