Discount broking prices sliding

The recent announcement that Commonwealth Securities had discounted its online brokerage charge to $19.95 put the cat among the pigeons as far as the brokers are concerned.

Until recently, online broking fees had stabilised at or around the $29.95 mark.

Following the Comsec announcement, Westpac cut its rate to $15. Prices are now down to $9.95.

It has certainly been a boom time for investors who choose to use online trading systems.

Discount broking is a relatively recent innovation in Australia and online broking has an even shorter history.

However, it has proven to be a very popular service with approximately 10 per cent of last year’s transactions being undertaken online.