IMA chief contests fund pricing assumptions

Investment Management Association (IMA) chief executive Daniel Godfrey says we should "interrogate quite hard" the assertion that the price of fund management has dropped elsewhere in the world, but not in the UK.

In the first in a video series for Professional Adviser entitled The Hard Questions, Godfrey challenged the idea that investors had benefited from lower fund costs in the US because, with the cost of advice rising, the total cost of ownership had increased. The US, Godfrey said, has had a "non-regulatory RDR" - a move to no-load funds and advisers charging fees. In the UK, the "elements of competition" that will lead to lower charges for customers have "yet to kick in", he added. But he said the fund management space is leading the charge, with both lower AMCs and margin erosion. ...