Whitechurch's Haynes: Industry pressure on fees pushing us to passive products

Make up 25% of portfolios

Gavin Haynes, managing director at Whitechurch Securities, has been increasing the allocation of passive products across the firm's discretionary fund management (DFM) proposition over the past few years as a result of the widening "gulf" in costs between active and passive vehicles.

Speaking to Investment Week, Haynes said passive strategies made up roughly 25% of the portfolios, whereas just a few years ago they made up less than 10%. While still holding a preference for active funds, the managing director said the level of competition between passive providers had led to aggressive product pricing, which the firm had taken advantage of. Rising competition between ETF providers in both the US and Europe has been well documented. Only last month Lyxor launched a core ETF range, charging between 0.04% and 0.12%, which the firm claims to be on average 40% cheaper t...