Singapore online brokerage fee comparison table

The table below compares the dealing charges and other features of 11 Singapore online stock brokers to help you find the best stock brokers for trading Singapore shares only. If you are looking for Singapore stock brokers to trade international markets instead, try the Singapore international stock brokers list and the Singapore international stock brokers comparison table.

Most firms in Singapore have a very similar fee structure, charging commission of around 0.25-0.28% commission for trades below S$50,000, around 0.2-0.22% between S$50,000 and S$100,000 and around 0.18-0.2% over S$100,000, with a typical minimum charge of S$25. For simplicity, commissions in this table are abbreviated to reflect these standard tiers eg 0.25%/0.22%/0.18%.

However there are a couple of exceptions. Standard Chartered’s new service has a rate of 0.2% with no minimum charge, while the local office of Danish firm Saxo Bank charges 0.15% for all trade sizes, with a minimum of S$25.

Interactive Brokers – popular with many Singapore traders for overseas markets – is even cheaper at 0.12% with a minimum of S$3, but reportedly Singapore residents can’t trade the Singapore exchange through their accounts. If you’re in search of cheaper rates, it may be worth may be asking the firm why this restriction exists and whether it’s likely to change.

Notes for the Singapore stock brokers comparison table

1) Fees do not include GST. This will be charged for Singapore residents, while non-residents are exempt.

2) Cash upfront purchases through DBS iBanking are charged at a lower rate than standard trades through DBS Vickers, but you cannot sell through this service (unless you sell within the T+3 settlement cycle). Once settlement is complete and the stock is deposited in your CDP account, you sell via DBS Vickers or another linked brokerage account at normal trading trades.

3) Contra trading is not possible through Citibank, Standard Chartered and DBS iBanking cash upfront trades.

4) Most Singapore stock brokers will expect you to open an account with the central securities depository (CDP) and hold SGX listed shares in that. However, two firms – Saxo Bank and Standard Chartered – hold your shares in a nominee account on your behalf. This means that the shares are legally in the name of their nominee company, although you are the beneficial owner of them.

Whether nominee accounts are any less safe than holding shares in your name, as some investors believe, is debatable. Using nominee accounts is standard practice for almost all traders in most countries, but rare for local stocks in Singapore (foreign stocks bought through a Singapore broker are always held in nominee). However there are a few points to remember with a nominee account:

• Since your name is not on the shareholder register, you will not automatically be entitled to receive annual reports and attend and vote at the annual general meeting. Whether these rights are passed on to you depends on the stock broker – Standard Chartered will apparently do so.
• You will not be directly credited with dividends or be notified of corporate actions, but the stock broker will process these on your behalf. Neither Standard Chartered nor Saxo Bank charge for this service.
• Saxo Bank’s nominee account is classified as a non-individual foreign investor and so income distributions from S-Reits are subject to a 10% tax. This does not affect the Standard Chartered nominee account.
• Shares held in your own CDP account can be sold through any stock broker account linked to it. Shares held in a nominee account can only be sold through that stock broker, unless first transferred out to your own CDP account.