Alpha Group announces new Trading Fee Structure

Alpha Group today announced that, subject to regulatory approval, it will implement a new trading fee structure as of August 1st, 2009.

Jos Schmitt, CEO of Alpha Group, noted that "The rationale behind the changes is two-fold: to help reduce the cost of trading and to promote liquidity."

To help reduce the cost of trading, Alpha Group will implement three changes:

    -  Reduce the active fees for low value securities (i.e. (less than) $ 1)
       from 7 mils to 5 mils. This is a decrease of almost 30%, which makes
       Alpha the lowest cost venue for low value securities. This fee
       decrease affects 35% of the total volume traded in Canada across all
       marketplaces - those trades where the cost impacts the dealer
       community most.
    -  Remove any fees for trades executed in the opening auction, which
       comprises a substantial portion of the overall trading cost for all
       dealers in Canada. Alpha Group understands that many dealers are
       trying to maximize the volume traded at the opening due to the cost of
       trading during the continuous market. Now, not only is the cost of
       trading during the continuous market lower, but moreover, trading at
       the opening is free on Alpha.
    -  Remove the premium that was charged for odd-lot trades in TSX-V listed
       securities.

    To promote liquidity, Alpha Group will implement the following change:

    -  Increase the passive fee rebate for the high value securities (i.e.
       (greater than or equal to) $ 1) from 29 mils to 31 mils. This increase
       puts Alpha at the highest rebate levels in Canada and, in keeping with
       its philosophy of not privileging anyone, is available to all dealers
       regardless of their volume traded. These are the securities where
       there is still room for improving the market spread, and increasing
       the rebate will support more aggressive quotes.

"The cost of trading in Canada, is getting out of control", added Mr. Schmitt. "This is the result of multiple factors: a large increase in active trades, venues applying high active fees for low value securities, venues that apply complex fee structures preventing dealers from fully understanding what is driving their trading costs, and venues that put their profitability ahead of the interests of the industry. Living by our mantra of 'For the industry, by the industry' and having, thanks to our growth, the financial capacity to absorb it, we decided it was time to step in and introduce some major improvements to our fee structure to help tackle this issue. Expect more to come."

About Alpha Group

Alpha Group was established in May, 2007 by nine of Canada's leading financial institutions with the aim of increasing the country's equity trading efficiencies and making the Canadian marketplace more globally competitive. Its ownership group consists of BMO Capital Markets, Canaccord Capital Corporation, CIBC World Markets, CPP Investment Board, Desjardins Securities Inc., National Bank Financial, RBC Capital Markets, Scotia Capital Inc. and TD Securities Inc.

For further information regarding Alpha Group, visit www.alphatradingsystems.ca.

SOURCE Alpha Group

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