FILE: Shanghai, China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of cityscape
2. Various of sign of, entrance to Shanghai Stock Exchange

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3. Staff working, cash counting machine

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4. Various of office building, sign of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC)
5. Various of exterior, sign of Beijing Stock Exchange

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6. Various of employees working, screen showing stock indexes

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7. Various of time-lapse footage of cityscape

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8. Aerial shot of cityscape

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9. Aerial shot of cityscape

Multiple fund companies in China announced on Wednesday that they would cover index usage fees for a batch of index funds to help reduce cost for investors.

An index fund is a portfolio of stocks or bonds designed to mimic the composition and performance of a financial market index.

Index funds have gained popularity worldwide in recent years, as they offer investors a simple, low cost way to invest in a range of assets and markets to spread risks.

The index usage fee is the charge imposed by the index provider on index fund products for tracking the index.

Multiple fund companies in China announced that, starting from March 21, they would bear the index usage fees for over 700 existing index funds, collectively worth over 3 trillion yuan (around 415 billion U.S. dollars).

According to Chinese financial data provider Wind, index usage fees for index funds typically range from 0.02 percent to 0.05 percent.

Following this adjustment, investors will save approximately 960 million yuan (133 million U.S. dollars) annually in costs.

Experts say the announcement of covering index usage fees is another practical step taken by the public offering fund sector in China to carry out the reform of fee rates.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the country's top securities regulator, issued a working plan in July 2023, saying that it would promote the high-quality development of the public offering fund sector and steadily lower the sector's fee rates.

Over 3,500 public offering funds in the market have reduced management and custody fees so far, saving investors hundreds of billions of yuan in costs, data from Wind shows.

The CSRC has recently reaffirmed its commitment to actively promoting the reform of public offering fund fee rates, planning to reduce the overall fee rates in phases, with an estimated annual cost saving of over 45 billion yuan（around 6 billion U.S. dollars）for investors.