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Impact of Standard Chartered Change in Brokerage Fees from…

June 14, 2016
by Cheaponana

Since I first wrote the article on “The cheapest stock brokers in Singapore” in 2012, there haven’t been much changes in the market till end 2014, when news broke that SGX would reduce the minimum lot size from 1000 to 100 (Version 2 here). Subsequently, various stock brokers (POEMS & DBS Vickers) had promotions for a $10 commission fee when you buy less than $3500 worth of stocks with <1000 units. The POEMS promotion has now been extended to 31 Dec 2016.

Standard Chartered used to be my favourite when it comes to small purchases like 1-2 lots so that I can average down on my stocks. However, they have released news that come 1 Aug 2016, there will be a minimum commission of $10 for local trades for Personal Banking Clients, with the rate unchanged at 0.2% for Personal Banking Clients and 0.18% for Priority Banking Clients (see below).

So what should Personal Banking customers do?

Come 1 Aug 16, purchase at least $5000 worth in stocks to avoid paying more for commission fees.
Whatever stocks you have inside your Standard Chartered custodian account should be topped up to $5000 (before 1 Aug 2016) if you want to avoid paying more for commission fees when you sell after 1 Aug 16.
If not, sell off the stocks that you have small quantities or low cost (e.g. penny stocks) before 1 August 16
Open a Priority Banking account with Standard Chartered to enjoy a lower rate and no minimum brokerage commission

Even lower…$9.88 flat commission on stocks using DBS vickers…

January 24, 2016January 14, 2016
by Cheaponana

Just a followup to the previous post, I was looking through my archives and found that DBS had a similar promotion of a flat commission of $9.88 per trade last year when SGX reduced the minimum lot size from 1000 to 100 (see post), and a quick google search revealed a similar promotion this year, albeit till 31 Jan 2016 only! Well, not a bad promotion if you are looking to average down during this financial turmoil.

Terms and Conditions

The Promotion is only applicable to SGX trades less than 1,000 shares and contract value less than or equal to S$3,888. Odd lot contracts not traded in multiples of 100 will be excluded from this promotion.
For SGX trades settled in foreign currency, the following maximum contract value below applies. The commission rate of S$9.88 will be converted to the settlement currency based on the prevailing DBS Vickers board rate. DBS Vickers holds the final say in the foreign exchange rate used to determine the respective currency equivalent.
USD: $2588
AUD: $3588
HKD: $22888
The flat commission rate of S$9.88 excludes CDP clearing fee, SGX trading fee and prevailing GST.
Promotion applies to trades executed from 1 January 2016 to 31 January 2016, both dates inclusive.
Trades must be executed online via www.dbsvickers.com, DBSV mTrading or DBS iBanking. Trades executed via Trading Representatives and Cash upfront are not eligible for the promotion.
Trades will automatically be amalgamated when the trades are of the same stock, currency, settlement mode and trade date as well as the same mode of trade. The contract value will be calculated based on the amalgamated amount.
DBS Vickers’ terms and conditions governing trading shall apply. Participation in this Promotion is deemed acceptance of the terms and conditions herein. DBS Vickers reserves the right to revise, delete and/or add to the above terms and conditions, and/or to suspend or terminate the Promotion at any time, at its sole and absolute discretion, without prior notice to you.

More information on DBS Vickers website

Spend $10 on commission for stocks purchased on POEMS…

January 20, 2016January 14, 2016
by Cheaponana

If you have been following the news, the stock market has been hammered following the devaluation of the yuan and the falling oil prices. Stocks are looking cheap now, but will they get cheaper? Guess no one can predict the future. To quote Warren Buffett, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful”.

If you are new to the stock market or looking to average down on your purchases, consider this promotion where you pay only $10 for a trade <$3500 with <1000 lots. Of course, this is not the cheapest in the market as Standard Chartered actually offers 0.2% brokerage fee + 0.0325% exchange fee. (I’ve previously written a post in 2012 comparing the various stockers in Singapore here). For a $3500 trade, this works out to $8.14. For POEMS, this works out to $9.8 (0.28% commission) which will be charged at $10. For that extra $2, you will be getting the stocks in your CDP account rather than held in a custodian account held by Standard Chartered. (Pls refer to SC’s website here)

Contract Value	Minimum Commission*
≤ S$3,500	S$10
> S$3,500	S$25

Terms & Conditions:

The above promotion is only valid for online trades done through POEMS trading platforms and/or through telebroker. This includes CPF and SRS trades
Only online orders of total quantity less than 1,000 shares of the same counter and ticker name, traded on the same day (regardless of settlement mode: Cash/CPF/SRS) will enjoy the above promotion
The contract value must be less than $3,500 for each settlement mode (Cash/CPF/SRS)
Broker-assisted orders are not eligible for this promotion
The above promotion applies to orders done from 19 January 2015 till 30 June 2016, both dates inclusive
Phillip Securities Pte Ltd (PSPL) reserves the right to substitute or change the promotion, amend any terms and conditions without prior notification. Where a dispute involving the interpretation of terms and conditions arises, PSPL reserves the right to have the final say

For more information, check out POEMS website here