Gosling's Grouse: Excessive index costs

FCA should look at index providers first

Regular readers will know I am getting a bit grumpy about a few things at the moment. This includes benchmarks, where I would make a few simple points.

If the Financial Conduct Authority thinks fund groups operate a cartel, which creates a cost issue for investors, then try looking at the index providers. Gosling's Grouse: What is a fair price for solutions? It does not take much to see that while it might not be a formal cartel or monopoly, the index providers basically have the asset managers and everyone else by the short and curlies. It is a simple model and an ingenious one, which arguably is as abusive as the stranglehold certain pharmaceutical companies have over the NHS. Instead of charging extortionate fees for gen...