China slashes A-share transaction fees

BEIJING - China's stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen on Monday both said they will cut brokerage fees for A-share transactions by over 20 percent starting June 1 in a bid to lower investor burden.

The Shanghai bourse said in an online statement that the brokerage fee will be lowered from 0.011 percent to 0.0087 percent of the trading volume, representing a drop of about 20.91 percent.

The Shenzhen bourse said it will lower the fee from 0.0122 percent to 0.0087 percent, a drop of 28.69 percent.

China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp. also said Monday in a statement online that it will lower the registration fee for A-share transactions in the Shanghai bourse from 0.05 percent to 0.0375 percent of the trading volume.

An official with the country's securities regulator, China Securities Regulatory Commission, forecast that the cuts in transaction fees will save investors about 3 billion yuan ($477.81 million) annually.

"The cuts will markedly lower the transaction cost and investor burden, and thus contribute to the healthy development of the country's capital market," the official said.