From 27th May this year, fees for listed companies and investors will be reduced, the Abu Dhabi Securities Market announced today. But, due to the huge growth in the number of brokerage firms operating in the market, ADSM has implemented a new fee structure to cover the increased services provided to them.
Following a review by the board ADSM will be reducing the cost of investor services such as family transfers, inheritance transfers and open deed transfers by as much as 25%.
ADSM will also be reducing fees charged to listed companies for corporate actions and there will be a cap on this fee.
Fees for brokers however are being restructured to reflect the growing number of new offices, the increased services on offer and the new ways of doing business. “We are delighted to announce a reduction in fees for our listed companies and investors” said Rashed Al Baloushi, Acting Director General, ADSM. “However we have had to increase the number of services available to brokers to meet their increased requests. There is also more electronic trading. This has meant that in some cases we have had to impose new fees.
“The number of brokerage firms operating in our market has risen to over 60, with 29 new offices opening in the first quarter of this year alone. Since we introduced e-trading for brokers, much of their work is done remotely, hence the need for increased support.
“As both the market and number of brokerage firms continues to grow, we look forward to continuing to expand and further improve the services on offer.”
Since its inception in 2000, ADSM has grown into the largest exchange in the UAE by market capitalisation and the second largest exchange in the GCC region. Turnover has grown 200 times to more than US $28 billion, while trades have grown 100 times to more than 565,000 in 2005. Market capitalisation has multiplied by 20 to $130 billion (as at the end of 2005).
