Well, an era of no minimum commissions has ended for retail investors in Singapore – Standard Chartered has sent out love letters to clients like me, informing us of the change in commissions from August 2016 onwards: Right about now, unless you’re a priority banking client with SCB, panic should set in for you, dear reader. First off, stop panicking. Life still goes on. Despite the $10 or so charge, it is still cheaper to use SCB to buy for overseas shares, as SCB has promised to not charge us maintenance fees, dividend handling fees, corporate action fees, etc. . However, for shares on the SGX, it’s up to your own decision to use a retail brokerage, or stick with SCB. Some of you might even want to consider switching to a monthly investment plan to reduce costs as well. Do your costing calculations, before deciding to trim or hold your positions in SCB. ......