Stamp duty in the UK makes the London Stock Exchange one of the most expensive exchanges in Europe in terms of transaction costs, according to a study of trading costs by Elkins/McSherry, a US consulting firm. The report says that average transaction costs on the LSE are more than double the equivalent costs on ParisBourse, and nearly 80% more expensive than Deutsche Börse. On average it is more expensive per trade to deal on the LSE than on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

The report ranks the average cost of trading on the LSE as the 14th most expensive of the 17 European exchanges in the study, which covered trading during 1999. The only exchanges in Europe on which trading is more expensive are Dublin, Luxembourg and Athens.