Fewer fees, please. (International News: Americas).

The SEC agreed with industry comments regarding Section 31 fees on security futures products, which include the soon-to-be-launched single stock futures (see Trendlines, July 2002). The fees are paid by equities and equity options exchanges and apply to security futures because the new contract

The most hotly disputed issue was that affecting Section 31(b) and 31(c) fees, which are based on the aggregate dollar amount of securities traded on an exchange. The SEC intended to calculate the fee based on the original price of the trade, But that would mean the exchanges would have had to identify which of all positions actually were carried to expiration.

However, the SEC finally agreed that the fees should be based on the settlement price instead of the initiation price to reduce additional demands on back offices.