Go paperless, reduce broking commissions,

IN today's world of online trading systems, I cannot understand why brokerage houses charge S$25 as the minimum commission for trades.

Especially for small investors, such brokerage charges are excessive. If I want to buy, for example, 1,000 Company ABC shares at S$0.39 per share, the total price of the shares would be S$390, but the brokerage would cost S$25. This would deter small investors from entering the market. Now that the board lot sizes have been reduced from 1,000 shares to 100 shares, this problem will be aggravated.

Singapore Exchange should come out with a novel method of calculating brokerage charges - say, 0.25 per cent to one per cent, depending on the size of the investment. In the US, the board lot size is one share. I am unable to understand again why we do not want to implement that here.