AT KASE EXPERIMENTAL TRADES IN FOREIGN CURRENCIES WITHOUT PAYING COMMISSIONS ARE OVER

/IRBIS, Feb.29, 00/ - As it was informed earlier, on January 25 a decision was made at the meeting of the Exchange council committee for the currency market of Kazakhstan stock exchange (KASE), which states that as an experiment, trades in foreign currencies at KASE from February 1 through 29 will be conducted without collecting commissions. During this time participants of the trades in foreign currencies will pay to KASE only monthly membership fee at an equivalent of 750 U.S. dollars. For the market-makers of foreign currencies amount of membership fee is 500 U.S. dollars. On the same day Exchange Council Committee on currency market of Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) examined and approved the changes in normative document of the Exchange "Techniques for determining rates and commission amounts". According to these decisions, from March 1, 2000 new system of Exchange commissions is introduced for the participation in trades in foreign currencies. From March 1, 2000 members of the Exchange can choose one of the two ways of paying the Exchange commission on their own. The first way is to pay an equivalent of 750 U.S. dollars monthly membership fee. The members, who pay this membership fee, will receive the right to make deals in foreign currencies to an equivalent of 1.5 million U.S. dollars (total monthly open position) without paying commissions. Commission will be charged on total monthly net-position of the member that exceeds an equivalent of 1.5 million U.S. dollars at floating rate. The second way means to pay an equivalent of 1,000 U.S. dollars monthly membership fee. The members, who pay this fee, will get the right to make deals in foreign currencies without paying commissions. In any case, the member that received the U.S. dollar market maker status, are automatically transferred to a system of Exchange commissions, where commissions are not paid, and monthly membership fee is an equivalent of 500 U.S. dollars. As of February 29, 12 KASE members of category "B" expressed their wishes to switch to the second way of paying Exchange fees (an equivalent of 1,000 U.S. dollars monthly membership fee without commissions) beginning from March 1, 2000: - OJSC "Bank "Center-Credit"; - OJSC "Caspian" Bank"; - OJSC "TEMIRBANK"; - CJSC "Eurasian bank"; - CJSC "Almaty merchant bank"; - OJSC "Demir Kazakhstan Bank"; - CJSC "CITIBANK KAZAKHSTAN"; - OJSC "Nurbank"; - OJSC "Kazprombank"; - OJSC "Tsesnabank"; - OJSC "Irtyshbusinessbank"; - OJSC "Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan". Statistics show that average number of participants of the main (morning) session of KASE, where weighted average the U.S. dollar, Deutsche mark and euro rates of the Exchange are formed and where most volumes of the Exchange trades are handled, equaled 17 banks this year and varied from 12 to 23. As a result, it can be said that on the threshold of spring activation of the currency market most of KASE members of category "B" (with the right to participate in trades in foreign currency) made a choice to trades without paying commissions.