ASX lowers fees for interest rate futures clearing

The Australian Securities Exchange will implement a reduced fee schedule for interest rate futures and provide volume discounts for OTC clearing from 1 October.

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) will implement a new fee schedule for interest rate futures and provide volume discounts for OTC clearing from 1 October.

The new schedule reduces fees, which have not been changed during the last decade.

ASX said that the double move is because its clients tend to use exchange-traded and OTC interest rate products in tandem.

The current fee for Australian dollar interest rate futures that are transacted on the exchange is A$0.90 cents per contract. The new fee schedule links the fees that clearing participants pay for their house business to the volume of Australian dollar interest rate futures and the OTC clearing activity that they transact with ASX. The fee discounts increase as participants transact higher volumes.

The lowest available fee for incremental house volume will be A$0.30, which is applicable to customers who trade in excess of 2 million sides in interest rate futures and clear in excess of A$100 billion OTC interest rate swaps in a single quarter. This represents a potential saving on those trades of 60 cents or 67%.

Derivatives are the largest single contributor to ASX revenue, accounting for A$197 million (32% of total group revenue). Within that figure, interest rate futures account for the majority of traded volumes.

Australia has the world’s fifth largest markets for both exchange-traded interest rate futures and OTC interest rates.

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