Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) announced today (Monday) that the listing fee for Callable Bull/Bear Contracts (CBBCs) will be reduced by 70 per cent upon approval of the relevant amendments to the Listing Rules.

After implementation of the reduction, listing-related fees for CBBCs will be as follows:

When the CBBC market was launched in June 2006, the listing fee for CBBCs was set at $60,000 for the first issue and $40,000 for subsequent issues, but a temporary listing fee rebate of 70 per cent was given as an incentive to issuers.  Prior to the approval of the relevant Listing Rule amendments, issuers will still enjoy the reduced listing fee in the form of the rebate.

“CBBC is an excellent delta-one product for investors as it tracks closely the performance of the underlying asset without requiring investors to pay the full price of owning the actual asset,” said Eric Yip, HKEx’s Head of Cash Market. “We have seen encouraging investor response so far,” he added.

“After taking into account the listing fees for similar products overseas, the fee rebate for CBBCs is now to be replaced by an equivalent 70 per cent listing fee reduction, confirming HKEx’s commitment to developing its CBBC market,” Mr Yip said.

The number of CBBC issues has been growing steadily since the launch of the CBBC market on 12 June 2006.  At the end of May 2007, 140 CBBCs had been listed on HKEx’s securities market with a total turnover of $19.4 billion since the product’s launch.