Firms face 'grey areas' as value for money rules come into force

Asset managers required to publish annual value statements

New requirements introduced on 30 September forcing asset managers to publish annual reports on the value for money offered by their fund products are overly vague and leave open too many compliance "grey areas", according to regulatory experts.

Following the Asset Management Market Study, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) concluded in 2018 retail investors have little capacity to negotiate with asset managers and value for money is not typically a key concern of the fund governance bodies acting on their behalf. As a result, from Monday, asset managers will be made to demonstrate they are acting in the interests of their clients by publishing an annual public statement laying out their own assessment of value from the end of January 2020. In efforts to guide the industry, the FCA produced a "non-exhaustive list of elemen...