SGX hikes derivatives member fees, Cogent offer gets nod from IFA

SINGAPORE (Dec 18): The Singapore Exchange is set to hike annual membership fees for derivatives trading from Jan 2. This marks the first revision to member fees in 15 years. Fees could go up by more than tenfold, according to a report in The Business Times. For instance, fees for proprietary trading members with access to fast data feeds could reportedly spike from $2,000 a year to $25,000.

When approached for comment, an SGX spokesman confirmed the hike. While declining to go into specifics, SGX says the increases will vary across membership types. The derivatives group currently has 34 clearing members, who are primarily international institutional players; 57 trading members; 189 proprietary trading members; and 157 individual trading members. The latter group comprises local traders who trade their own book.

SGX head of derivatives Michael Syn says that the decision to “normalise” membership fees was made last year, after the derivatives segment underwent a “massive” technology upgrade. “One thing to bear in mind is that we did not immediately implement this normalisation of fees. We decided to wait a year to make sure people really saw the value in what we were doing,” Syn says. “The second thing is that our membership has become more institutional in nature because the requirements of a member are, by and large, to provide service onward to another client.”

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