BATS is bringing the fee war to exchanges as it announces annual fee waivers for exchange traded funds, potentially cutting costs for end investors.
According to BATS Exchange, exchange traded products, which include both ETFs and exchange traded notes, that trade a three-month consolidated average daily volume of 400,000 shares per day or more will pay no fees to list on BATS. The exchange lowered its requirement from 2 million shares per day.
ETPs that trade with an average of less than 400,000 shares per day will incur annual fees that range from $5,000 to $18,000 on BATS.
“As an exchange, you’re not making money on ETP listing fees, you’re making money on trading,” Richard Keary, principal of Global ETF Advisors, said in a Financial Times report. “[BATS] recognises all of these issues by getting to the point of free listings.”
BATS calculates that 223 ETPs would meet the volume requirements to list free of charge on its exchange.
There are currently 23 listed ETFs on the BATS exchange, including 18 iShares offerings and 5 ProShares funds. The iShares MSCI Norway Capepd ETF (BATS: ENOR) was the first ETF to be listed on January 24, 2012. The iShares Liquidity Income ETF (BATS: ICSH) was the most recent listing on December 13, 2013.