Platforms come under fire over share class conversion

Platforms are racing to update their conversion programmes as advisers complain about hefty charges when switching clients into clean share classes.

A number of platforms currently impose a spread between the ‘bid’ price and the ‘creation’ price of the new clean share class when selling bundled dual-priced funds, despite no transaction of shares taking place. Advisers say this spread means their clients are being left out of pocket. While some platforms have programmes allowing bid-to-bid conversions to take place, others including Fidelity FundsNetwork and Skandia are currently forced to sell and repurchase the funds when an adviser initiates a move themselves. This makes the transaction a switch, rather than a conversion, and l...