Several years ago, when the stock market fell deeply,
nearly all securities companies announced transaction fee cuts in order
to attract more clients. Nowadays, as the market has been recovering,
the companies are considering raising fees again.


The Da Nang Securities Company has officially
announced it has increased the transaction fee from 0.2% of total
transaction values to 0.3%, commencing as of September. Bao Viet
Securities has decided to remove the preferential fee scheme with a 50%
discount applied since the beginning of the year. The new fee levels
are between 0.25% and 0.45% of total transaction values. Vietcombank
Securities’ levels now are 0.25-0.4%.


Currently, securities companies collect 0.1% in fee
for big transactions and from big clients, and 0.35% for small
transactions. However, the companies have to pay 0.03% of total
transaction values to the Ministry of Finance under Decision No 1351
dated June 16, 2008. Therefore, the fees securities companies can
pocket are between 0.1-0.3% of transaction values.


The fee levels prove to be much higher than those
applied in other big markets in the world. According to Click &
Phone Securities Company, the level is just 0.02% in the US market, and
0.03% in Japan and South Korea. The low fees have been applied because
of the high competition among securities companies and the application
of high technologies by the companies. Especially, remote securities
brokerage services have been applied in the market for a long time
(through Internet).


In Vietnam, most companies still provide direct
brokerage services due to the habit of Vietnamese people. Therefore,
Vietnamese companies have to pay a lot to receive orders directly,
entering orders into the system and controlling orders.


However, Director of Click and Phone Le Quy Hoa said
that the current average fee of 0.3% will decrease in the future as a
result of the higher level of technologies applied in securities
transactions.


Many securities companies have not made any
announcements about plans to raise fees, while some others do not
collect fees from investors. Dai Viet’s maximum fee level is 0.2%, Gia
Quyen 0.15-0.25%, Au Viet 0.1% until the end of 2008, while Click &
Phone is exempting fees until the end of September.


Ho Hai An, an investor at the Hanoi Securities Trading
Centre, said that if securities companies raise fees (the average fees
were 0.4-0.45% in 2007), investors will leave for other companies.