Thanks to all the readers who participated in the poll. A total of over 900 votes were gathered and the majority states that they will stop using Standard Charted Online Equities Trading. Quite a fair share is still undecided though and about 20% will continue to use it. My guess is that there are a fair number of readers who are eligible to be a priority banking customer and can still enjoy zero commission.
Comparing the poll results to the one last year yield an interesting finding.
[caption id="attachment_171995" align="aligncenter" width="1651"] Poll Results: Jun 2016[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_101558" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Poll: Feb 2015[/caption]
In February 2015, Standard Chartered Bank announced that they will be closing their equities business and people are worried that their accounts will be closed. I conducted a poll and the majority voted that they will continue to use SCB. Of course the assurance by SCB that accounts will not be affected also help.
Fast forward one year and three months, SCB announced a change in the fee structure and the tide has turn. The majority now voted no and it goes to show most people are price sensitive. There is no such thing as 'brokerage loyalty'. Most of us just go to where commission is the cheapest. It doesn't help that SCB trading platform is very basic as compared to the other brokerage houses.
Read about what other bloggers have to say about the new fee structure here.