JPM's Berens: AMC will be dead within a year

Fund groups are set to come under fresh pricing pressure ahead of the ‘death' of AMCs, JP Morgan Asset Management's Jasper Berens has said.

The group’s head of UK retail expects the widespread use of annual management charges (AMCs) will be phased out by summer 2015, as calls for a clearer cost figure on funds intensify. Berens’ comments follow the Financial Conduct Authority’s review of fund fees in May, in which the regulator criticised some fund groups for inconsistent cost disclosure, and emphasised the importance of prioritising the Ongoing Charges Figure (OCF) over AMCs. The Investment Management Association, which suggested a switch from AMCs to OCFs as far back as 2012 as part of its voluntary guidance, stepped up...