REGULATION WATCH- FRA approves cuts to stock market fees: The Financial Regulatory Authority’s (FRA) board of directors approved yesterday a proposal to slash regulatory fees on stock market transactions, FRA boss Mohamed Omran said. The plans would reduce trading service fees by 20% to 0.005% from 0.00625%. Fees collected from clearing houses, meanwhile, would fall by the same rate to 0.010% from 0.0125% and from stock brokers by 17% to 0.010% from 0.0120%. Charges on trading insurance would be cut in half to 0.005%, while trading fees on listed bonds will be half that of equities. The proposal will now be sent to the cabinet for approval. An unnamed FRA source told Al Shorouk the cuts would be approved by cabinet before the end of October. Reuters also has the story.

Will investor-protection fund fees be halved again? The government committee that had drafted the original proposal to cut fees also suggested slashing fees charged by Egyptian Investor Protection Fund (EIPF) by a further 50% to 0.005% after it was halved last week to 0.01% from 0.02%.