Cyprus Stock Exchange To Impose Additional Charges

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

25 June 2001

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) plans to implement a dematerialised transaction and settlement system and aims to pay for it by levying additional charges on the transactions of brokers, investors, and listed companies. This means that, until all companies are included in the new system, (which could be as late as September, 2002), the CSE will operate a two-tier charge structure.

CSE Deputy Chairman Renos Christodoulides said: 'There will be new charges and fees for all market players because following the introduction of the dematerialisation system the CSE will provide additional services concerning the settlement of transactions.' He explained that the aim of the new charges will not be 'to maximize the profits of the CSE but simply to cover the additional cost that it will have to shoulder.'

Apparently, the current CY£1000 registration fee for CSE listed companies will remain unchanged, as will any other initial listing fees, including registration for the trading of bonds which stands at CY£500. Three new fee categories will be implemented with regard to the maintenance of share registers by the CSE depending on the number of accounts held by the issuer on the last day of the year. For shares, the following charges will apply: £4,000 for less than 5,000 accounts, £7,000 for between 5,000 and 9,999 accounts, £10,000 for between 10,000 and 19,999 accounts and up to £20,000 for companies with more than 40,000 accounts.

For investors, the 0.01% charge on the acquisition of securities will be scrapped, but the charge on free transfers, transfers between family members or transactions that take place following a court decree will be raised from 0.01% to 0.02%. Additional charges are likely to be imposed for pledging securities and opening trading accounts.

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