The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec says it is abolishing its program of soft dollar commissions on equity and derivatives trading, effective Jan.1.

“In this regard, the Caisse is following the best practices recommended by various international supervisory bodies,” the caisse said in a release.

Soft dollar commissions, which are widespread in the industry, are payable to full service brokers, in addition to brokerage fees, in return for research and financial information services. The Caisse that in future, when these services are required, it will pay for them directly from its operating budget, thereby increasing the transparency of its securities trading costs.